I tore through this in about 4 hours! It's a gripping, claustrophobic thriller that doesn't skimp on character development even as it puts its small cast through hell

This was sadly a DNF at about 10% in, but only because I realized pretty quickly this isn't the type of book for me. However I have a lot of positives even though it isn't for me. The writing was really wonderful and I already felt like I knew the characters really well only being barely into the book. I also loved the setting and it felt very ominous and eerie from the start. The introduction/prologue was so captivating and drew me in immediately.

Sadly I just don't like books similar to The Ruins or overly gory/depressing horror books. People who like survival stories and are okay with more sad horror books where there isn't a happy or uplifting ending, will absolutely love this. This feels like classic horror and I can definitely see this being a really popular horror book this year.

Thank you NetGalley for an e-ARC of the book!

I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review. This review is based entirely on my own thoughts and feelings.

Overall rating : 4*
Writing skill : 4*
Plot: 3*
Pace: 4*
Characters: 3*

This was a wild, fever-dream type story, never quite knowing where it was heading. A really great take on the lost in the woods type of book, with added horror and mystery. The pace was really good and the writing excellent. Although I know nothing of hiking and climbing gear, I could picture the scenes and scenarios really clearly. The characters were lacking a bit for me, I couldnt picture what any of them looked like, did we get any descriptions?!
That being said, if you liked The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King, and The Anomaly by Michael Rutger then this will be right up your street.

I was pretty excited to learn about this book, because while I'm a fan of horror I also used to do some climbing when I was younger, and the idea of both of them put together into one story was exciting. Having just finished this book and having a little time to process it I can admit that I'm still not 100% sure what I read; there were so many elements to it that it felt a little scattered, but I read it quickly and it was definitely interesting enough to hold my attention. I think this would have been really cool as a found footage novel, and while that's not what we got it was still a decent, and certainly unique, read. I think my main issue with this book is that in the end it's somewhat vague. We don't really get a why for the things that happen, and while I can appreciate that this was probably done on purpose I do find it slightly frustrating, because I LIKE a why in my horror novels. Even if it's just "atrocity happened here and now this place is evil", but we don't even get that much just "this place is evil" flat out. So if you're hoping for a reason know going in you're not going to get one. That being said it certainly was an interesting story, and while there are a few elements of it that left me scratching my head overall I think I did enjoy it. Kiefer brought something original to the horror genre in more than one way, and managed to create a sense of unease and horror without being overly violent. I think given a little more time Kiefer could turn into a horror novel star, and I'll certainly be curious to see what she comes up with next. I'll have no problem recommending this title to horror fans who come into my store, and I would love to see this turned into a movie, because I think it could be something good.

This is a story about pioneers.

Now THIS was a horror novel. I felt parts of this book in my bones- it was that distressing! The process of watching the cast decompensating while the setting prays on them was harrowing- if this was a movie I would’ve been screaming at the screen. I cannot wait for more by the author!

Thank you so much @netgalley & @quirkbooks for the eArc!

I finished this one a bit ago but I’ve been sitting on my thoughts ever since. It was entertaining and for the most part enjoyable! I found a big chunk of the book to really drag on for what felt like forever but I was still able get through it pretty quickly. It was very graphic at times, which personally didn’t bother me, but might other readers. Overall, I think it was just a very “ok” read for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quirk Books for this ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

This Wretched Valley is the upcoming debut novel by author Jenny Kiefer. This survival horror story does a great job of hooking the reader immediately. Right from the jump, we're treated to a visceral snapshot of what to expect for the next 300 pages. Despite having a glimpse of the character's fate from the beginning, I was still unable to stop guessing what might happen next.

This book is immersive and will put you right into the mess with the characters in the Kentucky wilderness. The background given to the climbing expedition was well done and gave someone like me (not well versed in that world) the context to understand the importance of what the characters have set out to do. There is a lot of time spent setting this up, but I assure you, the setup is worth it. There is a building sense of dread that is sure to give you anxiety and maybe even make you feel a little claustrophobic.

