Wow! I loved this book so much.
Inspired by Dyatlov Pass Incident. Creepy forest/survival horror with a supernatural twist.
This had some really great gore and detailed body horror. This has multiple timelines, but they were in short chapters and easy to follow. Also, multiple POVs that I really enjoyed following the story from different characters.

I wish we got to learn more about the earth, I found this to be really intresting but like with Dyatlovs Pass incident you're also left wondering what really happened and i think that really works for this book.

I feel like this could have a follow-up book #2? At least, that's what I'm hoping.

Read this if you like: multiple POV, multiple timelines, creepy forests/wilderness, survival, supernatural, short chapters, gore and body horror, unsettling books, and books that make you go "wtf just happened?"

Thank you to Netgalley and Quirk for sharing a digital copy to read. As always, opinions are my own.

3.5 stars rounded up. I received a free ebook ARC from Quirk Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This story follows 4 friends in Kentucky on a mountain climbing trip to explore an uncharted area. Clay is a grad student working on a thesis project, Sylvia is taking detailed notes, and Dylan a signed mountain climber and social media personality along with her boyfriend Like and his dog Slade. What we know from the beginning is the trip ends in disaster, what we learn is how everything went down.

I find myself drawn to books like this similar to The Ruins or The Luminous Dead, books where people are stranded. They are memorable for the detailed settings and fear inducing atmosphere. The gore factor was high in this story and the dread was palpable. I would have liked more from the backstory / flashbacks that were woven into the current disaster, so I had a better understanding if the dark elements.

This thrilling survival horror with a nod to the Dyatlov Pass Incident, is destined to be a top Horror read of 2024 for me. Thank you for a gory, chilling, tension-filled ride with well fleshed-out characters.
Thank you all for the ARC. Looking forward to whatever Jenny does next.

5 overall!

The cover alone is what drew me to this book and then I read the summary and I was sold. The Dyatlov Pass mystery is an insane and weird unsolved mystery that I’m obsessed with and keeps me up at night thinking about. It has so many theories and I love that this book took its own take on it. I was hooked from the start and couldn’t put it down. The multiple POV’s really added to the mindset of each character and how it all played a part in the story. It was definitely weird, creepy, and gory and I loved every bit of it. It was a little repetitive at times which made it feel like it dragged just a bit but overall it was a quick read.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to any horror lover, true crime fan, and climber who wants a good creepy story!

I really enjoyed this book! The story was compelling right from the beginning. The author did a great job at revealing just enough to keep me reading to find out what happened. The characters were complex, and I vacillated between sympathy and loathing and back again. I definitely look forward to Kiefer's next book!

Spoiler!!!!

For those who need to know about the dog: it's not entirely clear if he lives or dies, which somehow makes it worse.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free ARC!

Thank you to the publisher for my copy - all opinions are my own.

This Wretched Valley is absolutely phenomenal horror - gruesome, intense, gritty, atmospheric, claustrophobic, terrifying - I devoured this book in one long afternoon, as I was completely hooked from the beginning.

Inspired by the Dyatlov Pass incident, and transplanted into the vast and unknowable wilderness of Kentucky, this is a story of supernatural haunting and desperate, dwindling, scraping efforts to stay alive in the face of something that cannot be understood. I loved everything about this book from the pacing, to the characters, to the vivid writing and atmospheric tension that ratcheted with each day the group spent first thrilled to have found unchartered territory, then lost, and then trapped by an area of the woods they never should have entered. Jenny Kiefer knows how to make horror jump off the page and grab you by the throat, and I was thoroughly absorbed by this one.

No spoilers - but truly, this is a must have for horror lovers, and anyone who loves a supernatural twist. Guaranteed to keep you glued to the page with entertainment while we battle away long winter days.

Title: This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer

Publication Date- 01/16/24
Publisher- Quirk Books
Overall Rating- 5 out of 5 stars

This Wretched Valley was my choice for episode 5 of season 2 of my booktube series titled “what the bleep did I just read.” This was the most fitting book I have chosen to date. What an effed up book in all the right ways. This book pushed me out of my comfort zone and though at times I thought I was going to puke I loved every second of it (I think that says something about me and my entry into horror). I recommend anyone coming into this check out the triggers because there are quite a few and some that people may change their minds about reading. With that being said, my biggest trigger was in here and I managed it fine. Though I did find myself reading those parts quicker to get through it, I never felt that I needed to put the book down.

I really enjoyed the way this book wove in elements of the land and it’s past. I also described this as “dizzying,” at times I wasn’t sure which way was up. I can’t really expand on that element without going into spoiler territory but if you read it you will see what I mean.

Let’s move into some things I made note of. The body horror is no joke, at least for someone who is newish in the horror genre. I used to be an EMT and still found myself ready to puke and I LOVED IT. I would say I read 60 percent of this story with my hand covering my mouth. A plot device I am learning that I really enjoy is going into a story knowing some or all characters are dead then going back in time, getting to know them and their parts in the story knowing all along they are going to die. This Wretched Valley nails this element.

