Book Review: No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill
Title: No One Gets Out Alive
Author: Adam Nevill
Release date: October 23rd, 2014
Over the last five years or so, Adam Nevill has been a constant in my reading world. Now, I know that’s odd – me being a massive horror reader and such – but after joining Kendall Reviews, Gavin was telling me almost daily that I needed to reach Nevill. At first I was hesitant. What if I didn’t like his work? I wouldn’t want to sadden Gavin. And oddly, I had watched and loved ‘The Ritual’ movie. And yes, blah blah, I know the movie and the book were different blah blah. I loved the movie, LOVED the book (yes, even the ending good grief), but I just hadn’t dove into his work. So, slowly, I began to fix that and I have to say, Nevill is absolutely the closest thing to my favorite author not named Andrew Pyper.
‘No One Gets Out Alive’ was released back in 2014, but was recently adapted into a feature Netflix movie. I haven’t watched that yet, I will at some point, but the reality of my life is, I have far more time to read than I do to watch scary movies with a young kid. He can’t see what I’m reading on my Kindle, which makes it far more kid-friendly when he’s around.
I’d have to take a look, but this is for sure my third Nevill read in 2022, having previously read Lost Girl (phenomenal) and The Vessel (good, and I’ll get to why I found it good not great in a minute – sorry Adam!) and now this one. I might’ve read another novel, but I can’t recall off the top of my head, and immediately after finishing this one, I searched my Kindle to see what I had left of his to read that I haven’t read yet and decided to start ‘Hasty for the Dark.’
With ‘No One Gets Out Alive’ I knew I was in for a roller coaster. I knew this would be a haunted house book like no other and having had the bejesus scared out of me with his descriptions in Last Days in an abandoned apartment complex, I was slightly nervous going in.
What I liked: The story begins simple enough. Stephanie has recently fled her abusive and alcoholic step-mom. She’s broken up with her boyfriend, Ryan, and now has rented a room in a decrepit house so that she can start work with a temp agency in the hopes of getting her life on track. But from the get-go, we can see the house isn’t right, the ‘owner,’ Knacker isn’t right and with the opening chapter we get a supernatural presence introducing itself and letting its weight settle on the end of her bed in the dark.
I can’t accurately and efficiently describe how dark and grimy this book is. I tweeted about it – saying that at the half way point 90% of the book was creating a palpable dread that leaked from my Kindle and pulled the shadows in the corner of the room closer. No matter how hard Stephanie tries to get out and flee this house, she’s unable. Either due to finances, Knacker’s manipulation or the very real fact that whatever is holding this house hostage now has its hooks into her as well.
Nevill never lets up, which is a mind-boggling thing to process when you consider this book is almost 650 pages long. But much like how Stephen King commands the reader to follow through his door stoppers, Nevill does the same and at no point was I wondering when this book would be over or wishing that things would pick up. There’s not a single moment of ‘slowness’ in here and I think part of that is the fact that all but I think three chapters were quick and snappy. The book rampages along and with so many gasp-creating chapter ending cliff hangers, you are compelled to flip the page and continue on.
Now, I will say, Nevill is a crafty SOB (I can say that here because I’m still banned from reviewing on Amazon so this won’t get flagged lol!) in that he has a during and after portion. It’s frankly a genius move. Far too often the book ends where the main aspect ends and we don’t get to see the after. Not so here. Nevill continues the story, focusing now on how Stephanie is coping and dealing with the very real events of her being imprisoned and abused, as well as the potentially ‘not-real’ events that occurred. Did they actually happen? Did she have an emotion and mental breakdown over the atrocities she experienced?
It’s a fantastic aspect and it works really well, especially when we see the true horrors of this entity and learn about it in the classic Nevill-folklore manner.
What I didn’t like: I think some people may be put off by the length. I get it. The novella and short novel has really exploded in popularity over the last few years (and I’m no better, look at my own body of work to see I’m sat firmly in those two page count worlds), but after having recently read Nevill’s ‘The Vessel,’ the thing that kept me from considering that one great and only good (again, sorry Adam!) was that it felt a bit like there was so much more that could’ve been added in or filled in. It was like a black and white photo missing the color. So, when comparing The Vessel to No One Gets Out Alive, I see now what I love whole-heartedly about Nevill’s long novels. They say the devil’s in the details and Adam demonstrates that in spades here. So, don’t let the length stop you from diving in.
Why you should buy this: This book is a modern classic. From start to finish, you know you’re in the capable hands of a master and the fact that Nevill has no problem writing beautiful passages before creating some of the bleakest, most brutal moments should be enough to entice every horror reader. The fact that we get new releases from him on an almost annual schedule now means that he’s found his working stride and we should all be grinning from ear to ear because of that.
‘No One Gets Out Alive’ should be the standard that all haunted house novels have to hold themselves up to in comparison. Truly, it’s just that good. This novel is almost 650 pages of gut-churning, anxiety-creating, turn-the-lights-on-now horror and it showcases just why Nevill is considered one of the best horror authors of all time, living or deceased.
I can’t recommend this one enough and I wish I wouldn’t have waited so long to read it.
5/5
