Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I'd really give this a 3.5 I think - it's a very creepy, suspenseful novel in places, and definitely plays with the premise of the unreliable narrator. Living and working in Cambridge (at the University) you can certainly imagine this kind of drama playing out among the students! However, I needed a better method for marrying the two time periods in order for it not to feel a bit clunky.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It's a dark, creepy read. If you're squeamish, read something else. It has a well-written plot and good characters. Recommended.

This is an unsettling story about a young man who went to the University of Cambridge to study music. He was from a state school in northern England so felt as if he wouldn't fit in, even before he turned up. He is immediately drawn to a charismatic, handsome and popular individual whose party speciality is magic. Not a good mix for alcohol soaked parties.

The first part of the book describes the grandeur of the ancient university and the student life. The friendships that develop are often strong and supportive but also toxic and dangerous, and yet the desire to fit in with the 'in' crowd is alluring and obsessive. The second part of the story sees an increase in tension, paranoia and fear and it is an atmospheric and creepy read. Something has happened and the reader does not know what or why.

Told in a dual timeline in the first person, from when the narrator starts university and the present when he goes back and meets up with old students. There are also flashbacks to disturbing childhood events, perhaps supernatural but certainly psychological, that may affect the events at Cambridge. This is a well written book that slowly builds suspense and the scenes that include music are quite brilliant and original (even though I don't understand all of it not being musical myself).

A dark academia tale about friendship, fear, the concept of self, memory, perception and illusion. Above all, it's a jolly good read.

7/10

Thank you to NetGalley and 4th Estate for providing me with an eARC for this book.

Something about this book was so engrossing. It maintains a sense of magic and drew me into its dreamlike depiction of Cambridge. Then, it shows the darkness lurking at the edge of the scene.

I found the use of the two timelines slowly unveiling the plot fascinating. However, some of the second half lost my attention a little. I found that once the ‘threat’ became clearer some of the tension that kept me hooked was lost. Despite this, by the ending everything was brought together. Whilst I do think there is more this book could have done, expanding further on its ideas, it was still effective in what it did, and that’s hard to explain without spoiling anything.

Overall I had a great time reading this. I love the decisions made in terms of structure and narration to really make this story feel unique. Honestly, I’m still processing everything days later.

When I read the synopsis I thought I knew what I was getting out of this book, I was mistaken. It definitely caught me off guard. Books where there is an unreliable narrator really make you think about what you're reading and you're kept questioning everything until the end which i did. It was slow at times but when it did pick up,I didn't want to stop reading. The underlying horror mood throughout the book definitely added to my enjoyment reading.

Eery, dark and submersive dark academia with magical elements and the most likeable/hateful characters.. I loved this trip through the Cambridge colleges. Lyrical writing, indicative of the author’s own musicality, sweeps the reader into the life of an unnamed character as he infiltrates a friendship group in his first year, which has unforeseen consequences. The parallels with Saltburn and The Talented Mr Ripley are undeniable, but I love this brooding energy and deep sense of foreboding. I would love this to be dramatised!

A dark academia debut which features a young working-class man going to Cambridge University to study music and finding  himself out of his depth with the traditions and sense of privilege. He encounters an enigmatic fellow student with a hold over a group of others and the music student worms his way into his life eventually becoming invited to his impressive family estate.  Think you’ve heard this before?  Yes, there are definite echoes to “Saltburn” in this tale and the author is going to have to be prepared to see these comparisons in reviews.

However, rather than leading up to a naked frolic to “Murder On The Dancefloor” a third of the way through this switches back to being more college centred and the creeping fear of horror fiction becomes more prevalent.

Attuned to sound, the music student (whose name we never find out in his first-person narrative) hears noises that may or may not be there and feels the Proustian nostalgia of music.  He’s looking back to the time when something bad happened in his university days as well as preparing himself to face up to this when invited back to Cambridge for an event.

The young man the music student becomes obsessed with is Bryn, the son of a magician with an interest in the occult and esoteric.  Both Elizabethan astronomer John Dee and early twentieth-century British composer Peter Warlock are inspirations  for these two which gives a distinct literary feel to what might be considered standard horror tropes.

