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The Booking
From world renowned horror author Ramsey Campbell (Alone with the Horrors, Ancient Images) comes a frightening new psychological horror novella, third book in the ongoing Black Labyrinth imprint illustrated by Santiago Caruso. Kiefer is desperate for a job when he comes upon an opening at a curious bookstore in England, BOOKS ARE LIFE. He approaches the owner for a job and gets it, learning quickly that the owner is stranger than the books that he sells in the shop. As he continues to help the bookstore’s transition to the internet, he discovers oddities in the shop and has increasingly strange visions and encounters. This bookstore is very unique, like its owner, and it will bring to Kiefer the most intense and revealing era of his life. From master storyteller Ramsey Campbell comes this brooding and frightening psychological horror novella accompanied by five original color illustrations by Santiago Caruso. "As the dread builds, the effect is dizzying, claustrophobic, and very scary. Prescribing to his own rule of ‘avoiding what’s been done to death’, The Booking shows Campbell in top form with a strange and creepy tale that lingers long after the last page is turned." - This is Horror
Hardcover
First published July 12, 2016
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801 people want to read
About the author
Ramsey Campbell
860 books1,599 followersRamsey Campbell is a British writer considered by a number of critics to be one of the great masters of horror fiction. T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today," while S. T. Joshi has said that "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood."
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
January 28, 2018
I’m sure most of us have experienced being unemployed at one time or another and seeking any work opportunity available. This is the scenario opening the pages of “The Booking” by Ramsey Campbell. The point of view character named Kiefer, who claims to be an ex-librarian is in dire straits as he lands a job at a book store hidden away in an alleyway.
As we discover Kiefer is an unreliable narrator, we the reader also discover what an unreliable writer Ramsey Campbell can be. The story lacks any kind of continuity and meanders as slow as an uninspired turtle through the waters of ambiguity.
The store owner, similar to the book store owner of the fine and funny British television show “Black Books” (2000 – 2004) does not wish to part with or sell any of the books in his store.
The best reason I can recommend for owning this particular version of the book, is the fine art work and illustrations by Santiago Caruso in full color. If a reader is interested in reading this particular work of Campbell's, then seek it out in an inexpensive format,
The stated bonus handwritten manuscript pages from Ramsey Campbell's first draft of “The Booking” are contained in the last quarter of the book these are virtually unreadable due to the poor reproduction techniques utilized.
This hardcover of "The Booking" is numbered 112 of 400 signed and numbered editions printed worldwide signed by Ramsey Campbell.
As we discover Kiefer is an unreliable narrator, we the reader also discover what an unreliable writer Ramsey Campbell can be. The story lacks any kind of continuity and meanders as slow as an uninspired turtle through the waters of ambiguity.
The store owner, similar to the book store owner of the fine and funny British television show “Black Books” (2000 – 2004) does not wish to part with or sell any of the books in his store.
The best reason I can recommend for owning this particular version of the book, is the fine art work and illustrations by Santiago Caruso in full color. If a reader is interested in reading this particular work of Campbell's, then seek it out in an inexpensive format,
The stated bonus handwritten manuscript pages from Ramsey Campbell's first draft of “The Booking” are contained in the last quarter of the book these are virtually unreadable due to the poor reproduction techniques utilized.
This hardcover of "The Booking" is numbered 112 of 400 signed and numbered editions printed worldwide signed by Ramsey Campbell.
December 6, 2016
The Booking is a strange little novella which had me thinking for days.
Kiefer gets a job in a strange bookstore named Books Are Life. The owner of the shop hates technology but wants to get his inventory listed online-this is now Kiefer's responsibility. He likes to Skype regularly with his girlfriend, but since his employer refuses to allow any type of camera in the shop, he as to make do with audio only.
From there this novella wanders off into the weird. I can't say much more without spoilers, but I loved how this story was put together. I went into it with a clear idea, I thought, of what was happening and by the time the story was over, all of my ideas were upended. I still have a couple of things that I'm not quite clear on, so after a little while, I'm going to read this one again.
Brilliantly written, hiding the plot twists down long, narrow aisles of books, this novella was a real treat. The only reason I'm not awarding five stars is because I developed no real feeling for Kiefer or for the bookshop owner. That little spark was missing. Other than that, I highly recommend this novella for readers that enjoy having their mind tickled by one of the best in the business.
