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.
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A motionless man stands alone in the hall, the foundations of his thick legs sunk into dusty boots. BEFORE THE BEGINNING
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(Independently Published, 25 October 2021, ebook, 336 pages, bought from @AmazonKindle)
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Nevill has become my favourite horror writer since I listened to the mesmerising audiobook of The Ritual a couple of years ago. I couldn't wait to read Cunning Folk. I haven't read much folk horror so I was intrigued. The book starts of innocently enough with Tom rubbing his eccentric neighbours up the wrong way and the early chapters play out like an episode of Nightmare Neighbours Next Door. But then things get very strange and dark. Tom, tired of the Moot's hostility destroys their precious trees which breach his property and all hell, literally breaks loose. Things go down a very dark rabbit hole from that moment. I thought this was a great, compelling read.