I think the only people who may end up disappointed could be those who read the description and think this will be more in the vein of a true crime/ thriller story.

Solid horror, loved it, will read from the author again. Thanks Jenny, for building my tolerance to body horror and effed up scenes. I loved it.

TW: Language, gory scenes, blood, violence, baby murder, animal death's, drinking, death by suicide, cannibalism, use of b-word, domestic abuse

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:This is going to be Dylan's big break. Her friend Clay, a geology student, has discovered an untouched cliff face in the Kentucky wilderness, and she is going to be the first person to climb it. Together with Clay, his research assistant Sylvia, and Dylan's boyfriend Luke, she is going to document her achievement on Instagram and finally cement her place as the next rising star in rock climbing.

Seven months later, three bodies are discovered in the trees just off the highway. All are in various states of decay: one body a stark, white skeleton; the second emptied of its organs; and the third a mutilated corpse with the tongue, eyes, ears, and fingers removed.

But Dylan is still missing. Followers of her Instagram account report seeing disturbing livestreams, and some even claim to have caught glimpses of her vanishing into the thick woods, but no trace of her—dead or alive—has been discovered.

Were the climbers murdered? Did they succumb to cannibalism? Or are their impossible bodies the work of an even more sinister force? Is Dylan still alive, and does she hold the answers?
Release Date: January 16th, 2024
Genre: Paranormal Horror
Pages: 304
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
1. Terrifying scenes
2. Scared me
3. That cover
4. Absolutely obsessed with the characters

What I Didn't Like:
1. Didn't care for the writing style at times
2. Too many repeats of words

Overall Thoughts:
I read this book at night I read this book at night for winterween And I was terrified. There were scenes that made me so creeped out that I

So far I am not enjoying this straightforward monotone tell all docu-voice so I hope it changes more to the pov's. I'm not a fan of being told it what happened in a book instead of reading about it happening.

The writing felt very choppy. I didn't like that it would jump back and forth in the same chapter with the pov of the character(s) and then a narrator type voice. I found that odd. Why are we breaking the forth wall via the pov section?

Author repeats a lot of the same words lots of times;
-Spiders
-Pinhole
-Optical illusion
-Fire

After I got past the beginning I was absorbed with the story and the characters. Some of the stuff they did was insane.

Final Thoughts:
Some parts got boring when they would repeat the same actions over and over when I wanted the storyline to progress.

This book was so good. I wish I would have taken more notes on the book but I was too busy writing and didn't get that much.

The book was gross and had some disgusting moments in it that made me drop my mouth.

Rating: 3.98 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 3.75/5
-Cover: 5/5
-Story: 3/5
-Writing: 4/5
Genre: Contemporary, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Paranormal, Thriller
-Contemporary: 3/5
-Fantasy: 3/5
-Horror: 3/5
-Mystery: 5/5
-Paranormal: 5/5
-Thriller: 5/5
Type: Ebook
Worth?: Yes

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

If you like the show From or the movies Blair Witch, As Above So Below, or Grave Encounters I believe you'd enjoy this book. It gave the same foundation as what I listed but with rock climbing and all that. It read very much like that show and movies; it was gory and a bit spooky. Would I like to see this as a top notch B-Rated horror movie? Hell yeah and I hope one day it is!

This had a good start but unfortunately by the end I wasn’t as excited about it like I was in the beginning. I enjoyed the beginning of how we found out the outcome of the four characters and then go back in time to actually see what they experienced in the woods. I love the setting with it taking place in the woods and how we see creepy, mysterious things slowly begin to happen to the characters. However, by the end I felt the plot got a bit cheesy when it was revealed what was actually happening to the characters and the pacing of the story in certain places got kind of slow and felt like the story was dragging. I also wasn’t interested in the flashback scenes of what happened to previous people out in the woods. It felt like every time I read a flashback scene I was being taken out of the story. I would recommend if you like stories that take place in the woods and contain a bit of horror. I would have just liked to see more of the horror.

I enjoyed this one! It has a great intro and it hooked me! I just found the characters so annoying and really dumb! Like they're professional climbers but they mess up immediately and they don't even know basic first aid?😂 it took me out of the story. I did like some of the gory scenes but it did start to feel repetitive . If you like survival horror definitely check this one out!

Thanks for the arc, Netgalley!

Wilderness horror is an absolute terrifying joy and This Wretched Valley delivers the dread I was craving.

Like others, I didn't really connect with any of the characters and that makes the start of the book a little big of a slog. For me personally, kicking things off with animal distress was hard to get through. I think any kind of ~animal horror should be quick & deliberate and Slade running off just made me really anxious. Like Luke, I thought about him being cold and alone in the woods and that's no fun.

Wow this book!! I love isolation horror, and this truly nailed it. It was so scary, so enthralling, and was hard to put down! Just a really unique story.

First of all I just want to say that I love the cover. The big skull cliffside with a person dangling? *Chefs kiss*. Now let's get into the nitty gritty.

