The Vessel

It's short. I'm a long time Nevill reader and this is his shortest novel to date. It is clear concise and clever. I was laughing in joy at the end. It is a 3 act play with Flo, Jess and Izzy. This is a fun brisk visual feast. It has moments that shock and the build is fun. As much as I love working my way through his monster NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE, or thrill to the twist in UNDER A WATCHFUL EYE, having a Nevill that can be read in a sitting is fun. It helps that it still has all the horrors of The Ritual built in. When's the film?

I liked this book, it was an odd and unsettling story though. The way the narratives were woven in somewhat misleading ways only to tie everything neatly together in a satisfying ending was well done.

I didn't know what to expect going into this but I'd heard good thing. I wasn't disappointed. Was I as scared as I'd anticipated to be? No. I think that's why I'd give it a 3.8. I'm a caregiver so this was an interesting setting for me and very real details. Great short read! Give it a go!

In need of money, Jess is determined to find a better life for herself, away from her abusive former husband, and for her daughter, Izzy, to get her away from bullies at school. As such, Jess accepts a position as a care giver to “a shrunken figure within a wheelchair, Mrs. Florence Gardner.” The frail eighty-nine-year-old invalid suffers from dementia and lives in a huge, rambling manse, Nerthus House, “a dark warren that hasn’t been cleared, let alone tidied. In years.” Flo, in spite of “her rheumy eyes,” can be incredibly fast as Jess learns when she gets too close to the old woman, angering her, and Jess gets slapped and spat upon. Behind Flo’s “emaciated figure,” haggard appearance, and dully staring eyes, however, lies much, much more than appears—something both Jess and Izzy begin to discover much to their dismay.THE VESSEL (2022; 170 pp.) is Adam L. G. Nevill’s eleventh novel. A work of folk horror, the novel contains all of the usual brilliant, thoughtful, and creative writing one expects from this author. However, it also differs from Nevill’s usual work in a major way. THE VESSEL is much shorter than Nevill’s other novels and the pace is much quicker. The author explains the reason for this in his wonderfully insightful and forthright “Story Notes: About This Horror” at the book’s conclusion.Readers need not be concerned that the length of the work doesn’t deliver the usual chills and twists of an Adam Nevill novel.The book opens with an atmospheric uncanniness filled with concise but vivid descriptions of the area surrounding Nerthus House and the house’s shambolic interior. As the story progresses, the seemingly inexplicable, private, and mysterious attraction Izzy appears to hold for Flo is chilling. Nevill quickly builds suspense as more and more revelations are made, many without an immediate explanation, and the ambience of dread thickens. Nevill’s approach to his storytelling will have readers tackling the pages of THE VESSEL at a frenzied pace.For those who enjoy folk horror, THE VESSEL is a veritable if expeditious feast. Nevill deftly describes the woods, the dark pond near Nerthus House, the sometimes quite unnatural sounds coming from the wild, the behavior of the birds, the eerie, barely recognizable, “unlabelled artefacts” Jess stumbles across in the chaotic clutter of the vicarage, and the silent neighbors who shy away from and will not make eye contact with Jess. All of these elements and much more add to the shadowy supernatural aura that lingers throughout the novel. Additionally, readers will find the complexity of what lingers behind Flo’s usually expressionless appearance imposing even though her thoughts are not articulated.The final pages of THE VESSEL are a cinematic nightmare on paper, stunningly wrought by the author. Events echo a distorted, tumultuous conclusion of a famous Greek tragedy which will go unnamed. Yet among the horrors in the final portion of THE VESSEL, human as well as inhuman, at the climax of the novel there is an amazing and welcome warmth which makes the culmination (as well as the entirety) of THE VESSEL a remarkable and most satisfying accomplishment by Adam Nevill as well as a most disquieting and extremely pleasurable reading experience.

Let me start off by saying that I enjoyed The Vessel. I especially loved the ending. It’s a shorter book, as the author intended, and can be consumed in a couple of sittings. I think, had the book been longer, it would have been a 5 star read.There were a couple of truly creepy (to me) scenes in the book. Having read Cunning Folk, I already knew this author had the skills to scare me and I wasn’t disappointed. I do think I will read his other works.A major issue I had was that our protagonist, Jess, didn’t seem as scared as someone in her shoes would have been, in regards to her client (Flo) and the house. It’s clear that Jess sympathizes with Flo regardless of the various events that take place. But I stand firm that she still could’ve expressed more fear. Without it, we didn’t have the sense of impending doom we could’ve had and the build-up was lacking.Now, where the protagonist DOES express a healthy amount of fear is with her abusive ex. So, for this part of the story, we do feel dread, plus, hints are dropped that something is eventually going to happen again on that front. BUT, again, if the book were longer, the author really could have built up the tension there.Overall, it was a fun read and I would recommend any horror lover give it go.

An old vicarige with an apparently demented and disturbed woman; the house and the grove seem to hold an ancient secret ...

Quite surprising, mixing elements from witchcraft and ordinary life. I like the fact that one of the main characters is an elder lady - it’s quite uncommon to see old people as protagonists, especially portrayed with a difficult personality and in a bad light.As a non-native English speaker, I found it difficult to jump from a mainstream book to this one. I work as a writer, primarily writing in English, and even so I found the prose and manner of writing quite polished and intricate. (This isn’t a bad critique, it’s just a fact.) Sometimes I needed a moment to wrap my head round it, but once you grow accustomed to it, it flows.I’ve got my eye on other titles from this author. Can’t wait.

I had been meaning to read this for a while and how I wish I had sooner. Captured me from the start and it has been my night read due to insomnia ~ was unable to put it down. This book touches on a subject matter which is very personal to me and I feel it was dealt with in such a good way. The specific mentions of the anger which was being masked behind a cheerful facade is completely correct and the author has done such a brilliant job of portraying that. The group of empowering women, while not the done thing in reality, feels very fitting. The characters are all distinctive and appear readily while reading. The writing was so good it was as though I was standing there, observing the different scenes. The numerous hints regarding the abuse and the way that he was clearly putting on the Mr Nice Guy act, where he was apparently so devoted to his daughter, were picked up on as I have encountered that. The plot with the female residents of this particular street is one that I have not really encountered previously and I absolutely love it. There was the thread of fear throughout that served to keep me in edge with the very unexpected, but welcomed, ending. I had previously bought another book by this author and did not get around to reading it but I am planning on starting that one now. Thank you for this fantastic read. Is it wrong to wish to encounter and belong to such a group of women? The hints throughout all suddenly hit home with the independence with the tending of the well looked after hedge, for example. The shopping for the reduced food accompanied by the Mr Good Guy diving in to save the day by purchasing the toy that was so wanted. Yet he did not think about practical items such as school shoes, instead he went for the options that would most appeal to the child. I have to say that when certain items were discovered and disturbed in the house that I had expected a certain elderly lady to be taken over by spirits or the main character to be. Excellent twist that was carried out so very well. Ten out of ten.

I wish it were longer, the plot didn’t need to drawn out anymore I just enjoyed the atmosphere of the book and would have like to have spent more time with it. Pretty typical Adam Nevill fare, if you like one you tend to like them all.

Jess trying to escape her ex-husband and the people tormenting her will move with her daughter Izzy in a big house as caretaker for an old woman who has dementia.More of a creepy atmosphere then a straight horror novel but it is still quite enjoyable.