You can get your copy here: The Booking
*Big thanks to Kimberly for gifting me a copy of this book!*
Kiefer gets a job in a strange bookstore named Books Are Life. The owner of the shop hates technology but wants to get his inventory listed online-this is now Kiefer's responsibility. He likes to Skype regularly with his girlfriend, but since his employer refuses to allow any type of camera in the shop, he as to make do with audio only.
From there this novella wanders off into the weird. I can't say much more without spoilers, but I loved how this story was put together. I went into it with a clear idea, I thought, of what was happening and by the time the story was over, all of my ideas were upended. I still have a couple of things that I'm not quite clear on, so after a little while, I'm going to read this one again.
Brilliantly written, hiding the plot twists down long, narrow aisles of books, this novella was a real treat. The only reason I'm not awarding five stars is because I developed no real feeling for Kiefer or for the bookshop owner. That little spark was missing. Other than that, I highly recommend this novella for readers that enjoy having their mind tickled by one of the best in the business.
You can get your copy here: The Booking
*Big thanks to Kimberly for gifting me a copy of this book!*
Read
July 21, 2024It’s like Black Books meets The Twilight Zone! I really enjoy subtle, atmospheric horror, and Ramsey Campbell seems to excel at this style. I loved the interactions between the two main characters...one being the eccentric bookshop owner who hates all technology, and the other being his new employee who must utilize technology in his role.
The descriptions of the setting were excellent. Like with the other works I’ve read by Campbell, I really got a sense of place.
My main complaint is that the ending was a little bit too confusing and I felt like I missed some important thematic statement. I would still recommend it, though...it was a fun, quick, and entertaining book.
The descriptions of the setting were excellent. Like with the other works I’ve read by Campbell, I really got a sense of place.
My main complaint is that the ending was a little bit too confusing and I felt like I missed some important thematic statement. I would still recommend it, though...it was a fun, quick, and entertaining book.
December 17, 2016
As always, Ramsey Campbell continues to amaze me with his choice of wording and somewhat oblique storyline.. The underlying current here was distinctly ambiguous, but not so bad as to not give the readers an idea right from the start about what is happening to the main character, Keifer. The book/mind references--punctuated by the call from his "girl", Cynthia--really help make this into a great "psychological horror" novella!
I'm sure that other readers will have their own interpretations as to what the end signifies, but I am content with the conclusions that I was able to draw from it, myself.
Recommended!
I'm sure that other readers will have their own interpretations as to what the end signifies, but I am content with the conclusions that I was able to draw from it, myself.
Recommended!
July 12, 2016
Ramsey Campbell’s latest novella – his third in recent years, making four in his career – is certainly an elusive work. I’ve read it three times and am still wrestling with its suggestive multiplicity, its layers of meaning and themes.
It begins with a seemingly youngish guy called Kiefer seeking new work in a depleted jobs market. He finds a post at a bookstore owned by a seemingly older chap called Brookes. After losing a key to his girlfriend’s home, Kiefer ends up living in a room above the shop and soon begins his duties alongside the rather eccentric proprietor.
Kiefer is tasked with cataloguing the shop’s books online, with a view to making e-sales. However, Brookes is suspicious of the Internet and refuses to let Kiefer switch on his laptop’s webcam (which problematizes Kiefer’s Skype-like communication with his girlfriend, who is away looking after her parents).
Brookes constantly speculates about a chip which can be planted in people’s heads to give them immediate access to documented material (internalised books, if you like), but he fears what else might be put there.
Customers come and go to buy stock, which Brookes is reluctant to part with. This is just part of the mystery that Kiefer has to unravel. What is at the root of Brookes’ suspicions about surveillance? Why does Brookes belief that insects in the shop harbour observational equipment? Why, when stock is sold, do the same books reappear in the store soon afterwards?
This is far from a conventional thriller. Its suspense arises from enigmatic hints about the true nature of the job which Kiefer has taken on, and interpretation of events is very much up for grabs. I guess I can only detail what I made of its labyrinthine episodes, but these are apt to change with further reflection and maybe even a fourth or fifth rereading (some minor spoilers may follow).
