The Ravening by Daniel Church
I would like to thank Angry Robot for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Angry Robot
Published – Out Now
Price – £9.99 paperback £5.33
Jenna's life has always been a fight. From the traumatic and mysterious loss of her mother on a dark woodland road when she was fifteen, to the abusive and controlling boyfriend she's recently escaped, she has learned that trust hurts you in the end.
Now Jenna's found what she hopes is happiness with her new girlfriend, Holly. But the world is full of darkness - some of it ancient, some of it closer to home... Evil, and those who serve it, will not let Jenna go.
The Ravening is a gripping, claustrophobic horror novel that sets a timeless nightmare against one woman and her belief in herself, and the possibility that somewhere, somehow, there is love in the world
Which is scarier? Finding a monster in the kitchen or instead a strange person staring at you? Horror is about the reaction to the situation and a human acting menacingly can be even scarier as it feels as if the rules of our society are being broken. In Daniel Church’s action-packed horror tale The Ravening we swerve between the horrors of the human and the demonic to create something with a return to that unusual sub-genre the occult thriller. It’s a tricky one to talk about but was a fun ride!
At fifteen Jenna and her mother are travelling on the south coast to meet up with her father to start a holiday. But their car breaks down and when Jenna’s mother goes to try and fix the engine something horrific comes from the darkness and leaves Jenna traumatised in her seat, the car damaged, and her mother is never seen again. Many years later Jenna is a very closed off person rarely sharing her past and rarely ever making a connection. After a particularly difficult relationship with a controlling upper class boyfriend Jenna has started a new happier relationship with Holly. Possibly the first person that Jenna has ever felt comfortable with but Jenna is shocked to discover that she is pregnant and really does not want to become a mother. Before anything can be done though Jenna finds herself kidnapped and held prisoner. Many now want Jenna to serve their own agendas and the monsters from her past are lurking in the shadows.
This is very much a book full of reveals swerving in directions that I was not quite expecting. The opening chapter with young Jenna and dangers in the woods suggests we are in the folk horror genre that is very common at the moment but soon we are back in gritty Manchester and the villains appearing next are very human. We seem to switch genres into human psychological horror with Jenna being held prisoner and this gets into quite dark territory on issues of consent and woman’s right to choose. In many ways these sections hark back to the horror stories and films of the 1970s and 1980s where people would find themselves under the spell of people who want control for various agendas. Horror can have a vein of social commentary and puts you into the horror of feeling oppressed and out of control. Jenna is very clear what she wants, and her captors refuse to see her as a human being. There is no nuance here and actually that feels right to show us the stark lack of control a woman can experience even when your captors are ever so polite and posh. Church makes it quite stark and brutal and making this is all about money and power ensures it feels very tense. I will add a trigger warning over pregnancy and miscarriage being featured which some readers should be aware of.
But simmering alongside this is that early mystery of Jenna’s mother and we move back and forth into supernatural territory and even the mysterious world of dreams and nightmares. Jenna has to battle enemies in both our world and the magical plains and there are moments of racing action with moments of hope being quickly dashed which raises question of can the ultra-loner Jenna actually trust anyone. The democ entity we face here is vividly disturbing and has a great name I will let you discover but it feels a dangerous presence whenever it appears. This is why this feels more the realm of the occult tale that was prominent in the 1950-70s where normal people suddenly find in villages and country estates with strange powerful people making very bad demonic bargains. Here this feels a 21dst century take on the idea with a bisexual heroine rather than lantern jawed hero and a damsel in distress taking the lead roles. We still have lots of guns appearing and weird changing dreamscapes that very accurately bring to life parts of the Northwest (a refreshing take on the usual southern country estates the old genre takes focused on - Surrey really was quite popular back then)
There are a few things that I wished had got expanded upon. Jenna finds herself up against several villains, but they often feel a little shallow. Although there is a great and unusual sequence where Jenna calls one out about their agenda being so small and empty which was very refreshing. Villains who can banter are fun but sometimes I really wanted to know a little bit more about how they had got here. The other issue is the book has a coda that for me feels a little too fast to be effective and needed a few more pages to breathe and make us take stock of what’s been going on before the action resumed - this does touch on suicidal thoughts which some readers should be aware of.
Despite that this was incredibly readable, and I sped through it wanting to know what happened next in one night. Church is skilled at getting action focused plots in a recognisable Britain that feels like it is in the 2020s even if it respects past traditions and that the final outcome never feels very predictable means I’m quite engaged. Highly recommended for horror fans.
