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Cunning Folk

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Cunning Folk

By: Adam Nevill
Narrated by: Peter Walters
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About this listen

A compelling folk-horror story of deadly rivalry and the oldest magic from the author of The Ritual, The Reddening, No One Gets Out Alive and the four times winner of The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel.

No home is heaven with hell next door.

Money's tight and their new home is a fixer-upper. Deep in rural South West England, with an ancient wood at the foot of the garden, Tom and his family are miles from anywhere and anyone familiar. His wife, Fiona, was never convinced that buying the money-pit at auction was a good idea. Not least because the previous owner committed suicide. Though no one can explain why.

Within days of crossing the threshold, when hostilities break out with the elderly couple next door, Tom's dreams of future contentment are threatened by an escalating tit-for-tat campaign of petty damage and disruption.

Increasingly isolated and tormented, Tom risks losing his home, everyone dear to him, and his mind. Because, surely, only the mad would suspect that the oddballs across the hedgerow command unearthly powers. A malicious magic even older than the eerie wood and the strange barrow therein. A hallowed realm from where, he suspects, his neighbours draw a hideous power.

“Adam Nevill excels at making nightmares real.” (Guardian)

“Nevill has crafted some of the tensest scariest horror this reviewer has read in years.” (SFX)

©2021 Adam Nevill (P)2021 Ritual Limited
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All stars
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When I asked Adam L.G. Nevill which of his novels he’s most proud of, he eloquently answered that “each was the best [he] could do at the time,” which is a smart response. He then added “…of late, ‘Cunning Folk’ [was] technically and aesthetically, what [he] wanted to write seemed to marry.”

Cunning Folk is Nevill playing in his wheelhouse. Brilliantly paced, at times darkly amusing, at times tragic, folk horror. Our protagonist’s obsessive descent is brilliantly realised and reads like “Gothic” by Philip Fracassi, but less pulpy, “The Shining” but less Shirley Jackson on crack, or Jeff Nichols 2011 gem “Take Shelter.” Mash this with a healthy dose of The League of Gentlemen - I couldn’t get Edward’s “there’s nothing for you here” and Tubbs’ cries of “we didn’t burn them!” out of my head everything the vindictive Moots were on the page - and you get Cunning Folk.

The novel’s well-worn tropes are delivered with such relish, it feels original and I don’t think Nevill’s writing has been better. It’s almost cinematic and it has some absolutely belting dialogue…

‘Your neighbours are cunning folk’
‘Is that a New Age definition of c**ts?’

…was a particularly tasty morsel that made me chuckle. Beyond the black humour there’s genuine darkness, and the final confrontation leaves a lasting impression, unsettling in its question of whether we truly can ever escape our demons unscathed, if indeed, at all.

“Your neighbours are cunning folk,”

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I swear to god if he said trauma or decade ONE MORE TIME I was going to lose it!

Great story but…

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The horror comes in different shapes in Adam Nevill’s books. This time is NEIGHBORS! Embrace yourself because you are about to sink into a world of craziness and grotesque!

strange and grotesque

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Another fantastic book from Adam Nevill, discovered the author through the Ritual adaptation and haven’t looked back. This one really got under my skin probably more so than No One Gets Out Alive. A tour de force in folk terror, culminating in something quiet cosmic and otherworldly. Here’s hoping it won’t be to long a wait for Adam’s next book. Tremendous!

Cunning folk

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Adam Neville always writes great horror, and this is no exception, but not a great audio book. Sadly the narrator is woefully miscast, performing the book like a whimsical children's novel, rather than a horror. Complete with some truly baffling pronunciation that I've never heard before!

Great story, miscast narrator

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