Genres
Description
"After a terrible accident high in the Alps, travel journalist Nick Grevers wakes from a coma to find that his climbing buddy, Augustin, is missing and presumed dead. But Nick claims to not remember anything-even whatever horrible event that led to his maimed face and the plastic surgery that leaves him still in bandages and feeling like a B-movie monster. Sam, Nick's long-suffering boyfriend, wants to be glad that Nick is alive and coming home. But the accident has stirred up terrible memories-and it's beginning to seem that Sam isn't just being haunted by his own mistakes or Nick's own trauma. Because it turns out that-though Nick was the only body airlifted off that mysterious peak-he didn't come home alone, after all. And now, their uninvited guest is awake"--… (more)
Publication
Tor Nightfire (2022), Edition: Reprint, 416 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member readingover50
The book starts off great. A young woman is being attacked by spirits in an isolated house in the middle of a snow storm. We don't know anything about her, other than she is in peril. Then we jump to the story of Nick. Nick was horribly disfigured in a mountaineering accident that claimed the life
As Sam tries to help Nick heal, we learn what happened on the mountain, and what is happening now. The pacing of the book is a little slow. This is what I would call "slow burn" horror. I had a sense of dread that slowly built up. The last section is when things start happening more rapidly. I thought the last 15% of the book was pretty exciting. I enjoyed this book, although I felt it took a long time to read, probably because of the pacing.
I received a free copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
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of his friend Augustin. But something is wrong with Nick. His boyfriend Sam can sense it. So can everyone who comes in contact with him. As Sam tries to help Nick heal, we learn what happened on the mountain, and what is happening now. The pacing of the book is a little slow. This is what I would call "slow burn" horror. I had a sense of dread that slowly built up. The last section is when things start happening more rapidly. I thought the last 15% of the book was pretty exciting. I enjoyed this book, although I felt it took a long time to read, probably because of the pacing.
I received a free copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
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LibraryThing member richardderus
The Publisher Says: NATURE IS CALLING—but they shouldn't have answered.
Travel journalist and mountaineer Nick Grevers awakes from a coma to find that his climbing buddy, Augustin, is missing and presumed dead. Nick’s own injuries are as extensive as they are horrifying. His face wrapped in
He remembers how he and Augustin were mysteriously drawn to the Maudit, a remote and scarcely documented peak in the Swiss Alps.
He remembers how the slopes of Maudit were eerily quiet, and how, when they entered its valley, they got the ominous sense that they were not alone.
He remembers: something was waiting for them...
But it isn’t just the memory of the accident that haunts Nick. Something has awakened inside of him, something that endangers the lives of everyone around him…
It’s one thing to lose your life. It’s another to lose your soul.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: I can't quite believe this is a translation. Its prose rings like a crystal wineglass.
Every year, climbers—sometimes entire teams—disappear into deep glacial voids and die in their frozen darkness. If the mountain is merciful, the drop is deep enough to smash them into silence in one go. Most victims, however, are trapped between blue, narrowing walls of ice, and as their body warmth melts the ice, they sink slowly deeper and deeper, until they die very consciously of asphyxiation.
I can't quite believe I have a son named Sam (he's so much like me it's scary) who lives in a novel. By a Dutch guy. Whom I've never met.
There are November mornings when the cold is clear, crackling, and crisp, but this cold was sticky, syrupy, clung to you. Like it was begging you for help. You, the first organism to have crossed its path, and would you please take it with you and protect it from what's about to happen, because that was much, much worse than the cold itself.
Jesus. The Morose hadn't even got started yet and my metaphors were already going haywire.
I can't quite write a real review yet...still stunned, too scared to go back and figure out why...but it's a week ago the book came out and honestly I'm still shook that all y'all ain't got it on your nightstands yet.
You’ve often asked me why I climb mountains. You’ve also often asked me (I wouldn’t say begged, though it’s not far off the mark) to stop. Our worst argument was about this, and it was the only time I was really afraid that I would lose you. I’ve never been able to fully explain it to you. I wonder if it’s at all possible to fully explain to someone who isn’t a climber. There’s an apparently unbridgeable gap between the thought that I risk my life doing something as trifling as climbing a cold lump of rock and ice…and the notion of traveling through a floating landscape, progressing with utmost concentration while having absolute control of the essential balance that keeps me alive and that, therefore, lets me live. Conquering that gap is possibly the most difficult climb in the life of any alpinist who is in a relationship.
What is wrong with people?! Go get this terrifying, propulsive, exquisitely personal and depressingly universal horror-adjacent thriller. Go on! March, young scalawag.