The author withholds the full names of his two characters, but when they’re revealed, the regular Campbell reader will notice an anagrammatic similarity there. Are Kiefer Abloose and Alfie Brookes the same character? If so, what is the nature of their separation?
It’s traditional Campbell territory to explore the intra-psychic realm, how inner-self and social-self interact, and to dramatise the fractures which commonly occur here. And so I’m left wondering whether Kiefer is the virtual self of an older man bewildered by the modern world and all its technologies, a man clinging to what he knows, a realm of knowledge documented in physical books (Brookes regularly suggests that listing his stock online is like potentially losing parts of his mind).
My suspicions were raised during my second reading of the novella, when a plot twist – involving the identity of Kiefer’s girlfriend – alters the nature of an ongoing interaction. Indeed, I feel that the threat which all Brookes’ books present to Kiefer offer further support to this reading. Kiefer has, during the novella, defended the virtual world of e-texts and Internet-stored information.
Is this novella therefore a dramatization of the tensions between two generations, the pliable modern zone of the cyber-world with all its invasive technologies, versus the solid realm of tradition and its immutably printed text?
Towards the end of the book, the non-spatial nature of the Internet appears to have invaded the physical space of the shop. The store has expanded impossibly, occupying more room than is realistically permitted even by neighbouring properties. It is this blurring of real and virtual worlds which makes the novella so elusively disturbing, with each plot development contributing further to the Boolean nature of its two principal characters: either Kiefer is Brookes or Brookes is Kiefer.
By the end of the novella, I feel that this uncertainty is resolved when the police visit the shop and make enquiries about certain events which have occurred earlier: for a brief moment, we get a reflected glimpse of the one remaining character, and it’s not what we’ve been led to believe. Again, this seems to be in favour of my interpretation, but that’s not to say that others won’t pull out something different from this book. That’s the nature of a complex work of art, of course, and there’s no doubt that this delicately and beautifully judged piece of fiction can be described in that way.
Campbell’s technique – the tone of his prose, the ambiguity of his dialogue, the resonance of his imagery – is immaculate throughout, and the carefully selected language only gains in resonance as the book unfolds. For instance, the fractured Skype-like communications between Kiefer and his girlfriend (thematically relevant in themselves, as they illustrate the difficulties involved in engaging in an IT-oriented era) are reduced to fraught dialogue and terse inter-speech descriptions. The woman’s face onscreen breaks apart like horror-show distortions, rendering the ambiguous nature of this relationship appropriately fragile.
This is a pared-down approach which characterises Campbell’s later work, and it’s all the more refined for it. I know that some people miss the “muddiness” of the author’s earlier material, but for me his fiction has never been more elegant and restrained.
So what we have here is a novella super-saturated by interpretative possibilities. I’ve offered my reading above, but I’d be interested to learn what others make of it. The novella’s richness and artfulness make it both a joy and a terror to consume. It’ll get inside you, gnaw at your mind like an implanted chip, and make you wonder whether the book you hold in your hands is real or something other than that, an intangible bundle of text which has the capacity to haunt you forever more.
At any rate, grab a copy now. It’s much more than a single tome. You’ll read it twice or more, on each occasion with a different sensation, a different takeaway conclusion, and a renewed appreciation of Campbell’s great mastery of English prose and multi-layered fiction. I loved every word of it.
It begins with a seemingly youngish guy called Kiefer seeking new work in a depleted jobs market. He finds a post at a bookstore owned by a seemingly older chap called Brookes. After losing a key to his girlfriend’s home, Kiefer ends up living in a room above the shop and soon begins his duties alongside the rather eccentric proprietor.
Kiefer is tasked with cataloguing the shop’s books online, with a view to making e-sales. However, Brookes is suspicious of the Internet and refuses to let Kiefer switch on his laptop’s webcam (which problematizes Kiefer’s Skype-like communication with his girlfriend, who is away looking after her parents).
Brookes constantly speculates about a chip which can be planted in people’s heads to give them immediate access to documented material (internalised books, if you like), but he fears what else might be put there.