But it is the quality of the writing that certainly lifts this for me.  The author is very good at ramping up, pausing then deflating the tension.  There’s a strong use of figurative language throughout and characterisation is convincing.  The significance of magic tricks is important here with its emphasis on manipulation, distraction and deception which runs skilfully throughout the novel.  It is easy to see why people are pulled into Bryn’s world.  Consistently creepy without going overboard it never became the gore-fest I was anticipating and this is high-quality modern literary horror writing with an awful lot to enjoy.

And He Shall Appear is published in the UK by 4th Estate, an imprint of Harper Collins on 16th January 2025. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

What a great way to start the new year - a fabulous read perfect for long dark evenings. An excellent 5-star read, loved every twist and turn and it kept me up very late.

Early in the year to have a book of the year, but think it will take a while to top this. Highly recommended

Overall somewhat sad, but a fascinating insight into a particular strand of British society and an interesting comment on class structure.
There were nice twists, and unexpected behaviour, which kept my attention. If you are interested in how people behave under stress and why, and whether memory is reliable, this book will be a must-read.

In this story, our unnamed narrator is attending an event at Cambridge which triggers memories of his university days. In flashbacks, we learn of his time at the University and of the charismatic Bryn, who our narrator is determined to cultivate a friendship with. As the story progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that our narrator is unreliable and a little delulu and things take a dark turn with devastating consequences.

Described as Saltburn meets The Secret History, this is a gripping and deeply unsettling book about obsession, class and the vagaries of memory with a little of the occult thrown in. It's deliciously creepy and pulled me in from start to finish. I loved the dual timeline, the writing, the ambiguity of many of the encounters and the deep sense of foreboding that undercut every scene. As for comparisons to The Secret History - I didn't find this as heavy and I found the main character a little more palatable and a lot more relateable which essentially gave this the edge for me.

I read a review of this book which described it as being in the same genre as 'The Secret History' so I requested a proof. Unfortunately this tale was a little too far in the horror side of got his for me.

The unnamed narrator returns to Cambridge as one of the judges for a musical scholarship, named after an old friend of his from his own undergrad days, Bryn Cavendish. Being back in Cambridge brings the narrator back, to when he was a poor music student at an elite university, trying desperately to get into the “in” circle that revolved around the star of their year, Bryn. In the present, the narrator seems literally haunted by Bryn now that he’s back to where it all began.

It’s apparent that the narrator has an unhealthy obsession with Bryn that distorts his interpretation of him, past and present alike. Bryn isn’t just charming and enigmatic, he’s also cruel and manipulative, toying with people who displease him even the slightest bit. The narrator is aware of this, and he also suspects that Bryn’s crowd-pleasing magic tricks are a misdirection, that Bryn dabbles in the occult just like his absent father—but given how unreliable our narrator’s perspective of Bryn is, that might just be another byproduct of a romanticised retelling. The closest we might get to the truth is only towards the end, when the narrator’s actual friend Tim recounts his version of events with Bryn, one that almost completely upturns what the narrator had been telling us.

AND HE SHALL APPEAR is an examination of toxic friendships and delusion-driven nostalgia, occasionally bordering on eerie. It plays with unknowns and presents readers with fragments; the past is as much up for our interpretation as it is for the narrator. It is perhaps also roundabout a character study of the narrator himself, a man who tries to render himself invisible and in the process, reveals truths about himself in slant. I think his non-upper class background in an elite university may have driven him to idolise his year’s star and try to squeeze himself into that rich kids’ in-crowd, a detail that props up now and again throughout the novel.

