This was a DNF for me - which is crazy because I generally love the author.

This one, however, just didn't work for me. The pacing was off and I didn't care quite so much about our mysterious ship as I thought I would.

Will look forward to the author's next offering instead.

Heuvelt creates another eerie and creepy atmosphere in this supernatural thriller where an omen from our past threatens the return of ancient forces that will change the world forever. A sequel in a way to Hex and Heuvelt has a way of making things even terrifying than you could ever imagine. Terrible things happen to good people and warning Oracle leads to nightmares.

Oracle begins with two teenagers finding an abandoned ship in a tulip field. As Luca watches, his friend, Emma, disappears in a hatch in the ship as an eerie bell tolls. As more people arrive, Luca watches in dismay as others go into the hatch as the bell tolls. What follows is a supernatural mystery story involving a corrupt international intelligence agency and an ancient force. It is loosely a sequel to the author’s earlier novel, Hex, featuring the character of Robert Grim, an investigator of the unknown, roped into the case by the agency mentioned above. Luca eventually finds himself at the center of an ancient and ongoing battle between forces of nature at odds with one another.
I found the beginning chapters of Oracle intense and was drawn into the story quickly. Unfortunately, the novel lost some of its initial appeal as the political intrigue grew. Some of the dialogue between the characters and the agency thugs seemed stilted with the posturing of male bullies. Despite these problems, I was still interested in the underlying story. It was a decent page-turner that should appeal to mystery and horror fans alike. Even though the main character is a thirteen year old boy, I wouldn’t categorize this novel as YA, but I think it would be fine for young adults to read if they don’t mind a bit of horror and some foul language. This was my first novel by Heuvelt, but I didn’t feel at a loss for not knowing the earlier story involving Grim. In fact I enjoyed it enough to add the author’s other novels to my reading list.

I've already talked about this book a bit in my Nonfiction for the Fantastically Inclined column (you can read that here) and I absolutely loved it. Huevelt's previous books have blown me away. Hex was a wild roller coaster with one of the most unique horror plots I've read in a long time and Echo was a possession story unlike any I'd ever read before. Oracle bested both of these books in my opinion with this weird tale of a mysterious ship showing up in a field of flowers and the bad things that ensue when you go into it. It also brings back Robert Grim from Hex as its reluctant protagonist. At times feeling like Stranger Things and other times feeling like a kaiju movie meets the Grudge, this was a book that I could barely put down. Thomas Olde Huevelt has definitely moved to the top of my "must pre-order" list.

Thomas Olde Huevelt's previous outing "ECHO" was disappointing in comparison with his much more atmospheric and compelling novel "HEX." I am happy to report that Oracle is much better.
The characterization is deep and the story is a stunning and dark exploration of human loss, grief, and sudden change. The themes are expertly woven. I was expecting a much more frightening yarn, but this hews closer to a dark fantasy than horror. Still, this author continues to offer intriguing and unexpected tales. Pick it up!

Oracle started out wonderfully, with some incredibly creepy scenes involving kids discovering a mysterious ship in the middle of a field. I loved the cosmic horror vibe. I struggled a bit more as it went on and focused more on adults investigating and covering up the event, and I didn't realize Oracle was actually the sequel to Hex, which I hadn't read. I had trouble following a character's backstory and I was less interested in the government/military thriller aspect, so I wound up reading about 40% and then not finishing the book. If I read Hex in the future I might come back to this one -- I loved Heuvelt's previous standalone novel, Echo.

Oracle is the 2nd-book in the Robert Grim series by Dutch Horror writer, Thomas Olde Heuvelt. The 1st-book in the series is Hex, originally published in 2013. If you are like me, and read Hex more than a few years ago, I read it in 2019, you may not fully remember exactly who Robert Grim is. In fact, even after reading this one, I can't really remember the role he played in Hex.

I guess what I am trying to say is that it's not imperative you read Hex prior to reading this one. They are two completely different stories that just happen to share a common character in Robert Grim.

This story follows a few different perspectives, as well as featuring present and historical aspects. The stars of the show, at least for me, are a teenage boy, Luca, who makes a big discovery, and Robert Grim, an American retired-occult expert, called in to investigate said discovery. It all begins with Luca, along with his best friend, Emma, stumbling across an 18th-century sailing ship, named the Oracle, sitting in the middle of a tulip field. It's completely out of place, like it simply dropped from the sky.