Customers come and go to buy stock, which Brookes is reluctant to part with. This is just part of the mystery that Kiefer has to unravel. What is at the root of Brookes’ suspicions about surveillance? Why does Brookes belief that insects in the shop harbour observational equipment? Why, when stock is sold, do the same books reappear in the store soon afterwards?
This is far from a conventional thriller. Its suspense arises from enigmatic hints about the true nature of the job which Kiefer has taken on, and interpretation of events is very much up for grabs. I guess I can only detail what I made of its labyrinthine episodes, but these are apt to change with further reflection and maybe even a fourth or fifth rereading (some minor spoilers may follow).
The author withholds the full names of his two characters, but when they’re revealed, the regular Campbell reader will notice an anagrammatic similarity there. Are Kiefer Abloose and Alfie Brookes the same character? If so, what is the nature of their separation?
It’s traditional Campbell territory to explore the intra-psychic realm, how inner-self and social-self interact, and to dramatise the fractures which commonly occur here. And so I’m left wondering whether Kiefer is the virtual self of an older man bewildered by the modern world and all its technologies, a man clinging to what he knows, a realm of knowledge documented in physical books (Brookes regularly suggests that listing his stock online is like potentially losing parts of his mind).
My suspicions were raised during my second reading of the novella, when a plot twist – involving the identity of Kiefer’s girlfriend – alters the nature of an ongoing interaction. Indeed, I feel that the threat which all Brookes’ books present to Kiefer offer further support to this reading. Kiefer has, during the novella, defended the virtual world of e-texts and Internet-stored information.
Is this novella therefore a dramatization of the tensions between two generations, the pliable modern zone of the cyber-world with all its invasive technologies, versus the solid realm of tradition and its immutably printed text?
Towards the end of the book, the non-spatial nature of the Internet appears to have invaded the physical space of the shop. The store has expanded impossibly, occupying more room than is realistically permitted even by neighbouring properties. It is this blurring of real and virtual worlds which makes the novella so elusively disturbing, with each plot development contributing further to the Boolean nature of its two principal characters: either Kiefer is Brookes or Brookes is Kiefer.
By the end of the novella, I feel that this uncertainty is resolved when the police visit the shop and make enquiries about certain events which have occurred earlier: for a brief moment, we get a reflected glimpse of the one remaining character, and it’s not what we’ve been led to believe. Again, this seems to be in favour of my interpretation, but that’s not to say that others won’t pull out something different from this book. That’s the nature of a complex work of art, of course, and there’s no doubt that this delicately and beautifully judged piece of fiction can be described in that way.
Campbell’s technique – the tone of his prose, the ambiguity of his dialogue, the resonance of his imagery – is immaculate throughout, and the carefully selected language only gains in resonance as the book unfolds. For instance, the fractured Skype-like communications between Kiefer and his girlfriend (thematically relevant in themselves, as they illustrate the difficulties involved in engaging in an IT-oriented era) are reduced to fraught dialogue and terse inter-speech descriptions. The woman’s face onscreen breaks apart like horror-show distortions, rendering the ambiguous nature of this relationship appropriately fragile.
This is a pared-down approach which characterises Campbell’s later work, and it’s all the more refined for it. I know that some people miss the “muddiness” of the author’s earlier material, but for me his fiction has never been more elegant and restrained.
So what we have here is a novella super-saturated by interpretative possibilities. I’ve offered my reading above, but I’d be interested to learn what others make of it. The novella’s richness and artfulness make it both a joy and a terror to consume. It’ll get inside you, gnaw at your mind like an implanted chip, and make you wonder whether the book you hold in your hands is real or something other than that, an intangible bundle of text which has the capacity to haunt you forever more.
At any rate, grab a copy now. It’s much more than a single tome. You’ll read it twice or more, on each occasion with a different sensation, a different takeaway conclusion, and a renewed appreciation of Campbell’s great mastery of English prose and multi-layered fiction. I loved every word of it.