I'm never sure of the point of not naming narrators apart from to make it harder for a reviewer to write their thoughts... But here we are. Back in the past, our unnamed narrator (UN) arrives at Cambridge University, determined to shed his past. He's working class and from the north of England and didn't go to the "right" school. If you couple all that with the fact that he is now a small fish in an enormous pond rather than the big fish/small pond he used to be means that he has to work hard to break through... Falling under the spell of peer Bryn Cavendish does his prospects no harm, or does it...
Meanwhile, we catch up with him in the present when he is returning to his old college, and it becomes evident that he has more than one ghost to lay to rest...
And that's all I am saying as you really need to discover all the gory details as the author intends. It's all a bit convoluted and interconnected so even hinting at anything might spoil things but suffice to say things are about to get weird...
I think I enjoyed this book. I definitely have questions though, none that I can ask here, obviously. Which means that I didn't get the completely satisfied feeling as I finished it. But, despite that, it was a decent enough read to hold my attention all the way through and created characters that although a bit hard to connect to completely, certainly intrigued me. I did struggle a bit with UN as I thought he was better and smarter to have been sucked into the world in which he found himself but I guess he was that determined to "fit in with the cool kids" and shed his past that he would have done anything...? It's haunting and magical and Gothic in nature and tone and I think that the book relies on these things rather than actual storyline which I found to be a bit disjointed. There's probably too much going on which dilutes the really good stuff - Peter Warlock - and sheds focus on the sleight of hand which didn't really tickle me as much. Also, that ending which really didn't satisfy.
But all that said, it's a very accomplished and brave debut book as it certainly goes its own way. I am definitely going to be looking out for what the author serves up for next time. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I was sent an advance copy of And He Shall Appear by Kate van der Borgh to read and review by NetGalley. This is a novel about relationships, aspirations and obsession:; the need to feel included and the compulsion to do whatever may be required to become accepted. I’m not sure that I actually liked any of the characters, but the addition of magic into the story made it quite compelling. While I wasn’t actually yearning to get back to the book between reading sessions I do think that it is worthy of 4 stars, and I am sure there will be many readers who feel that it is worth more.

Dark and disturbing, And He Shall Appear takes us into the world of Cambridge University. The elite group curated by Bryn Cavendish shines bright and our narrator is desperate to be accepted in to this group.
At times an uncomfortable and awkward read with unlikeable characters, but this makes you read on to find out what actually happened.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read And He Shall Appear.

Dark Academia, Mysterious goings on, Love and heartbreak and a sprinkling of the unknown… there is no way you can read the synopsis of this and not want to read it, and you already know if it’s going to be your vibe, so do yourself a favour and pick it up!

The beginning felt far too slow for me, and perhaps I didn’t give it enough of a chance, as this book truly seems like it would be right up my alley. That said, I believe many others would thoroughly enjoy it.

A refreshingly unique contemporary Gothic tale in the academic setting of Cambridge University. Well-structured, the novel feels well-researched and is the best fictional narrative I've read for a while. The two timelines — the narrator's past and present — mostly work reasonably well. Many authors who use this device, do so clumsily and the narrative ends up feeling awkward and clunky. Just when I'd given up on the current state of the publishing industry this book comes along to give me a tiny nugget of hope.

The pagination is a mess and occasionally it feels as though there's a section missing, but hopefully that will be put right before the novel is officially published.

Many thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for the ARC.

The darkness and danger element amps up throughout the book, it kept me drawn in the whole way through, the characters were also so well written.

A dark academia ghost story set largely in Cambridge in 2001 onwards. Returning to the college he studied at the unnamed narrator, now a music teacher, is here to be a judge for a music scholarship set up in memory of his friend Bryn Cavendish. The narrator is from a northern working class background and won a scholarship himself. Most of the other students are from wealthy backgrounds, including Bryn. Really well written although I did find it a bit of slow burn, but definitely worth the wait.

Briefly, feeling very much an outsider he does make friends with some others who are not part of the ‘in crowd’. But then he gradually becomes part of Bryn’s crowd and leaves his other friends behind. However, his friendship with Bryn is not a healthy one, he is obsessed with both Bryn and later Bryn’s girlfriend Alexa. Bryn has followed in his father’s footsteps and is a skilful magician, but his magic is often at the expense of his friends and is dark and mysterious rather than entertaining.

The is it or isn’t it man-made magic or something more supernatural is done really well. The two main characters are well fleshed. Bryn is a spoiled, wealthy, manipulative boy who expects to get whatever he wants with no care at all for who he hurts; this is clearly, in part, related to his upbringing, particularly his father. The narrator also has father issues, he has an inferiority complex that makes him willing to put up with all kinds of unacceptable treatment. A ghostly, dark academia novel with a nod to the occult and some interesting musical elements and composers (Peter Warlock was a name I didn’t know and I’ve since researched). A compelling and engaging read.