Likened to the Secret History, An He Shall Appear follows an unnamed narrator as he arrives at Cambridge University to study Music. With a working class background, He finds it difficult to assimilate with his classmates until he meets Bryn Cavendish, an enigmatic magician.

It was an interesting read but the execution was not for me. We move from his days at Cambridge to the present where is has returned to the University. The lines blur between truth and imagination, as he becomes more and more unreliable. Overall, I thought it was going well until the end which I can't talk about without spoiling the book. But it didn't quite fit to what had been building from the previous chapters. I did like Tim as a character but everyone else was forgettable.

Thank you to 4th Estate and William Collins | Fourth Estate for the ARC in exchange for the honest review.

Intriguing but not quite gripping. And He Shall Appear has all the right ingredients for a great dark academia story – a mysterious college setting, a music student drawn into the world of a fascinating but secretive classmate, and some interesting themes about identity and perception.

The writing is smooth, and the atmosphere really nails that eerie gothic vibe.

That said, while it’s enjoyable, I felt like the plot didn’t develop enough to really keep me hooked. The characters and setting are compelling, but it left me wanting more in terms of action or deeper connection.

Definitely enjoyable, but it didn’t fully hit the mark for me.

If you’ve been looking for a book similar to The Secret History then look no further. Dark academia and a suspense filled story, perfect for the colder months.

I will definitely keep an eye out for what this author publishes next.

Having read such glowing reviews I was intrigued to read this book. There's no doubt it's an interesting and thought provoking read. But I think it just wasn't my cup of tea. It's a personal pet peeve of mine when we don't learn the name of our protagonist. And I didn't like any of the characters, which wouldn't necessarily make me dislike the book as obviously some characters are meant to be unlikeable. The dynamic between the protagonist and Bryn was disturbing but there was a lot left unresolved. I just didn't connect or really care what happened to anyone and was left feeling confused and unmoved. Perhaps having a more literal brain, I missed subtleties that others picked up on.

Thoroughly enjoyed this , clearly inspired by others in the gothic mystery genre and I thought was a good addition
Kept me turning the pages and would read another of this authors

I love a slice of dark academia, particularly set in universities, so I jumped at the chance to review And He Shall Appear. An unnamed music scholar arrives at Cambridge University where he finds himself a fish-out-of-water. He is offered the friendship of other ‘outcasts’ but eschews theses in favour of ingratiating himself with the college’s acknowledged leader and the person around whom all social acceptance revolves. Bryn is the archetypal golden boy with the silver spoon in his mouth and around him a cohort of privileged, disdainful students gather. However, even when he seems to have made it in to Bryn’s inner circle, our narrator wonders if he has truly been accepted or if he is still possibly the butt of some secret joke, and whether or not Bryn has a darker, crueller side to his nature.

This may seem like a typical dark academia novel that follows the standard tropes but, in actual fact, there is a lot to mark it out as something different in the genre. The suggestion of the supernatural is one of these factors. The other is the way the book ends, with the book taking a right turn down a path I did not expect and found me questioning everything I thought I understood about the relationship between the two young men, just as the narrator ends up doing years down the line.

The rising is extremely accomplished, I loved the way the author makes the narrators own identity fuzzy and unformed which accentuates how he is happy to change and reform himself to be what he thinks he needs to be to fit in with the world and the group he is so desperate to be a part of, but this lack of self knowledge and confidence ends up being a part of his undoing. Although there are few of the characters that are pleasant and appealing, they are all compelling and it is very hard to get them out of your mind once you start reading. Proof that we don’t need characters to be nice, just memorable.

The book is very bleak and left me extremely unsettled by the end, but that is what we come to this genre expecting. It is one of the better additions to the canon that I have read it recent years and I felt like it has got my 2025 reading year off to a strong start. One I would definitely recommend to anyone who loves this genre.

Dark academia is en vogue at the moment, spawning its own sub-sub-genres all over the place. Kate van der Borgh's debut, And He Shall Appear, is what I shall refer to as classic dark academia, with a direct through-line from The Secret History. Our unnamed narrator arrives at an unnamed Cambridge college (Corpus Christi) in the early 00s (I feel like I can date it precisely to somewhere between about 2002 and 2004, as Facebook and I arrived at Cambridge in 2005, and the narrator tells us this was pre-Facebook). Otherwise, van der Borgh evokes a Cambridge that is exactly, painfully how I remember it, with an attention to detail that is, annoyingly, rare in Oxbridge novels. She hits all the beats of dark academia, but so perfectly that it feels like she is reinventing the genre.

Have we ever really had a properly good dark academia novel set in the real world?* The Secret History might be the sub-genre's source of inspiration, but in many ways after Bunny's death it veers far away from the academic. Van der Borgh writes so well that And He Shall Appear becomes genuinely creepy and unsettling as our narrator becomes obsessed with fellow student Bryn, whom he suspects may be dabbling in dark magic. His obsession with Bryn also feels so much more real than this trope usually does, with a series of beautifully vivid set-pieces: magic card tricks at a room party, a dive from a roof into a swimming pool, occult costumes at formal hall. The novel bounces between occult influences from The Blair Witch Project to M.R. James's 'Casting the Runes', which worked brilliantly for me (van der Borgh and I clearly share a sense of what is truly frightening). And then there's that ending. 'For me', Bryn says earlier in the novel, 'magic is a reminder that, for some of us, anything is possible. Why should we accept an ordinary life when we can dream of more?' This, van der Borgh seems to be saying, is why dark academia is such a comfort to us, even when it's also horror. Better to believe that our lives are cursed or fated than that we have no meaningful story at all. 4.5 stars.

*my favourite fantasy dark academia will probably forever be Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education

An unsettling and dark novel, following the progress of an unnamed young Cambridge music scholar who develops an obsession with befriending Bryn, a skilled magician and party animal. Bryn’s magic becomes darker and more sinister and the story spirals into a riveting thriller.

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.