The Ninth Circle: A Horror Novel

by Luke Walker

Sam Hampton and his wife Rachel have returned to Buxley – the village of Sam’s childhood – to decide if they should buy a home in this little piece of English pastoral beauty. They’re hoping for a chance to begin their lives and raise a family away from city life and the background threat of rising global tensions. Which is when the missiles detonate. Now Buxley and the surrounding countryside have become an inferno. Caught in the aftermath of a nuclear blast, Sam and Rachel join with a handful of other survivors desperate to find any semblance of safety. But they are not alone. The raging fires have released entities from the distant reaches of humanity’s self-destruction; demons made of shadow which exist only to hunt and reduce to ashes anyone left alive. Racing through the ruins and the smoke, fleeing the shadow-creatures, Sam and the rest of the group must make their stand to have any chance of staying alive. Prepared to fight, to join together and not leave anyone behind, they will discover that escape is possible but at an unthinkable price.

Genres: Horror

222 pages, Paperback

Published March 15, 2024

About the author

Luke Walker has been writing horror and dark thrillers for most of his life. His horror titles include the new novel Burn as well as The Ninth Circle, Winter Graves, The Nameless, The Day Of The New Gods, The Mirror Of The Nameless, The Kindred, Pandemonium and The Dead Room and others. Several of his short stories have been published online and in magazines/books. His speculative thriller Terminal State, written under the name Rob Harrison, is out now. Luke's next novels Chaos and The Fall will be published by Baynam Books Press.

Luke's Bluesky page is @lukewalkerwriter.bsky.social

Sign up to his newsletter at
https://substack.com/@lukewalkerwriter

Or find him at https://lukewalkerwriter.wordpress.com

He is forty-eight and lives in England with his wife and cat.

Reviews

[CAROLYN Wyman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Ninth Circle: A Horror Novel by Luke Walker is a gruesome horror story set in a post apocalyptic world where the darkest creatures are taking over the Earth.

The book begins with Sam and his wife Rachel at a bar, when a nuclear blast hits. They seek refuge in the basement of the bar with other survivors. When they finally get up the courage to go up stairs, they begin to discover the devastation that has occurred throughout England.

“This is the Emergency Broadcast Service. This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons. I repeat: this country has been attacked with nuclear weapons. Seek shelter immediately. Do not leave your homes or places of business. Do not attempt to reach loved ones. Do not travel in your cars. Take shelter and await further instruction.”

The reports on the shortwave radio suggest staying in place, but this bunch of survivors decide to go out and see if they can help others. Things quickly go downhill as they begin to see just how devastated the country has become.
“Nothing good here, Sam. This is all the way inside us. This is where we all belong. She smiled. It split her face in two. Her eyes, bleached white, rolled back into her head, and the lines cut deep into her face widened to become pits. This is where we come from and where we’re going. Welcome home.“
They begin to see creatures that instill fear just by looking at them. The worst parts of the depths of the underworld are now walking freely on earth.

The book is graphic and gruesome, relying on the horror of the images the words evoke. The story falls flat for a post apocalyptic story, it relies more on gruesome imagery than a story line. Most of the book is just blood and gore. The story could easily have been a great horrifying story.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In The Ninth Circle, a horror novel by Luke walker we meet Steven and his wife Amy who are visiting his childhood village and discussing whether they should move there he wants to move there more than she does but while in the local diner/pub they hear what sounds like a bomb and know instantly something is wrong they all head to the basement it’s Steve and his wife Rachel two sisters the pub owner John and his wife and some regulars. When they come out the village of Buxley looks unlike anything Steven remembers from his childhood. The buildings are the same except everyone is in chaos mode, except for those who are spontaneously combusting while black shadows crawl all over them and then there are those who go crazy don’t feel pain and fight until they can’t fight anymore. The latter or the ones that sound is the scariest to me but on with the review the best bet is to get to the woods so they can try and head out to the country but it seems every time they move from one place to another they lose one of their group and this is after gaining some at the grocery store. Everywhere they turn their something to fear I read this book a few weeks ago but totally remember that Stephen emerges as a true hero and someone the group can depend on despite his own inner turmoil and the ending is a total mic drop and comes out of left field because OMG I totally didn’t see that coming groups of the strange folks find them and have their own demands will they make it to safety and if they do what did they have to give up. I do believe this is going to be the first book in the series but then again I DK this is not my usual type of book but I must admit I found it hard to put down I really thoroughly enjoyed this book I love horror but world devastation it’s not something I look for in my reading but I’m still glad I read this one if there is a second book I will read it because I do like Stephen and Rachel, The grocery store owner and his nephew and one of the two sisters I cannot remember the one I dislike I just know she is bossy and says the most ridiculous things are either way this is a great book and one I definitely recommend if you’re a big on sci-fi end of the world scenarios you will definitely like this book I am baffled as to the low rating I seen for the book because as someone who has read the book I just don’t know what to say about that that’s ridiculous this was a really great book or at least that’s my humble opinion. I want to thank the publisher the author Annette Galli for my free art copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

