Available:*
Library | Collection | Collection | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Beale Memorial Library (Kern Co.) | Searching... Unknown | Adult Fiction | FIC LOTZ SAR | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Clovis Branch Library (Fresno Co.) | Searching... Unknown | Adult Fiction Area | LOTZ SA White | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Mosqueda Center Branch (Fresno Co.) | Searching... Unknown | Adult Fiction Area | LOTZ SA White | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Rosamond Branch Library (Kern Co.) | Searching... Unknown | Adult Fiction | FIC LOTZ SAR | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Selma Branch Library (Fresno Co.) | Searching... Unknown | Adult Fiction Area | LOTZ SA White | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
A cutting-edge thriller about one man's quest to discover horror lurking at the top of the world.
Desperate to attract subscribers to his fledgling website, 'Journey to the Dark Side', ex-adrenalin junkie and slacker Simon Newman hires someone to guide him through the notorious Cwm Pot caves, so that he can film the journey and put it on the internet. With a tragic history, Cwm Pot has been off-limits for decades, and unfortunately for Simon, the guide he's hired is as unpredictable and dangerous as the watery caverns that lurk beneath the earth. After a brutal struggle for survival, Simon barely escapes with his life, but predictably, the gruesome footage he managed to collect down in the earth's bowels goes viral.
Ignoring the warning signs of mental trauma, and eager to capitalize on his new internet fame, Simon latches onto another escapade that has that magic click-bait mix of danger and death: a trip to Everest. But up above 8000 feet, in the infamous Death Zone, he'll need more than his dubious morals and wits to guide him, especially when he uncovers the truth behind a decade-old tragedy -- a truth that means he might not be coming back alive. A truth that will change him -- and anyone who views the footage he captures -- forever.
Author Notes
Sarah Lotz is a screenwriter and novelist with a fondness for the macabre and fake names. She lives in Cape Town with her family and other animals.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The ominous opening sentence, "I met the man who would save my life twice-and ultimately destroy it-on a potholed road in the arse-end of the Welsh countryside," sets the stage perfectly for South African author Lotz's outstanding thriller. The haunted speaker is Simon Newman, who fractured his skull in a climbing accident and now works as a barista. Simon seeks to add more adventure to his life by cofounding a new website, Journey to the Dark Side, which features spooky and scary images and videos. His search for unique content takes him to the wilds of Wales so he can enter the Cwm Pot cave system, where three previous explorers have met their deaths. His perilous exploit, aided by a possibly unbalanced guide, proves to be just the prologue to an attempt to scale Mount Everest, where other bodies await exploitation for profit. Lotz (Day Four) excels at making you feel like you're there and her flawed lead sympathetic. Fans of Dan Simmons's The Terror will be pleased. Agent: Oli Munson, A.M. Heath & Company. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
After a near-death experience, an adrenaline junkie sets his sights on Mount Everestaccompanied by the ghost, or the madness, that followed him out of a cave.Simon drifts through life with little purpose or ambition besides seeking to boost traffic for the sensational website he runs with his buddy, Thierry. When Thierry convinces him to film a journey through the notorious Cwm Pot caves in Wales, in hopes that he will stumble onto the bodies of three spelunkers who died years before, Simon teams up with a shifty, unpredictable man named Ed whom he hires to be his guide. When rising waters trap them in the cave for hours, Simon barely makes it out alive, and he finds himself unable to recover any sort of equilibrium in the days following. Depressed and possibly hallucinating, Simon reluctantly agrees to Thierry's next big idea: that he should climb Everest in order to film the bodies of those who have died on the mountain. While pushing his body and mind to the absolute limit, Simon must confront the fact that he may have brought a "hitchhiker" back from the caves: either a malevolent spirit or the first stirrings of complete insanity. Lotz knows how to develop suspense and horror, and despite her rather pedestrian writing, the supernatural elements keep one engaged and guessing. It's not remotely believable that Simon would actually be able to climb Everest, but it makes no difference: the plot takes over where character development and authenticity fall short. The caving descriptions are specific enough to make the reader feel claustrophobic. Dark and unsettling, Lotz's (Day Four, 2015, etc.) latest is a quick and mindless read that taps into, and exploits, our deepest fears. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
It starts almost as a lark but then turns deadly. For their new website, Journey to the Dark Side, Simon Newman and his best pal, Thierry Andre, want film of men who died in the notorious Welsh cave Cwm Pot. The cave is now closed, so spelunker Simon breaks into Cwm Pot with Ed Ferry, a guide he finds online and who proves as dangerous as he is experienced. Ed dies in the cave, but Simon survives. His film of the Cwm Pot adventure, however, draws thousands of views to their site, prompting Thierry to suggest that Simon should climb Mt. Everest, going high after going deep underground, with the macabre premise of filming the frozen bodies of climbers who died on the mountain. Now things get a little weird, with Simon convinced that Ed is with him on the climb, but Ed's not helping. Not crime fiction in any traditional sense, this is an expertly fashioned, spine-tingling account of danger, both physical and mental.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2017 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Lotz (Day Four) returns with another creepy tale, this one about an adventurer who uncovers eerie happenings on Mount Everest. As the book opens, explorer -Simon -Newman has hired a guide to help him navigate a cave with a tragic history. When disaster strikes during his spelunking, Simon barely escapes with his life-but footage from the expedition goes viral on his website Journey to the Dark Side. Still reeling from his brush with death, he soon signs on to a trip up Mount Everest as a way to move forward. But as he and his fellow climbers ascend into the mountain's fabled "death zone," Simon begins to believe that something else is on the mountain with them. Skilled at creating real-world scenarios and imbuing them with a steadily growing feeling of danger and terror, Lotz brings readers to Everest, where the line between altitude--induced hallucinations and actual supernatural events may be very thin. VERDICT A solid pick for readers who enjoy modern horror by Dean Koontz and Stephen King. [See Prepub Alert, 11/21/6.]-Amy Hoseth, Colorado State Univ. Lib., Fort Collins © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.