*The 5th book in the 13 Books of Fall is Dracula, so I saved this post to have something to share this week.
What an amazing ride this book was! It opens with a rather puzzling chapter: four adults went missing in the Kentucky woods a few months ago. One was found as a skeleton — complete clean of all flesh. Another had his chest carved open like a picnic basket. The third is missing his eyes, tongue, and toes. Where is the fourth? Is she the murderer and escaped?
Rewind back to Clay, a graduate student studying…. something I completely missed. He wants his PhD and needs research, which involves flying over an area of Kentucky in which no one has climbed the rock faces. He gets someone with a mini plane and a special tool that charts the landscape, during which they discover a rock wall that is untouched. Once on the ground, Clay, who rock climbs recreationally, contacts his friend Dylan, a young woman trying to make a career of rock climbing. She’s just landed a coveted sponsorship, so if she can film herself climbing while Clay foots most of the bill for his PhD research, she’s in. Clay brings on board Sylvia, a botany student, to record data. Dylan recruits her boyfriend, Luke, who can have her on belay (a safety practice) while she climbs. Luke brings his beloved dog.
Immediately, the dog has its hackles up as the four trek a short three miles into the woods. At one point, they start to wonder why they can’t hear the busy freeway anymore. Or birds. Or, like, anything living. Sylvia notices most of the plants are poisonous, deadly, itchy — all negative adjectives. Finally, they arrive at the rock and set up camp. Dylan feels drawn to the wall, and it’s unclear if she’s just anxious to get going or if there is a sinister element tempting her. The next morning, the poor dog is gone, and Luke is devastated. Then, everything falls apart.
This Wretched Valley is an excellent ride full of ghosts from different time periods, meaning Kiefer has to navigate the clothes, beliefs, and language of each ghostly group. The landscape won’t let the four main characters leave, replicating itself like an endless video game. And the soil is hungry and wants to suck your bones clean. I was so drawn into this novel and didn’t want to put it down. Jenny Kiefer was the perfect person to write it: she’s a Kentucky native and resident, a rock climber, and owns a horror bookstore. That’s a hat trick in my mind. Tension increased as one person was injured and held the others back (there’s always one!). Suspicions were pushed into full-blown delusions as the four lost trust in each other. The setting was a realistic character in itself, twisted to become a place of true evil. A highly recommended debut novel.
Grab the Lapels 
As always I enjoyed your wrote up and loved that you enjoyed the book so much. It’s not really for me, but I love your description of the landscape’s involvement in it all, of the setting as character. Sounds compellingly written.
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Isn’t it just wonderful to feel like you’re really there with the characters? It makes me notice more when I cannot picture where I am in other books.
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Yes, you are right it is!
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Ooh, this sounds like a perfect setting for a spooky story! And I’ve not heard of a horror book involving rock climbing like this. It’s such an intense hobby that it seems like it lends itself to stories of stressful situations.
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Yes! I think rock climbing horror can depend on stories like 127 Hours to provide built in fear. The author of this novel owns a horror bookstore in Kentucky that I would love to visit.
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I think you have to be a little fearless to be a successful rock climber so creating something scary enough to horrify a rock climber means it’s going to be pretty scary!
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I literally went, “Uggghhh” out loud and shuddered when I read your review. Sounds like nothing I want to touch with a ten foot pole. But I am so glad you loved it! I recommended it to my horror-loving coworker!
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Aww, thanks for passing along the recommendation. I hope your coworker totally digs it.
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You and she would have a fun time talking about horror movies and books! 🙂
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[…] Sheep by Rachel HarrisonWeek of October 13: Pretty Girls by Karin SlaughterWeek of October 20: This Wretched Valley by Jennifer KieferWeek of October 27: Unbound by Tarana BurkeWeek of November 3: Disabled Ecologies […]
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Sounds creepy! Also, I need to comment on the cover and how the person looks like snot dangling from the skeleton rockface 😀
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Yaaaas, I love that cover. And the author is so in her zone (Kentucky, rock climbing, horror fanatic) that the whole book just comes to life.
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[…] Between. I also read one two of the most memorable horror novels I’ve come across in ages: This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer and Mister Magic by Kiersten […]
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[…] to see that in your bio, you note that you are “an avid crafter.” For your previous novel, This Wretched Valley, your bio said you are “an avid rock climber” — a sport that takes the characters to the […]
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