Luca's friend, Emma, actually enters the ship and promptly disappears. As the alarm is raised, anyone else seen entering the ship, such as police officers, never return. Eleven missing people in total. The authorities, unsure what to do, decide to call for help. Robert Grim has made a name for himself as a sort of expert in this type of unexplainable occurrence. Thus, he gets called in to try to unravel the mystery.

There are so many different components to this story. The overall vibe though is one of unsettling mystery. This ship is so well described and unnerving. Additionally, the historical perspectives that are included actually shine a light on the past of this ship. I found that aspect very unique and I really appreciated it. To me it made the ship a true character unto itself. I love when an author is able to do that, with a place, or thing, as was done here.

I really enjoyed the characters as well. Robert and Luca in particular. I loved the close relationship that grew between the two of them over the course of the story. I was also pulled in by the intensity of this government shadow organization trying to cover everything up. Robert and Luca were pawns of a sort for the organizations, but they realized that, so there's a bit of a back and forth as we try to figure out who the bad guys in this actually are.

While I recognize this book may not be for everyone, I really, really enjoyed my time with it. It's such a unique blend of things: SciFi-Horror, Folk Horror, Eco-Horror and Cosmic Horror, all in one originally-mysterious tale. I am loving this main protagonist, Robert Grim, and I'm hoping that this is a series that continues on from here. If you enjoyed The X-Files, or the Themis Files, and don't mind a more detailed SciFi plot, or a slower burn, then you should definitely check this out.


Thank you to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I'm looking forward to more from this author!

Olde Heuvelt is a new name that has kept coming up over the past couple of years. Hex was the first time that I started hearing about him and that just happens to be the first book in the Robert Grim series, it is still on my ever-growing TBR; but good news, you can get by just fine in Oracle without having read Hex.

The synopsis is intriguing, without giving too much away – I love that in a synopsis.

I had my travails with Oracle, not so much the book, but me. I couldn’t find the time to dedicate to reading and it took me an exorbitant amount of time to complete the book. There are times when I blame the book – it didn’t make me want to read it – but this one is on me. Whenever that happens, I find that the story naturally loses some of its gusto.

Olde Heuvelt took this story in some unexpected directions, there was a lot going on without feeling overwhelming. He created some great characters, and the story flowed well, but I never really felt involved.

On a side note, from “the internet is scary” file – while I was reading Oracle, I kept seeing all sorts of Facebook things for Doggerland, which I had never heard of before, never researched on my computer, but plays a role in the book. Play the Twilight Zone music.

I can see how at a better time I would have enjoyed Oracle more, and I still plan on going back for Hex.


*4 Stars

The plot had a lot of potential but the writing and execution fell a bit flat for me. The attempts at writing thirteen-year olds were extremely hard to read, completely took me out of the story, and ultimately, cringe.

It felt a bit messy but I kept hoping that everything would pull together because there are genuinely some really fun, spooky scenes in here. This kinda felt like something a dad might read on vacation?

It’s generally a thriller/spooky book about an old Dutch ship that randomly gets stuck in a Dutch flower field and everyone who goes down its cod trap immediately disappears. The opening bit was super interesting, but I just don’t feel like the rest of the story keeps up with the quality of the beginning. I’d be interested to read more truly standalone works by this author, as I don’t see how this would be a partially effective series.

Also, stranger things is mentioned twice in this book and so it’s hard to not draw comparisons between the way the killer algae is described and the weird stuff in ST and the cop/father figure in the book and Hopper in ST. Just an observation but definitely threw me off.

Oh, I LOVED this! I read Hex years ago, so when I read the synopsis / summary of this, I immediately had to add it to my TBR. It did not disappoint! Started off strong, with the appearance of a huge ship in a field causing several disappearances in a small town, and although there was a small bit of a lull in the middle, the second part of this RAMPED things up entirely! I was on the edge of my seat, and extremely creeped out through my whole time reading. This is really well done as a translation as well, I found the dialogue and everything very believable and natural. Loved it!!

Just when I think Olde Heuvelt can't possibly top his last book, he goes and does it again! One of the most inventive horror authors writing today!