Was it an interesting story that kept my attention? Yes, I was very intrigued by the premise of four amateur rock climbers dead set on naming a new undiscovered rock. I'm also a huge fan of horror books that have any kind of wilderness as the setting, they tend to creep me out the most.

What I didn't enjoy about this book was how much we had to read through before getting into any sort of action or exciting parts. It had quite a few lulls for me that slowed the story down and made me not excited to pick it back up again. The gore and mysterious elements are what really held my attention and made me want to continue reading. I wasn't a huge, huge fan of the ending but beggars can't be choosers I guess.

"This Wretched Valley" is an extraordinary journey into the heart of darkness that grips you from the first page and doesn't let go. The author masterfully weaves a tale of suspense, horror, and mystery, set against the backdrop of the enigmatic wilderness. The pacing is perfect, balancing the eerie calm of nature with the heart-pounding fear of the unknown.

Thank you NetGalley and Quirk Books for an e-ARC in exchanged for my honest review!

Let me preface this by saying that I seem to be on a streak of lackluster books, so I may be more critical than I typically am. I have been obsessed with the Dyatlov pass incident for years, so I was probably overhyping this book in my mind, which also didn't help, but this book was very disappointing to me. Luckily, I do seem to be in the minority though. Spoilers to follow.

Let me start by saying what I did like. The gore was really well done. The scene with the flies/maggots actually made me shiver and will live in my brain rent free. There were some really stand out moments that created great ominous tones such as when Clay really went off the handles and the repetition of the forest foliage really upped the creep factor along with the looping climb moment Dylan experienced. Those moments of questioning what they experienced in their mind versus what was perceived in reality and that psychological torment will always work on me.

Now sadly those didn't make up for my problems with this story. I am a VERY character driven reader and these characters felt EXTREMELY one note. Clay wants to find a new climbing wall, Sylvia likes plants, Dylan likes to climb, and Luke is there with his dog and is Dylan's boyfriend (okay fine Luke has two notes). BUT THAT'S IT. If that is all that the characters are going to be, there is no reason why 50% of this book should've been exposition. By the time the action started to amp up, the story felt dragged and I had no attachments to any of the characters. I also know nothing about climbing, so some more context about some of the terminology would've been great (still no idea what 5.11 means and I don't care enough to research on my own). In the same vein, the long descriptions and detailed moments of Dylan's climbs went above my head. I just glazed over them.

Now for the supernatural factors -- I really really really wish this book leaned way more into an invisible supernatural element and had most of the focus on the characters psychologically struggling. The moments where Clay thought everyone was lying to him and started to turn on everyone were the most terrifying parts of this book. I realize this is purely personal preference and taste, but the minute the ghosts became visible, it got exponentially less effective/creepy for me. I prefer an invisible monster.

This is a super specific gripe, but it also made zero sense to me that after seeing the ghosts and literally witnessing how everyone's' perception is being messed with, why Luke would still not question the reality of Dylan's knife in an animal. You JUST watched your girlfriend get chased by a ghost man, who's house is halfway into a rock... I get he was supposed to be overcome by anger/grief, but it just would've been much more believable if, again, the ghosts weren't in everyone's face.

Overall, there were some notable scenes that were very effective with psychological distress and creepy atmosphere, and the gore was well done, but those moments were way outshine by the lackluster characters. I wanted something different from the supernatural element, and there were a lot of moments that made the story feel like it was dragging. By the end I was just reading to get it done and that's never good.

A fast-paced, deeply atmospheric and anxiety-inducing debut full of natural horror and terrifying wilderness that really gets under your skin. The writing style is descriptive and strange, it took a moment to get into but creeps up on you, full of oddly written characters and a plot that felt both erratic and clever at once.

I don't mess with the wilderness that often and this book isn't inspiring me to explore anytime soon. Up and coming climbing sensation Dylan joins her boyfriend Luke at the request of their friend, ambitious grad student Clay and loyal fellow researcher Sylvia on a trip to the Kentucky woods. Dylan hopes she'll make a name for herself scaling a new peak; she has no idea she and her friends will be joining a long history of missing people. Fast-paced, you'll race through the book as if you were trying to escape the hellish valley.

When I first started this book, I was a little bit disappointed because I didn't love the writing style and some of the actions of the group didn't ring true for me. However, by the time I hit the 50% point, none of that mattered because what followed was an exhilarating and horrific page turner that I absolutely devoured. Does this have the best writing or the best characters? No. Is it utterly compelling? Absolutely!
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer is a horror novel about four people, led by Clay, a geologist, and his friend Dylan who is an Instagram famous rock climber, as they trek into the Kentucky wilderness to discover a mysterious new rock for climbing. The structure is interesting as you find out from the start that three bodies were found and that Dylan is still missing and then it flashes back to them going into the woods as you wonder what could have happened to them there. The first half of this novel moves at a fast pace, it slows down a bit around two-thirds of the way through, before picking up again for the final act. This is a very strong debut novel. It is well written and compelling throughout (even with a little bit of a slow down around the middle) and I strongly recommend this to anyone who loves survival horror, especially. Jenny Kiefer is an author to keep a lookout for in the future.