Well done and well deserving of your attention if you're a fan of survival horror with a paranormal twist.

4 out of 5 stars.

This book was a wild ride from start to finish!

It had me hooked from the first page. I loved how instead of chapters, it had the date and times of when things were happening. It gave us a timeline of events, and shows how quickly it all came about.

This book had me on the edge of my seat. It gave me goosebumps, and absolutely horrified me. As someone who doesn’t go camping much, this is a reason why. I’m terrified of the woods! And this book just amplified that fear tenfold.

Jenny Kiefer’s writing was phenomenal and she just drew me in with her attention to detail, imagery, and the fact that her detailing of the gore was so sickening (in a good way).

I’m so glad I got a chance to read this book early 👏🏻👏🏻

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.25 out of 5 stars

The book began pretty good. Clay, a former climber who had an injury cut off his dreams of future climbs, flies over the Kentucky wilderness and sees a rock wall that is not on any maps, one that appears to have never been climbed. He contacts his old friend, Dylan, who has just learned she's been signed with Petzl, a huge name in sports equipment. Clay asks Dylan to climb the wall and she can even bring along her boyfriend, Luke, and his dog, Slade. Clay brings Sylvia along to record everything.

Almost immediately after entering the woods, Slade starts acting weird, and eventually disappears when Dylan leaves the tent unzipped to go look at the rock wall. Luke is devastated, but Dylan is certain Slade will come back and wants to climb the wall. After a few attempts, she falls, banging Luke's head against the rock and he ends up spraining his ankle pretty severely.

After that, things fall apart one by one. Clay is obsessed with making his name in having discovered this rock and he despises the fact that everyone wants to take Luke to a hospital. Luke, meanwhile, has started having episodes where he just stares and stares.

The first half or three-quarters of the book were okay, but once we hit the last part, there are pages and pages of gore that I had to skim through.

All in all it was an interesting story.

It’s so exciting when authors take a mish mashery of the things I love and turn them into a book. How thoughtful!! First of all, I find the Dyatlov Pass incident FASCINATING - the mystery, the science, the theories. When a story is inspired by this I am all over it! The author does a great job of mixing geological anomalies, supernatural elements and physical horror without confusing the reader and we also have the characters slow descent into confusion and paranoia which both pulls you in and has you on edge. There are hints of Blair Witch, Lost, From, Yellowjackets and even the Donner Party legend. I fully embraced the joy of the unknown whilst also wanting to race through the book to find out just what the hell is going on here. I love anything that reminds us we barely know this world. This debut nailed it and I will be sitting here (im)patiently waiting for whatever @_jennykiefer throws at us next!!

Some of my favorite horror novels are the ones that play out like a movie. I SAW this book thanks to the writing. Absolutely unsettling given the number of people that go missing in wild spaces. Hell of a good time. Thank you to Quirk Books and NetGalley for advanced access. I will be purchasing a copy for my personal library upon publication.

I am obsessed with the Dyatlov Pass Incident, and I've been super in to mysteries set in national parks lately. This book looked to hit all my buttons. And it did...but it also wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be. The editing was pretty bad, and that took me out of the story quite a bit. It was also more supernatural than I expected, and truly horrifying in parts. I think I'll try re-reading it once it's actually published.

Wow! This was such a surprise, big time, I sincerely loved the first half and maybe until 3/4's of the story and then I slowed down and kinda felt like what's going on here? It was super crazy with suspense and wonder how can this end? And all that about the man's dog..?.It was crazy but Weird crazy was my definition. I love weird things and had to stay with the story to see how it ends. Also I like books about rock climbing so that was a high to add. You want to say, NO WAY could she climb that rock and etc etc. It kept me on the edge. But some of it was true like and a lot of it wasn't but it was very interesting and I enjoyed most of it. Give it high 5!

I was lucky enough to win an e-ARC of THIS WRETCHED VALLEY by Jenny Kiefer through the PW Grab A Galley giveaway. Thank you for the early look, and have a safe and happy holiday season!