October 2, 2020
I took some extra time before writing my review of this very special novella, because it is not straight-out horror nor fantasy. Instead, it is a metaphysical blend, even an extension, of both horror and fantasy. There aren't really any "monsters" or "terrors" here, other than those hiding in the hearts and minds of humans. Ostensibly, a young man, Kiefer by name (that is all he chooses as his identity), a former librarian and university graduate, seeks employment. As is common in the latter 20th and early 21st century, he is often deemed "overqualified," and so is nearly at his wits' end when he discovers a simple online notice: Bookshop, Technician Wanted. He calls and then visits the shop, discovering an odd owner and a plethora of books, many rather old. Then he can't find one of the keys to his girlfriend's flat, offered to him while she is away in Tuscany caring for her folks; and the owner offers him a room upstairs of the shop, in an upstairs that seems to go on forever, always laden with books.
Mr. Campbell unfolds a story that is so imaginative in breadth and depth that I cannot do it justice, other than to say, for Mr. Campbell's fans, and for any thinking person, THE BOOKING is an absolute must-read. It is part of the Black Labyrinth series, with incredible illustrations by gifted artist Santiago Caruso.
Mr. Campbell unfolds a story that is so imaginative in breadth and depth that I cannot do it justice, other than to say, for Mr. Campbell's fans, and for any thinking person, THE BOOKING is an absolute must-read. It is part of the Black Labyrinth series, with incredible illustrations by gifted artist Santiago Caruso.
Want to read
January 25, 2018BOOKS ARE LIFE.
November 2, 2016
Reading The Booking felt in many ways like experiencing a visual migraine. You know that fractured light that appears in miniature at the edge of your vision and gradually grows to encompass your entire view wiping out everything else with the glory and horror of its glittering light. It did not touch my heart or my soul, but it certainly lingers in my memory.
March 8, 2022
Set in a dark, and dingy, cobweb and spider infested used bookshop in an unnamed British town, The Booking is a two-man battle of wits and wills that eventually becomes a grasp at sanity.
Abloose Kiefer is an unemployed librarian who offers to help modernize Books Are Life by creating a website and enabling the selling of its stock online. Basically bringing the book shop into the present. A place, after reading this, I don't think it belongs!
Alfie Brookes, the store's owner (caretaker?), is an odd and grouchy relic who distrusts technology and especially cameras, and believes that his shop is under surveillance. Why he thinks this is only hinted at, one such hint being the flies he catches in his hands and then... squooshes.
Kiefer begins posting the inventory online, is pleasantly and quickly surprised by sales, and then amazed to find that as fast as he can sell books, the exact same copies find their way back onto the shelves. He knows they are the same copies because these are used books, and as such have writing, notes in margins and personal book plates. Due to a mishap, Kiefer has no place to stay, so Brookes allows him to live above the shop rent free. The longer Kiefer stays inside the confines of Books Are Life, the more susceptible he becomes to Brookes' paranoid fixations.
Campbell describes the shop in very unsettling ways. He is clearly a master at setting a scene. The dialogue between Brookes and Kiefer conveys a sense of uncertainty and instability that perfectly prepares us for the end, which I really didn't understand. That's the only reason I didn't give this five stars. I was left unsatisfied. The writing was superb.
Abloose Kiefer is an unemployed librarian who offers to help modernize Books Are Life by creating a website and enabling the selling of its stock online. Basically bringing the book shop into the present. A place, after reading this, I don't think it belongs!
Alfie Brookes, the store's owner (caretaker?), is an odd and grouchy relic who distrusts technology and especially cameras, and believes that his shop is under surveillance. Why he thinks this is only hinted at, one such hint being the flies he catches in his hands and then... squooshes.
Kiefer begins posting the inventory online, is pleasantly and quickly surprised by sales, and then amazed to find that as fast as he can sell books, the exact same copies find their way back onto the shelves. He knows they are the same copies because these are used books, and as such have writing, notes in margins and personal book plates. Due to a mishap, Kiefer has no place to stay, so Brookes allows him to live above the shop rent free. The longer Kiefer stays inside the confines of Books Are Life, the more susceptible he becomes to Brookes' paranoid fixations.
Campbell describes the shop in very unsettling ways. He is clearly a master at setting a scene. The dialogue between Brookes and Kiefer conveys a sense of uncertainty and instability that perfectly prepares us for the end, which I really didn't understand. That's the only reason I didn't give this five stars. I was left unsatisfied. The writing was superb.
