This trip is going to be Dylan’s big break. Her geologist friend Clay has discovered an untouched cliff face in the Kentucky wilderness, and she is going to be the first person to climb it. Together with Clay, his research assistant Sylvia, and Dylan’s boyfriend Luke, Dylan is going to document her achievement on Instagram and finally cement her place as the next rising star in rock climbing.
Seven months later, three bodies are discovered in the trees just off the highway. All are in various states of decay: one a stark, white skeleton; the second emptied of its organs; and the third a mutilated corpse with the tongue, eyes, ears, and fingers removed. But Dylan is still missing—and no trace of her, dead or alive, has been discovered.
Were the climbers murdered? Did they succumb to cannibalism? Or are their impossible bodies the work of an even more sinister force?
While I’m not a writer myself, I’m of course familiar with the old adage for writers, “write what you know.”
That certainly seems to be the approach that Jenny Kiefer took with her debut novel, THIS WRETCHED VALLEY. Kiefer is a rock climber from the Louisville, Kentucky area. She is also the owner of Butcher Cabin Books, a specialty horror bookstore (I am DYING to go!) in Louisville.
So it stands to reason her first book would be a grueling survival horror novel set in the wilds of Kentucky, with rock climbing at the heart of the story! This book was like the demon spawn of “The Blair Witch Project” and “Free Solo” (literally one of my top ten movies) and I loved it!
I will say up front this is a book where I never felt totally attached to the characters & that’s usually a pretty big issue for me. But there was ultimately more than enough there for me, character-wise, on top of the absolutely harrowing & bonkers story unfolding around the characters.
Dylan Prescott is an up & coming rock climber, with some very recent endorsement deals & a lot she wants to prove to the climbing world.
She gets a great opportunity when an old friend, Clay, asks for her help: Clay is a geology student (and a decent climber himself) and he’s been working on a new technology that will allow him to find untouched cliffs in the wild. Great climbing spots that have never been climbed before are highly coveted, and so Clay sees it as a business opportunity. For Dylan, it’s all about the climbing. Getting to name the routes up the wall. To be the first. This is potentially a huge moment for Dylan & she immediately says yes.
So Dylan & Clay venture into the woods to stake their claim. They are joined by Sylvia, a research assistant who specializes in botany, as well as Luke, Dylan’s boyfriend.
Also joining the group is Slade, Jake’s dog! Towards the end of my review I’ll include a little bit about what happens to Slade, for those who (like me) appreciate a heads up where dogs are concerned!
Almost right away, things in the woods feel…off. Disorienting. Ominous. And Dylan feels drawn to the new rock wall in a way that is just…unnatural.
Shit gets really, really fucking weird out there, in other words.
One of the elements I really liked here was Dylan’s relationship with social media, and how it impacts her life & her relationship with Luke. She’s hoping to make climbing a full-time gig, and to that end, she is stuck between feeling compelled to post content (bad signal notwithstanding) and to climb just for the love of it. And it was just interesting to see the strain that it all has put on her & Luke.
If I related to anyone in this book it was Luke, because this guy is STRESSED about his dog, and well…if you’ve ever met me, I am also STRESSED about my dogs a lot! In fact, stressing about Slade *with* Luke really contributed to my overall anxiety reading THIS WRETCHED VALLEY. Especially because (HERE THERE BE DOG SPOILERS) Slade goes missing pretty early in the novel, and it’s like…Luke just loses his grip, only to constantly be met with platitudes like “oh, I’m sure he’s around, don’t worry, he’ll be fine” because everyone wants to stay by the cliff & focus on the project.
EVEN MORE DOG-RELATED SPOILERS: Slade stays missing for most of the last half of the book, and at one point is very credibly feared dead. But he does make it out in the end!
This was a really strong debut! Like I mentioned, I can’t say that I was particularly in love with the characters, but the book is very well written, and Kiefer is incredibly skilled at building up a sense of dread and disorientation in the reader. Really excited for her next book, CRAFTING FOR SINNERS!
Grimdark Dad 