[Micah Castle]

The Ninth Circle is a fresh take on a post-apocalyptic tale, twining the fiery horrors of Hell with the utterly broken world after nuclear war.

With a host of relatable characters, you quickly find that radiation sickness is the least of their concerns once the dust has settled.

[Krystle Rouse · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book just felt disjointed and lackluster to me. I just didn’t like it at all.

I do want to thank NetGalley and Wicked House publishing for letting me read this book in return of a review.

[Rhonda Bobbitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a spectacular story. The bombing brought the shadows. And the shadows brought hell to earth. It was a super creepy and fast read filled with absolute terror. I could easily see this as a movie or TV series. Excellent writing. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

[Anthony Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An original take on the post nuclear apocalypse theme that adds a hefty dose of supernatural horror into the mix. The story focuses on a small group of survivors of the detonations and as such, limits the narrative to their perspectives alone. This of course means that the reasons for much of what happens to them remain a mystery. This can be problematical for some but I felt it only added to the sense of paranoia and weirdness that accompanies the unfolding events.
It's a relatively short novel and that results in a slight lack of character development. There were quite a few characters and the word count didn’t really allow for them to breathe. That said, quite a few of them stop breathing fairly quickly anyway as a result of attacks from the demonic entities that have somehow been unleashed by the bombs. The monsters are well realised with vivid descriptions of them and their attacks that are suitably horrific. It might perhaps have worked better as a novella, with some of the characters removed or, conversely, as a longer novel which would allow for more development. I think my preferred choice would be the latter.
Much of the narrative thrust comes via the thoughts and actions of Sam, married to Rachel and caught in the blasts on a return to the home town of his youth to suss out the potential of moving back. As the story progresses, his experiences become ever more bizarre and it becomes apparent that illusion and reality are becoming intertwined.
Or are they? It’s a strength of the book that this remains ambiguous throughout and by dint makes the denouement all the more effective. Anyone with a knowledge of Dante’s Inferno will know what the ninth circle of hell represents. Whether or not that plays a significant role in the conclusion is up to the reader to decide…

[Sara Vogt · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Netgalley ARC*
SPOILERS

I have many thoughts on this. The first, a definite pro is that I read this book in one night. It grabbed me from the first chapter and wouldn’t let me put it down. Really because I was waiting to find out what the heck was happening. I don’t feel I ever got a good answer there.

Now for the cons.
1. I really hate not knowing what the black shadows are or why they’re suddenly here. Was what brought them engineered by man or supernatural?
2. I disliked the ending. Why were the shadows fixated on Sam? What tie did he have to them? My ultimate takeaway was that he abandoned the group at the end to save the group. If he would have stayed they’d all be damned but him leaving saved them and he wanted, above all, to save Rachel. But once again, why did they choose Sam to fixate on and become their “king”?
3. Are the shadows the same as the humans massing at the woods and Bob, the old man who kills Eric at the beginning of the book? Are they possessing the humans? It seems that at the start the humans are being “possessed” by the shadows but then the shadows just start appearing on their own? Why the change?
4. Why did the shadows do things like making the human body “one” and taking Naajy’s coat and putting it on the dead child? So much is unexplained.
5. Nothing much happens. This whole book is set (to my understanding) within a 2-3 day period but aside from moving from place to place within the town, fighting off these shadows and having searing interior monologues, not much else happens.