This book is amazing. I simultaneously was horrified and couldn't put it down. From the start things are wild and they don't slow down until the book ends.

Kiefer does an incredible job of building suspense, detailing gruesome injuries (via supernatural and natural means), and generally making me scared of the dark. This book should be number 1 on any horror fans list this year! I can't wait to see what else Kiefer writes.

*** I received an ARC from NetGalley and Quirk Books in exchange for an honest review ***

Take only pictures, leave only bones...

Did you grow up watching the Blair Witch Project? If you did and loved the vibe, then this is the perfect book for you!

Inspired by the Dyatlov Pass Incident, this book is a pure descent into madness where everyone becomes suspicious of the others.

The novel recounts the timeline of what happened. As the hours go by, you get this crawling creepy sensation getting under your skin. You feel the characters beginning to lose it. You know the feeling when you're home alone and suddenly all sounds are terrifying? This is what happens with this book!

Sentient forest, paranoïa, accidents, resentfulness... * Surprisingly *, this book hasn't cured my fear of heights. It only worsened it. I'm never gonna go rock climbing. Enven less in the wilderness, in the middle of nowhere.

The Blurb:
Clay is currently doing a PhD in Geology and just flew over an untouched spot. One of his old friend, Dylan, is an Instagram influencer doing rock climbing for a living. He needs someone to climb the wall so he can write his dissertation. Dylan just signed a contract with a huge rock climbing company and hopes this discovery will create enough waves that she won't have to focus on social medias only. Along with them, Sylvia and Luke join them.

The only problem is : they left weeks ago and no one has heard of them. Dylan's followers have been reporting her missing to the local police and mentionning weird live videos as proof that something went wrong.

What happened?

TW in spoilers as this could come off spoilerish. For anyone asking about the animal, please see below.
<spoiler> There is a dog in of book. The dog escapes right at the beginning and it is hinted multiple times that something dreadful happened to him. Let me reassure you that the dog is fine! </spoiler>

While I was visiting family for the holidays, I stopped in at Butcher Cabin Books. I couldn’t be that close to an independent horror bookstore and pass it by. While paying for my finds, I noticed a book propped up on the counter. A small placard in front let me know it was written by “our own Jenny Kiefer.” It looked great, so I asked (unbeknownst to me) Jenny Kiefer about herself. She was extremely gracious about my not knowing who she was and gave me the pitch. Inspired by the Dyatlov Pass Incident? Set in modern day Kentucky with rock climbing? This Wretched Valley follows four young adults into the Kentucky woods. It followed me out of that store and into my heart.

Kiefer’s debut answers the question that has been asked so many times: What happened out there? Clay and Dylan enter the woods with big dreams. For Clay, this is a thesis. He used technology to find an unexplored rock formation in undeveloped woods. For Dylan, it’s a shot at a big break. She’s just gotten her first sponsorship for rock climbing. Now she can be the first to climb a newly discovered wall. But the two don’t go off together. Clay brings a fellow researcher, Sylvia, along for the trip. Dylan brings her boyfriend, Luke, to act as her belayer. Luke, I’m sorry to say, brings his dog. None of them will leave.

This is not a spoiler, the book opens this way. You know which bodies are found. You know the impossible states of those bodies. The magic of this book comes from knowing the end but needing to know the middle. And the middle is where all the best parts are. This book performed at a level that is a joy to find in a debut. I enjoy body horror, and I read a decent amount of it. This book had the most viscerally awful scene I have read this year. My skin started crawling and did not stop for some time. I loved it.

A comparison I’ve seen drawn a lot is to The Ruins by Scott Smith. The book is arguably a cult classic, and I definitely see the similarities. But, if you didn’t like The Ruins, I still think you should read this one. For a start, the characters are smarter and less insufferable. This may be due to the inherent difference between “academic expedition” and “spring break trip”, but I think it also helps that Kiefer’s characters—particularly the women—are more distinct and nuanced. I also did not find myself as frustrated with their choices. Poor decision making in This Wretched Valley was clearly coming from the valley itself. In The Ruins, it was coming from hormones and booze. To note, I didn’t dislike The Ruins. I just think This Wretched Valley improved on many outdated aspects of the survival horror classic.