January 7, 2017
An odd reading that put me in mind of another story that is unfortunately just outside of my grasp. It is an eerie story of who are you, what are you, who is she and most importantly, who or what am I.
Read it, if you dare...but if you do you may never enter another antique book store. Yet on the other hand, you may seek them out. Who or what are you?
Read it, if you dare...but if you do you may never enter another antique book store. Yet on the other hand, you may seek them out. Who or what are you?
March 29, 2025
So this was not badly written, I liked both MCs, but it still didn’t quite match what I expected. While this is listed as horror, it felt far more dystopian, and the ending just wasn’t satisfying for me personally. I gave it a 2.5
August 9, 2024
Interesting premise, but dull execution.
Overlong, with an annoying character to boot. If I were the protagonist, I would have left for another job the moment the conspiracy shenanigans started.
Ending tries to shock. It was ok.
Overlong, with an annoying character to boot. If I were the protagonist, I would have left for another job the moment the conspiracy shenanigans started.
Ending tries to shock. It was ok.
June 30, 2016
Review coming soon.
June 14, 2020
I pulled this down off of my collector's shelf. A hard cover Dark Region's Press edition from the Black Labyrinth Trilogy. Gold embossed, signed and full of excellent art work. A great little addition to any collection.
The novella itself was really well written, the story of a down on his luck protagonist who takes a job cataloging books in a creepy old shop. You are never really sure if there is something supernatural going on, if the protagonist is slowly losing his marbles, or if the antagonist is completely out to lunch until the very end. Some great little twists and turns to get you there and quite entertaining.
The novella itself was really well written, the story of a down on his luck protagonist who takes a job cataloging books in a creepy old shop. You are never really sure if there is something supernatural going on, if the protagonist is slowly losing his marbles, or if the antagonist is completely out to lunch until the very end. Some great little twists and turns to get you there and quite entertaining.
August 15, 2022
A book about books. If you hate reading, this book will be terrifying.
December 22, 2016
Interesting story
This was an enjoyable little book. Seeking employment, Kiefer goes to a dark and musty bookshop run by a strange old man. The owner, Brookes, has a paranoia towards technology and therefore needs Kiefer to handle that portion of the business and put the shop on the net. The quandary of the printed word versus the digital age is explored as Kiefer struggles with his manger's hangups. All of the wordplay and strange philosophies are tied up nicely at the end. I chose three stars because I felt like some ideas could have been explored in more depth, but I am still glad I read it. The psychological horror definitely leaves an impression.
This was an enjoyable little book. Seeking employment, Kiefer goes to a dark and musty bookshop run by a strange old man. The owner, Brookes, has a paranoia towards technology and therefore needs Kiefer to handle that portion of the business and put the shop on the net. The quandary of the printed word versus the digital age is explored as Kiefer struggles with his manger's hangups. All of the wordplay and strange philosophies are tied up nicely at the end. I chose three stars because I felt like some ideas could have been explored in more depth, but I am still glad I read it. The psychological horror definitely leaves an impression.
November 27, 2019
I found this book in a local used book store that I frequent. I was super excited to find one by this author, someone I haven’t yet had the chance of reading but have seen is a great writer.
Maybe I just got a weaker story.
I found this to be more dystopian than horror. Although not a bad book by any means, it wasn’t really what I was expecting. That being said let me explain
Keifer is unemployed and searching for a job while his girlfriend is away caring for her parents. He’s tech reliant like all of us are these days and keeps in touch with her through video chats. In his employment search he finds a book store, calls it, and speaks to the owner. Here we meet Brookes. Brookes is quite an odd ball. He’s paranoid and seems to be a bit of a conspiracy theorist. Brookes offers him a job and half of what he makes as compensation. He takes the job and then goes to retrieve his luggage in the train station but then quickly discovers his key to his girlfriends place is missing and now needs a place to stay. Brookes offers him a spot rent free, and here is where the story kicks in.
I’m not quite sure how I feel about this ending, although I did foresee this happening. Maybe a reread in the future will change my mind.
Maybe I just got a weaker story.