Will I read more from this author? Yes. Do I wish I had more clarity and that more happened within the story? Also Yes.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horror isn't usually my preferred genre, but this book hit me harder than I thought it would. It wasn't because of what was hidden in the dark, but more because the reality of nuclear weapons dropping is stronger now than it ever has been.

The book was easy to read, well written and the characters were all people you got to know well.

A great book... But I don't want to read it again. The fear is too strong.

[Jennifer Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a sucker for post apocalyptic type stories and this has all of the elements. There was great character development and you quickly form feelings for all of the characters involved. I would have preferred a more detailed ending but maybe there’s more to come?

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really sure how a nuclear attack would tie in any supernatural themes. Even after finishing the book, I still can’t answer that. I mean the horror aspect was spot on- there was a lot of bloody scenes, and the sheer descriptiveness throughout the entire book gave me reader’s anxiety till then end. But I can’t even start to explain the “others”. It may be part of the appeal of the story, similar to Bird Box where we never get a complete understanding of the monsters. But honestly it frustrates me more than anything else. It’s clear from early on that the detonating of the bomb is the catalyst of their rising up, but I’m truly lost on everything else. The ending was especially frustrating for me, as I felt even more lost at how everything came to a finish.
I really appreciated the raw emotions that were consistently portrayed. It not only differentiated everyone’s own personality, but it felt truly authentic and gave a glimpse into how people act when they are pushed in times of insanity. Many choices made sense, and some didn’t. It only begs the question of how truly can you be prepared for disaster? Something that I was not expecting to find much less appreciate was the bond between Sam and Rachel. It was a welcome surprise, and I think it was such a positive spot in such a heavy plot. I think I highlighted way more of their interactions/conversations more than is appropriate.
I felt like the writing was particularly disjointed, especially between Sam’s dialogue, visions and then reality. It makes me wonder if this was done on purpose, to help the reader fully submerge in the environment and feel as lost as the characters were. I will admit that I had to go back quite a few times to the previous paragraph or even the last chapter just so I could understand what I was reading in the moment. I can see the vision, but it just made me even more confused.
All in all, I wasn’t thoroughly impressed with the story. The idea was definitely a unique twist on apocalyptic horror. The execution of the storyline unfortunately had just one too many flaws that prevented me from fully appreciating it.

[Fauwxx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Title: The Ninth Circle: A Horror Novel
Author: Luke Walker
Publisher: Wicked House Publishing
Paperback/Hardback/eBook: eBook (Kindle)
Fiction/Non-Fiction: Fiction
Genre: Horror
Rating: ⭐⭐


Trigger Warnings:
Sexual Violence/Rape
Nuclear Weapons
Pandemic Talk

Thank you so much to Wicked House Publishing for providing me with this ARC via NetGalley in return for my honest review.

I was drawn to this book initially by the description, and let's be honest - the cover is pretty rad as well. I love a good apocalypse/rapture/end times story. I was also pleasantly surprised to find the epigraph of the novel is a passage from Dante's Inferno, which furthered my assumption that the book was going to be some sort of Hellscape filled with demons and fire.

The concept of the book is actually really cool. The first chapter was written very well and really grabbed my attention, but as I got further into the book I just felt like I was reading a first draft. There was little to no character development (that includes the demons) which left me feeling like there was no protagonist of the story. Most interactions between characters are spent asking each other what they did before the apocalypse, or yelling at each other and apologizing immediately. The writing was extremely redundant, causing the storyline to feel stagnant. As much as I love gore, I felt like the author put way too much into the book without properly building up to the events.

