The Cabin at the End of the World
The Bram Stoker Award-winning author of A Head Full of Ghosts adds an inventive twist to the home invasion horror story in a heart-palpitating novel of psychological suspense that recalls Stephen King’s Misery, Ruth Ware’s In a Dark, Dark Wood, and Jack Ketchum’s cult hit The Girl Next Door.
Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road.
One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, "None of what’s going to happen is your fault". Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: "Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world."
Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined. The Cabin at the End of the World is a masterpiece of terror and suspense from the fantastically fertile imagination of Paul Tremblay
Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense
Author: Paul Tremblay
Published June 26th 2018 by William Morrow
Hardcover, 272 pages
My Review
You are on vacation, in a rented cabin, sitting on the porch overlooking the lake. Your daughter is outside playing and comes running into the house frightened like you have never seen her. The parent tactic: Either you caudal her…or you allow her some freedom and not press on the matter.
Eric and Andrew are in that situation. Like with any couple, there is usually the stricter parent and the one that is more lax. To find that balance is one that goes on in all families….
Wen is seven years old and she has a scientific mind. Now on vacation, she is exploring the fields outside the cabin near the woods and she is catching and documenting grasshoppers. Wen is adopted and has a cleft palette. She is painfully aware of her smile that still isn’t perfect after many surgeries.
Along comes a big man. He introduces himself to her as Leonard…and like a great con-artist that he is, he gains Wren’s trust through talking and catching the grasshoppers. After a while, Leonard tells her that he is sorry about what is about to happen to her, her parents and the world. THIS is why Wren has become so upset!
Chilling!
From here Leonard and his “friends” come towards the cabin and try to talk their way into it. Talking turns into hacking in the door, making threats and breaking into the basement door.
This book definitely has a brutal and chilling vibe. These people that broke into that cabin inform Eric, Andrew and Wren (YES, this is all happening in front of the little girl) that one of them has to be a sacrifice to save the world. And if they could not agree or abide, then Leonard would make the choice.
The threat is hinged on time. If they can’t agree on a willing sacrifice, then another has to be made to avoid the catastrophe.
So this turns bad. Violent, raw, sad and psycho!
***
I saw this book make the rounds on the media. Nowadays I don’t always read the blurb before I begin a book. Something about it had intrigued me.
Upon reading it I found myself not in love with it. It was medium range for me. This is admittedly not my usual genre of book. I would love to give “horror” more of a try, but I guess I am more into a visceral fright then a bludgeon ax psycho mash up. This is partially my fault for not knowing what I was getting into.
The plot had definitely some unexpected turns. With a little girl involved, I did not want it to go somewhere that would be extremely ( how should I say it? ) hurtful, bad. Without saying to much about who sacrificed whom and or who lived, the cabin turned into a torture chamber! One just never knew by whom the next blow or backstab came from. A page turner with suspense at the constant.
Give it a try…most likely you can handle this horror book better than I can. No doubt!