This Wretched Valley

By Jenny Kiefer

Book Overview

2024 Bram Stoker Award(R)️ Nominee for Superior Achievement in a First Novel

"A hallucinatory nightmare of a novel that blends adventure, horror and historical fiction, and isn't shy about violence or strangeness."--New York Times

"If you love wilderness horror, This Wretched Valley is a must-read."--Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger and The Fervor

Take only pictures. Leave only bones.

This trip is going to be Dylan's big break. Her geologist friend Clay has discovered an untouched cliff face in the Kentucky wilderness, and she is going to be the first person to climb it. Together with Clay, his research assistant Sylvia, and Dylan's boyfriend Luke, Dylan is going to document her achievement on Instagram and finally cement her place as the next rising star in rock climbing.

Seven months later, three bodies are discovered in the trees just off the highway. All are in various states of decay: one a stark, white skeleton; the second emptied of its organs; and the third a mutilated corpse with the tongue, eyes, ears, and fingers removed. But Dylan is still missing--and no trace of her, dead or alive, has been discovered.

Were the climbers murdered? Did they succumb to cannibalism? Or are their impossible bodies the work of an even more sinister force?

This dread-inducing debut builds to a bloodcurdling climax, and will leave you shocked by the final twist.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 168369368X
• ISBN13: 9781683693680
• Release Date: January 2024
• Publisher: Quirk Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.4" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Room For Improvement

The dog lives, don’t worry. This was an overall meh read for me, I finished it because I was curious how everyone met their end but I could and should have just DNF’d. For me, a lot of this just didn’t work, all of the characters grumbled and said f*ck every other sentence, no one really felt fully fleshed out. Justice for Sylvia tho, she was the only one I liked. I also wish instead of the completely pointless and unnecessary flashbacks we spliced what happened to the characters with maybe online forums, armchair detectives, trying to unravel the mystery. I feel like that would have been more fun? 3 stars tho because the climbing scenes genuinely had my heart POUNDING, I thought those parts were written very well. Not bad for a debut but a lot of room for improvement.

This wretched valley is a must read for horror and nature fans.

I literally could not put this book down. Highly recommend this book to any horror and mystery fans.