Review: Oracle by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Quotes: "It's the bell, Grim thought, as it tolled amidst all the chaos. That sound is not of this world. Or rather, not of this time. It's coming straight from ages past, when this foul thing sailed the North Sea bound for who knows where."

"He raised the spyglass and beheld what the sea wanted to show him.."

Review: The sequel to Hex and a much different story this time. A young boy and girl find an old ship in the middle of a field. It's completely out of place. She goes in and doesn't come out. Help is called, and everyone that goes in doesn't come back. After 11 people are missing, no one else goes in. And the story unfolds from there.

The story starts out very interesting. But when government's start to cover it up and various subplots took precedent over the main, it slowed down a lot for me. While the politics and the cover up from the public element of the book are important to this story. I would've preferred to focus more on the characters trying to figure things out rather than them running from secret government officials trying to contain this.
I will say the final 50 or so pages elevated the story for me. It read somewhat Lovecraftian from there. I just wish it would've been like that throughout the whole book, rather than the end.
Overall, I enjoyed it. It did drag a little in the middle. But the ending was satisfying.
I'd give this 3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks for reading 📚

I received an Arc of this to review, and I thank Tor - Nightfire and Netgalley for the opportunity.

Went into this expecting horror perfection as the authors previous book was amazing & horrific. This just didn’t do it for me:( too many characters to care about any of them, and such a slow burn. I feel this one just missed the mark on becoming amazing!

While a slow start, my nerves were on overdrive while reading this horror-thriller novel!

This is my first foray with Heuvelt, not having known that this was a sequel, but I will say that I didn't feel left behind reading Oracle. Grim is an interesting character to follow and I did really enjoy the characterization of all involved. The writing was a bit hard for me to get into; I did feel a little removed from some of the emotion that I think could have been used to get me to care more for these characters.

The horror was great for me and I felt so anxious for these characters with the speed at which things happened in the second half of this book. The slow start did make me a little worried as I was loosing a bit of interest but that changed and the stakes were immense by the end.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and am excited to read more from this author! Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

Note: You technically don’t have to read Olde Heuvelt’s book HEX in order to read Oracle, but I don’t think I would’ve understood the character of Robert Grim at all (nor some major parts of the book) without having read HEX first. So I’m going to advise you to read HEX first but I can’t make you do so. You do you.

Somehow, Robert Grim survived the events of the book HEX and has been living at the government’s leisure in a penthouse apartment in Atlantic City. Sure, he’s a miserable hermit of an alcoholic…but he’s alive.

Then one day the government comes knocking at his door, telling him his service is needed because he’s the only one they have with a particular skill set. He doesn’t really have a choice to say no, and so they’re off for the Netherlands because apparently, a “ghost ship” that looks like it should be at the bottom of the ocean is sitting in the middle of a tulip field and some people have gone in the hatch and, well, disappeared.

Robert Grim doesn’t know it yet, but he’s about to enter a moral, ethical, and political quagmire that will bring back some of his oldest and darkest memories, but will also maybe give him some closure on why he’s still here when so many have gone.

Oracle isn’t as brilliant or compelling as HEX, but comparing these two books is a waste of time because we’re comparing two totally different kinds of horrors. Oracle is about more of an eldritch horror: This horror is older than old, incomprehensibly large, ineffable and implacable. It is life and death, baptism and damnation. The horrors in Oracle also cross over time. It’s a larger story with a larger cast of characters and more locales, so it takes more time to get the story going, to get the players moving, and to gain momentum. (HEX, if you’ll recall, was a faster vehicle because it took place almost entirely in one time period, everyone was contained to one village, and the evils were not as ineffable or incomprehensible).

The premise is compelling, the characters are interesting and sometimes downright loveable, the plot is interesting, and once the story really gets going I became very invested in seeing how it all would end. Once I realized just how evil the evil was getting I got even more excited. The climactic scenes toward the end of the book are extremely well-written and almost cinematic in scale. Loved it.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Book Series/Ghost Fiction/Historical Fiction/Paranormal Horror/Psychological Thriller/Speculative Fiction

I thought this was a decent effort, and any issues I have with it are more to do with my personal preferences than it has to do with the book itself. I think having a lot of names and places that are wholly foreign looking and mostly unpronounceable for me sort of took me out of the story a little bit. And also, there is a considerable amount of time spent dealing with government/black ops/secret agent aspects of the story. I know that there are a lot of people who like that sort of book so I can’t say it’s a negative, just not what I want a lot of in the book. I would prefer to spend more time in the protagonist’s head(s), but again, that’s my personal preference and not a criticism of the author and their abilities! If you like supernatural situations with elder God involvement, along with police/secret government subplots, you will not be disappointed with this book!!