I really wanted to like this book, but it was extremely hard for me to read.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bit of a disappointment this.
It starts off well...gets to the action immediately, but really that might be the book's downfall. A guy with his wife or fiance, can't remember, in a bar in some town in England when a nuclear strike happens. We don't know why. Some talk about a dispute between China and USSR.
So Sam, that's the guy's name, and his wife, Rachel, get together with some other survivors and try to get to Norwich where they hear on a CB that miraculously still works there might be other survivors.
Except it's not just the nukes. The fire seemed to cause some demonic shadow entities to rise from the depths of the earth and cause mayhem, especially burning anyone they touch to smithereens.
They walk around, seek shelter in a church, where they meet more people and the entities trap them. Sam seems to have some connection with these entities, they talk to him in his head. We're not sure why.
This book could be good...but I felt none of the characters really moved me. Maybe if the author spent some time developing them BEFORE the nukes fell--sort of like what Stephen King did with The Stand, I might care more. But the further I got into this book, the less I really cared. Too many characters, none of them really likeable.

[Gil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay read. Something to pass the time but didn't feel like anything more, unfortunately. It personally felt like all of the writing went into the horror scenes and was lackluster outside of that. I wanted to enjoy this book but for some reason, it just didn't catch my attention enough. To me, we were introduced to what seemed like way too many characters at once throughout the first few chapters and that led to confusion as to who was who. And the book had multiple points where things would die down and the writing would get dry. These are the points where I'd feel like not finishing it. It did have vibes reminiscent of The Walking Dead throughout and the ending was pretty interesting so that pulled it up to a 2.5-3☆.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wicked House for the ARC in exchange for an honest rate and review.

[Chrissy Swarbrooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley, Wicked House Publishing and Luke Walker for the eArc of The Ninth Circle.

Even though Im not really into apocalyptic horror ( Its usually something Id watch rather than read ) I thought Id give this a go. The narrative itself is a medium to fast paced with a strong start. The first few chapters really has me turning the pages as the fallout starts right from the first few pages, a nuclear fall out actually raised the hairs on my arms which gets you thinking of what if? I enjoyed the aspect of the supernatural elements which seemed to mix well in the beginning. Unfortunately for me, the 2 didn't seen to mash very well which was a shame. I would have loved to of found out more about our characters and our supernatural entities so found the ending a little rushed.

I really do hope we see more of Luke Walker's writing in the future.

3 stars

[Milt Theo · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover is amazing, everything else is a mess. I have no idea why Wicked House Publishing would publish such a book, after some excellent horror novels. Lately they seem to have given up. Luke Walker's book is badly written (no sense of pacing, no room for character development, no explanations given for what's going on, just one dull scene after another), uninspired (shadows moving on their own? that's the best you can come up with as the villains of the piece?), and rather ill-conceived (people moving freely around, on the ground, just after a nuclear holocaust; mentioning radiation once or twice, as an afterthought). What a disappointment.

[chrissyg☕️lattesbooksandblankets · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was hard to get onto. The nuclear blast blast happens right in through the first chapters, and the pace doesn't change much from there. Characters moving from store to store with bats and guns runing from monsters. Nothing much happens. No character build; I really didn't care for this bunch, drinking and going about with their weapons and bashing some skulls. Felt very zombie apocalyptic; not very original, not very convincing either. You've got cell phones being used with unlimited juice, it seems in a world that's gone to shit. Just wasn't into this story. Great cover.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the opportunity to read this copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Page Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing!

Though the plot may seem far fetched I was on board with it because I love me a good apocalyptic story. The beginning and middle had an excellent build up and the ending just fell flat. There was also very little character development or involvement which made it hard to connect with the characters and the story. Overall I finished The Ninth Circle neither loving it nor hating it.

[Monica L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was NOT my cup of tea at all. That does not mean that you would not love it so I would encourage others to read it. I hate to give such a low rating to an author but this is an ARC and the writing and story was subpar to me. I had a hard time finishing reading it.

This was an ARC read from Netgalley. Thank you to the Author and Netgalley for allowing me to read this.

[Jason M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly terrifying.
Not many books make the hairs on my arms stand the way The Ninth Circle did.
I just became a huge Luke Walker fan!!

[DELIA SHEPPARD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok reading

I had a hard time understanding this book, I liked the characters but couldn't get what happened. Never really explained it.