Travel journalist and mountaineer Nick Grevers awakes from a coma to find that his climbing buddy, Augustin, is missing and presumed dead. Nick’s own injuries are as extensive as they are horrifying. His face wrapped in
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bandages and unable to speak, Nick claims amnesia—but he remembers everything.He remembers how he and Augustin were mysteriously drawn to the Maudit, a remote and scarcely documented peak in the Swiss Alps.
He remembers how the slopes of Maudit were eerily quiet, and how, when they entered its valley, they got the ominous sense that they were not alone.
He remembers: something was waiting for them...
But it isn’t just the memory of the accident that haunts Nick. Something has awakened inside of him, something that endangers the lives of everyone around him…
It’s one thing to lose your life. It’s another to lose your soul.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: I can't quite believe this is a translation. Its prose rings like a crystal wineglass.
Every year, climbers—sometimes entire teams—disappear into deep glacial voids and die in their frozen darkness. If the mountain is merciful, the drop is deep enough to smash them into silence in one go. Most victims, however, are trapped between blue, narrowing walls of ice, and as their body warmth melts the ice, they sink slowly deeper and deeper, until they die very consciously of asphyxiation.
I can't quite believe I have a son named Sam (he's so much like me it's scary) who lives in a novel. By a Dutch guy. Whom I've never met.
There are November mornings when the cold is clear, crackling, and crisp, but this cold was sticky, syrupy, clung to you. Like it was begging you for help. You, the first organism to have crossed its path, and would you please take it with you and protect it from what's about to happen, because that was much, much worse than the cold itself.
Jesus. The Morose hadn't even got started yet and my metaphors were already going haywire.
I can't quite write a real review yet...still stunned, too scared to go back and figure out why...but it's a week ago the book came out and honestly I'm still shook that all y'all ain't got it on your nightstands yet.
You’ve often asked me why I climb mountains. You’ve also often asked me (I wouldn’t say begged, though it’s not far off the mark) to stop. Our worst argument was about this, and it was the only time I was really afraid that I would lose you. I’ve never been able to fully explain it to you. I wonder if it’s at all possible to fully explain to someone who isn’t a climber. There’s an apparently unbridgeable gap between the thought that I risk my life doing something as trifling as climbing a cold lump of rock and ice…and the notion of traveling through a floating landscape, progressing with utmost concentration while having absolute control of the essential balance that keeps me alive and that, therefore, lets me live. Conquering that gap is possibly the most difficult climb in the life of any alpinist who is in a relationship.
What is wrong with people?! Go get this terrifying, propulsive, exquisitely personal and depressingly universal horror-adjacent thriller. Go on! March, young scalawag.
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LibraryThing member CasSprout
Wonderful book! Excellent characters, detailed climbing scenes and real evil.
LibraryThing member PardaMustang
Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt is a haunting and unsettling novel that blends horror and fantasy to create a chilling and immersive reading experience.
Rock climber Nick Grevers tackles the imposing peak that is the Maudit, and fails. A serious accident leaves Nick horribly disfigured, and haunted.
Heuvelt's writing is taut and atmospheric, with complex characters. He expertly builds tension and suspense, and the horror elements of the story are genuinely terrifying. But what sets Echo apart is its underlying themes of fear, paranoia, and the danger of mob mentality. The novel is a commentary on the human psyche and the ways in which we can be driven to unspeakable acts of cruelty. In addition, the look at Dutch culture and folklore is fascinating.
Overall, Huevelt's Echo is a masterful work of horror fiction guaranteed to leave readers on edge long after they're done reading. A definite must-read for fans of Stephen King, Peter Straub, and H.P. Lovecraft, as well as anyone who enjoys a good scare.
*******Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Rock climber Nick Grevers tackles the imposing peak that is the Maudit, and fails. A serious accident leaves Nick horribly disfigured, and haunted.
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Nick's lover, Sam Avery, witnesses his descent into madness. But is it the madness of trauma, grief, and loss, or is it something more? Is the Maudit calling its own back, is Nick losing his mind? Or is it Sam who is?Heuvelt's writing is taut and atmospheric, with complex characters. He expertly builds tension and suspense, and the horror elements of the story are genuinely terrifying. But what sets Echo apart is its underlying themes of fear, paranoia, and the danger of mob mentality. The novel is a commentary on the human psyche and the ways in which we can be driven to unspeakable acts of cruelty. In addition, the look at Dutch culture and folklore is fascinating.
Overall, Huevelt's Echo is a masterful work of horror fiction guaranteed to leave readers on edge long after they're done reading. A definite must-read for fans of Stephen King, Peter Straub, and H.P. Lovecraft, as well as anyone who enjoys a good scare.
*******Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
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LibraryThing member lyrrael
Normally a slow creep like this would be 100% my thing, but I just couldn't stay into it this time.
Awards
Locus Award (Finalist — 2023)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2022-02-08
Physical description
416 p.; 9.65 inches
ISBN
1250759552 / 9781250759559