Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
The Ritual
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
99p for the first 3 months
Buy Now for £12.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
From Britain's 'master of horror', Adam Nevill, comes The Ritual, winner of the August Derleth Award and perfect for fans of Stephen King. Now a major film with Rafe Spall.
In The Ritual, four old university friends reunite for a hiking trip in the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle. No longer young men, they have little left in common and tensions rise as they struggle to connect. Frustrated and tired, they take a shortcut that turns their hike into a nightmare that could cost them their lives.
Lost, hungry and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, they stumble across an isolated old house. Inside, they find the macabre remains of old rites and pagan sacrifices; ancient artefacts and unidentifiable bones. A place of dark ritual and home to a bestial presence that is still present in the ancient forest, and now they're the prey.
As the four friends struggle toward salvation they discover that death doesn't come easy among these ancient trees....
More from the same
What listeners say about The Ritual
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- HMPS64
- 22-11-16
gripping paranormal thriller
a good read but rather samey after a while. plot tends to drag on for longer than necessary and a rather dubious ending.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- B. M. R. Hall
- 03-12-20
Brilliant Narrator
Good horror book with a fantastic narrator. Had a knack for accents and made it easy to discern the different characters throughout and really brought them to life. Yhoroughly enjoyed it!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Becky
- 11-02-22
Awful narration!
Narrator did not suit the tone of the book. A darker grittier voice would have been perfect.
This narrator could easy be a guy in a pub chatting to his mates. That kind of chatty vibe and pitch. Just did not suit at all. Spoiled the audiobook for me. The story was very good though!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Adaline
- 25-02-17
I'm not sure what I expected but I didn't get it.
Before I bought this book, I read the reviews and I was excited.
However, having waded through it, as if I were in that dark forest, I was sadly disappointed.
The story begins and ends without explanation.
The narration did not help.
The book left too many questions unanswered for it to be satisfying.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kie
- 15-02-21
A mixed bag, but definitely deserves a listen
A tale of two halves. The first act is an expertly structured survival horror, very claustrophobic with a palpable sense of dread. Then, unexpectedly, the story suddenly pivots, with the second act veering into almost black comedy and whilst not bad is overlong and repetitive.
The Ritual redeems itself with the final few chapters which culminate with a very lucid ending.
Whilst not perfect (it could have been) it's still well worth a listen. 4/5
Narration is superb.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Elyssa
- 20-10-22
First part much stronger
I have mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed the insight into male friendship at the beginning of the book, within the highly atmospheric setting of the wilderness. However, I do agree that there was a lot of religion and I can’t say I was actually scared at any point, even though, as it happens, I was listening whilst at work on location of a horror film set at night in a forest. The second half was slightly comical and gory, not something I would go for in a book. The moral at the end was powerful, if slightly unsatisfying when it comes to the narrative.
The performance was good and I kinda loved how the narrator would cheerfully announce the chapter numbers right after yet another horrific scene. That was funny.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Luis
- 19-02-23
Genuinely Unsettling
This really got under my skin in parts, in a good way. The premise is simple, with four friends lost in ancient Scandinavian woods, but there are unknown forces stalking them. Its the unknown thats really good here, the stalker is rarely seen and always obscured. Part 1 is some of the best horror I've seen, with part 2 losing its way somewhat but quickly regaining full steam by the end. Narration is excellent also.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Buccephalus
- 26-01-22
Excellent book,very good characters.
I really enjoyed this audio book.Its certainly light
years better than the film adaptation too ,so if you've seen the film first you may be surprised how much better the book is.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- A Customer
- 09-11-17
Surprised that listeners found this scary...
I purchased this book on the strength of the reviews but after finishing it (today), I'm, genuinely surprised that people found it scary. I love books with suspense and chills, rather than gore, but Adam Nevill seems to be channelling over used topics (lost in the woods), clichéd characters and both repetitive descriptive words (if I heard "verdure" one more time, I'd have screamed in pain, not horror!) and story progression.
I wanted to like it, honestly, I tried... going in with an open mind and a friendly disposition to the narrative style and placement of the story (a dense Northern forest) but it just fell flat; so much so that when the narrator said "Part 2", I sighed in agony of only reaching a mid-point. If the book achieved anything, it did, although unintended, relay the feeling of monotony and desperation that the characters felt when lost in the woods... 'when will this journey end!' I too wanted it to be over and only continued on because I'm a completist and kept hoping it would get a little better.
I won't say much more about the story itself because I'd like to avoid spoiling it for others who decide they want to read it but I'd be surprised if anyone who enjoys this genre finds anything new or interesting in The Ritual. Predictable, repetitive and feeling like 'horror-by-numbers', it is hard to recommend and I think most people would struggle to find it enthralling and scary, even were they to be reading it in a tent, in the middle of a forest, at night.
Lastly, David Thorpe's narration was good - he does his best with the source material and I only have one, very minor, criticism. I found the sing-song nature with which he says the chapter and number (think happy voice!) at odds with the tone he was trying to set with his narration (which is pretty obvious given the genre). In my opinion, it broke any tension that there was building up and brought you right back to where you were, rather than getting swept away with the story. Given that I already struggled to find the narrative engaging, this only added to the lack of engagement.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark
- 15-04-18
great listen
Would you listen to The Ritual again? Why?
yeah definitely, the narrator really made this book for me, great job!
What other book might you compare The Ritual to, and why?
I've not read a book like this one, but the closest thing i can compare it to is the Blair witch project
Which scene did you most enjoy?
still in the process of listening to it. The scene where Luke and Dom are arguing in the tent, gave a little giggle.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!