I read a lot of Ramsey Campbell’s work in the 80s and 90s and then fell away for whatever reasons. Those are the novels and stories that justly earned him the reputation of one of the best horror writers around. Coming back to his work after a couple of decades off, it’s immediately obvious that he hasn’t changed much. The horror here is decidedly of the slow burn variety and Campbell is a master of mounting unease. His familiar motif of overbearing parent figures that the lead finds themselves powerless against is very much present here, as it is so many of his books (there are good and strong autobiographical reasons for this, iirc). Of those earlier novels, this is perhaps most reminiscent of The Hungry Moon, as the early sense of things not being quite in true gradually builds to some full on cosmic horror. It’s not for the gorehounds amongst us, but this is a solid read that deploys a sense of rising dread well.

Paul, who fled the family who adopted him as they were too interfering, has his own life under another name. But his adopted sister, Adele, finds him and persuades him to see his parents once again. They live in Fellstones, named for the strange seven stones grading the village green. Soon, Paul is sucked back into coming back, while unbeknownst to him, his family is plotting something that has to do with him and the stones.

I’m honestly not sure what to make of Fellstones, the forthcoming book by the great Ramsey Campbell. All the horror tropes are there - the mystical seven stones in the village green, the close mouthed villagers who are harboring a secret, and the duped main character, who is slow to realize what’s going on. Yet there was, at least for me, no sense of dread or horror, while reading the book. I had to force myself to finish the book, which at times, just dragged. All in all, a decent effort.

My thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of Fellstones.