On a fog shrouded morning, the 18th century ship Oracle appears mysteriously in the middle of a tulip field. First discovered by two teens on their way to school, it gathers more attention and several individuals enter the ship. No one emerges, and where they've gone is difficult to determine. Oracle is Thomas Olde Heuvelet's second book of supernatural horror in the Robert Grim series. It picks up many years after Hex and aside from the eventual inclusion of Grim does not have a close tie and can be read on its own.

Oracle is a decently plotted horror thriller mystery. We have a mysterious key event (the appearance of Oracle) and what has happened to those who entered the hatch. At the center of this is the not quite child Luca, who found the ship but refused to board and keep others from doing so. He begins to have visions that suggest he might be the key figure to resolve the mystery.

But first he has to contend with the disappearances of close friends, his father and the arrival of a secretive governmental agency focused on concealing the event and gaining some use of the Oracle's potential.

Heuvelt parses out details well, building to the conclusion with both slow bits of the clues or keys for puzzle and the quest to maintain secrecy. Divided into sections, the narrative proceeds from the ship's appearance with short sections between serving as flashbacks providing more context. And there are some very unsettling sections related to those who entered the ship hatch.

Where the book really suffers in is dialogue. As our main character is a teenager, there are a lot of attempts to use slang or reference 'youth' culture that feel very clumsy and unnecessary. Main characters also suffer from a lack of depth, Luca is the rebellious youth, his sister is a little girl who loves Disney. The secret agents in general are very stereotypical, hiding buired secrets or merely interested in keeping control through their power to kill as they feel necessary. The latter is especially evident with their leader. Robert Grim is pulled in, not due to his expertise, but as politically convenient. His knowledge is adversarial, forcing him to work mostly on his own.

Recommended for fans of horror or thrillers about the sacrifices of the few for the greater good. Great atmosphere but as often happens in the genre, some disappointment when the mystery is resolved.

Oracle (Robert Grim, #2)
by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
April 30, 2024

Another supernatural thriller from one of my favorites, Heuvelt!

A mysterious 18th century sailing ship suddenly appears one foggy winter morning, anyone who enters is met by a tolling bell and then they disappear.

Luca’s best friend, Emma, is the first to go missing on the Oracle but not the last. By the time Robert Grim is called in, eleven people and a few animals have disappeared. Robert has faced his own horrors in the town of Black Spring and it’s only by threat that he arrives in the Netherlands to help a secret supernatural government agency deal with the brute force that is the Oracle.

I loved the eerie atmosphere of this story along with the nonstop action, combined with this, getting a small peek back into some finer details of the Black Spring events was incredible.

Grim and Luca working together against an ancient force and nefarious government agencies is a brilliant teaming of unlikely heroes and I couldn’t get enough.

I can’t wait to see what Heuvelt does next!

My thanks to @TorNightfire for this gifted DRC!

Uneven. Olde Heuvelt has a good hand with the creepy scene, and on a moment to moment level was often quite enjoyable (as long as you don't think too hard about <i>why</i> things are happening), but the book seems to be trying to do just a little too much when taken as a whole. (Chief offender here: we have a subplot where a shady Dutch government official tries to sell the Spooky Boat That Makes People Disappear If They Go Inside to an even more shady Saudi government official who wants to use it as a Enemy-Disappearing-Machine, which doesn't make any sense in-universe (how is that more useful than just, killing a person and dissolving them in acid or burying them in a forest? You still have to kidnap the person and transport them to <i>a big creepy ship</i> that now you have to store somewhere) and is wildly unnecessary to the overarching <spoiler>elder-gods-demand-a-sacrifice</spoiler> plotline.)

I wasn't sure fan of this book. It bored me to tears to be honest. But I do like the authors other books. You should check them out. One positive is the writing is wonderful.