When you’re explaining the unexplainable, it can destroy a sense of mystery. That is not the case here. I still cannot tell you why these things are happening—keep happening that is. These hikers are not the first to go missing in these woods. But even with the things we see, I think it is very much open to interpretation. I certainly have my theories. I don’t feel like the story is incomplete without clear answers. I think it’s more honest to the inspiration this way. After all, was it probably an avalanche and hypothermia that caused those deaths in the Dyatlov Pass all those years ago? Sure. But what makes a better story?

This Wretched Valley hits shelves on January 16th, 2023. You can pre-order it here.
Thank you to NetGalley and QuirkBooks for the copy, and to Jenny Kiefer for everything she does.

I am still fairly new to survival horror, so I was really excited when I was approved for this one on NetGalley as it was described as similar to The Ruins which I had a lot of fun with when I read it as well as inspired by the Dyatlov Pass incident which is just one of my favorite rabbit holes to fall into. This book did end up reminding me of The Ruins a lot, particularly in how unlikeable the characters were and how that made me very apathetic to their fate.

Following a group of young people who are going to charter a new rock climbing wall in the Kentucky wilderness, weird occurrences of course start immediately happening and the group takes no heed of the warnings as they selfishly continue on their quest for fame and acclaim. This will prove detrimental and fatal to the group as the very opening chapter shows as the bodies are found - I really liked this device of showing us the outcome and then going back to show what led there. And what a wild story it was. The story is very jarring and discomfiting as the reader follows the perspective of the group and tries to figure out what is going on in this isolated forest and why it seems like they can’t escape.

I don’t want to spoil the mystery of what is happening, but it was wildly fun (although I did wish for a little further explanation). Seeing the way the different characters react to the situation and finding ways to cope and overcome is the most interesting part of this as we see them snap at each other rather than working together to find a way out of the hellhole they have found themselves in. I think this is my favorite part of these types of horror stories as they offer a very biting look at how humans react in a crisis (one that unfortunately seems to come to pass in reality).

If you are a fan of things like The Ruins, The Descent, or Yellowjackets, I think this one is a lot of fun and would maybe be a great summer vacation read. I am very interested to see what this author does next as this was her debut novel!

First things first, this cover is gorgeous! Moving on… This Wretched Valley was quite a ride. Unreliable narrators, gore, ghosts, haunted woods, it kept me reading well into the night. I enjoyed each person’s POV and following the descent of their mind. If you liked The Ruins, or have fallen into the Dyatlov Pass rabbit hole, this one’s for you. Thanks to Quirk Books for my eARC. This Wretched Valley will be published January 16th.

3.5 rounded up to 4.

In this horror novel, loosely inspired by the Dyatlov Pass incident, four friends venture into the Kentucky wilderness in search of a new climbing spot.

I think this had a really strong start. I was immediately pulled into the story and found the setting and little creepy moments very unsettling and eerie. I love horror books set in the great outdoors!

I did not care for the back half of the book nearly as much. The author did a good job of instilling a sense of disorientation in the reader that mirrors what the characters of the book are experiencing. However, I ultimately wish some things about the forest and its history were explained further.

I also wish we got to know the characters more. I wasn’t attached to any of them to really care what their fates were (besides the dog, but we all know what happens to most animal companions in horror media).

This is one of the gorier horror books I’ve read (but I am still relatively new to the genre), and some of the body horror was grossing me out. This, of course, was the intent. So, in that way it was effective. If you don’t like reading body horror, I’d skip this.

Overall, the underdeveloped characters and vague ending and balanced by the vivid setting and ambiance of the story. I’m pretty sure that this is the author’s debut, and it’s a very impressive one! I want to read more from the author!

P.S. I’m obsessed with this cover

P.P.S Can horror authors stop killing dogs. It never adds much to the story imo