I found this to be more dystopian than horror. Although not a bad book by any means, it wasn’t really what I was expecting. That being said let me explain
Keifer is unemployed and searching for a job while his girlfriend is away caring for her parents. He’s tech reliant like all of us are these days and keeps in touch with her through video chats. In his employment search he finds a book store, calls it, and speaks to the owner. Here we meet Brookes. Brookes is quite an odd ball. He’s paranoid and seems to be a bit of a conspiracy theorist. Brookes offers him a job and half of what he makes as compensation. He takes the job and then goes to retrieve his luggage in the train station but then quickly discovers his key to his girlfriends place is missing and now needs a place to stay. Brookes offers him a spot rent free, and here is where the story kicks in.
I’m not quite sure how I feel about this ending, although I did foresee this happening. Maybe a reread in the future will change my mind.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 4, 2016
An unusual yet highly addictive read. Kiefer looking for a job is successful when he finds employment at "Books for Life" with its peculiar and odd curator. This is an old fashioned bookshop and his job is to categorize the collection for the internet and readers in a modern world. A short yet intense novella which has a distinct eerie uncomfortable feel from the moment Kiefer enters the premises. Why is it that when books are sold a copy is still present? There is a great confusion as to what is reality and what is not reality, strange visions and encounters, and the surprise ending when revealed is a delight. To fully appreciate all the intricacies and hidden meanings within The Booking I plan to visit and stroll through the haunted corridors of this quaint little book shop in the near future.
January 1, 2020
Campbell has always been hit or miss with me, but his shorter works usually impact me a lot more ("The Words That Count" is still one of my favorite horror stories). The Booking is a novella, and its length is perfect for such a claustrophobic, psychological tale of horror.
Like most of Campbell's works, it's hard to tell what's real and what's imagined, when we can trust our narrator and when we can't. Thus, the ending is a little ambiguous, but Campbell drops enough hints in the narrative to make it clear what's happening. It evokes a real sense of dread, and it's unsettling. That's what I want out of the horror I read, so I've made a good start to my 2020 reading.
Like most of Campbell's works, it's hard to tell what's real and what's imagined, when we can trust our narrator and when we can't. Thus, the ending is a little ambiguous, but Campbell drops enough hints in the narrative to make it clear what's happening. It evokes a real sense of dread, and it's unsettling. That's what I want out of the horror I read, so I've made a good start to my 2020 reading.
October 2, 2022
"That isn't how this kind of place works. People want to wander and see what takes their eye. Half the fun is finding books you'd never know to look for."
My first Ramsey Campbell. Not quite what I was expecting in a horror story about a bookstore but I did enjoy the atmosphere of uncertainty that pervaded the entire work and the art by Santiago Caruso. Maybe I'll finally pick up that other Black Labyrinth novella that's been sitting unread on my shelf for a while.
My first Ramsey Campbell. Not quite what I was expecting in a horror story about a bookstore but I did enjoy the atmosphere of uncertainty that pervaded the entire work and the art by Santiago Caruso. Maybe I'll finally pick up that other Black Labyrinth novella that's been sitting unread on my shelf for a while.
October 23, 2016
This is one of those stories that lingers in the recesses of your mind long after you have finished the last page. The bibliophile in me loved this book. It's bizarre and brooding. The novella has some complex layers, which leads me to think I may be rereading it in the future, to peel off more layers, in case I missed them the first time. The unexpected ending was magnificent. Highly recommended for bibliophiles or psychological thriller lovers.
January 7, 2022
What could be worse than being a Ramsey Campbell protagonist? Kiefer, new in town, loses the key to his girlfriend's apartment. As she is in Italy caring for parents, he is mase homeless as well as unemployed by page two.
But the trouble really starts when he gets a job. And a place to stay.
But the trouble really starts when he gets a job. And a place to stay.
October 12, 2017
Not my think- not sure what else to even say, other than I am glad it was short and over with quickly.
April 6, 2019
The Booking should certainly be adapted into a Black Mirror episode. Tight written and suspenseful. Excellent artwork as well.
May 10, 2019
A deeply claustrophobic and imaginative piece of weird fiction. Plus, it's a book about books, and I'm a sucker for that sort of thing.
Read
April 19, 2022Ok no prob
September 4, 2024
This one had me a bit lost wasn't pulled in or invested in the story then it ended. Very much in the MC's head and the mystery setting, owner.
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