The cover of this book is what drew me in. It was a fast paced horror book that was fun and easy to read. The Little mix of sci-fi made it all that more fun.

This book was very creepy, scary and gave me some anxiety. Which I LOVED. i really enjoyed the story and the twists that happened. I would definitelt read this author again. Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of this

Nameless Things by Ernest Jensen

During a scenic escape through a state park in Colorado, Mike and Wade experience something rather strange. More than unusual, unreal to be exact. What looks to be a meteorite flies overhead and crashes to the earth within close proximity. Smoke billows from the wreckage, which has them both wondering what they have just witnessed. Ernest Jensen, our horror orchestrator, begins supplying the characters to flesh out this dreadful tale. A family, with dog in tow, emerges and seems friendly enough. However, circumstances change as the mother begins to change. Upon digging through the soil, her interaction unleashes torment from the worms slumbering below. These small invertebrates knife their way into her system and alter her senses. Deeming the situation unsafe, they attempt to escape the basin as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the circumstances are far more dire than they first appear. The pathways have been blocked, and the earthen soil on which they stand becomes their biggest enemy. Can they endure a lack of food and water, or will they succumb to whatever lurks underneath their uneasy footing?

A frolicking, frightful experience was had. The scene had been set, the landscape of a state park in Colorado. You can imagine the sun setting, the skyline washed in a tint of orange. Beautiful. The story is told through the eyes of Mike, a man looking to escape a failed relationship. I am one with the group, the dirt climbing on the back of my calves. Smelling the forestry and meeting new friends. A family of three, a couple from Australia, and lastly a group of British youngsters. Ernest Jensen has other ideas in mind; there will be no postcard snapshots. A more sinister event is planned with death inviting itself to the table. Please, just let me survive.

First, the narrative had an effectively scary yet whimsical narrative. Plenty of snarky comments to break through some of the intensity. The comedic relief seldom lingers too long, as the characters are in constant need to focus. Tortured by a barrage of uncertainty, the stress reveals itself in the form of bickering amongst one another. They are forced to rely on the trust of total strangers, creating a sense of camaraderie yet apprehension. The style of writing is straightforward, exuding enough depth to make you feel at home within the group. Of added brilliance, the choice of having something as sacred as the ground we walk be the place in which horrors dwell was shrewd. Imagine having to play a real live game of floor lava in order to cling to life.

The end draws near; climbing my way to the top of the mountain, I see it... Wait! I am shocked to say the least, albeit in a pleasantly vile way. I began noticing the little dastardly smirk appearing on my face. There can always be some criticism of any work; is this perfect? No, by no means. The premise alone brings out the worst in people. Their annoying traits grating against my mind. I found myself harboring some ill feelings about some of the characters, begging the author to make them shut up already. However, for me this was a minor issue and one that is wholeheartedly up to one’s own interpretation. For having enjoyed this, I am giving it 4 out of 5 stars. Recommended!

Many thanks to Rising Action Publishing for the ARC through Netgalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion.

A while ago, one of my friends shared a copy of a "book" he wrote in middle school.
Funny as it was at times, the writing was not good. But hey, it was written by a literal child.
Nameless Things had almost the exact same writing style. Flat, disjointed, and very surface-level. As someone picky about their prose, this one is a DNF for me at about 23%.
HOWEVER I will say the horror with the worms was very effective and succeeded at making me super squeamish. I would still recommend this to anyone just looking for an easy, creepy read that doesn't take itself too seriously.
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Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Eeeehhhhhhh...I'm so sorry. It was so hard for me to get through this book. 😭 I ONLY finished it because I didn't want my netgalley percentage to reflect not finishing a book I was given. Character development was okay...the story had an okay premise. I just couldn't get into how it was executed. I also figured out that I was having a hard time because the author isn't american and some of the words were just different for me.

Eh it was fine. I wouldn't go out of my way to speak up on it or speak down on it really. I didn't really care about what was happening much and it didn't grip me much throughout.

Thank you netgalley and the publishers or this ARC of this book. I really enjoyed it and had my eye on it for some time. The character development was what hooked me, and the story’s plot kept me engaged. The pacing and themes throughout the story were well developed and I definitely will be recommending this to my book club in 2025.

"Nameless Things", the debut horror novel by Ernest Jensen, is a dive into wilderness horror with some cosmic horror sprinkled in for good taste. This is a fairly easy novel to get through, which is due to Jensen's quick and witty writing. While I wasn't a particular fan of the chapter setup, as it offered a "villain of the week" style to the novel, which started to get old very quickly, I still had a good time with how quick the novel seemed to go. The plot is fairly quickly paced, which made for a read that you wanted to continue on with, since you were left hanging at the end of every chapter. I wish there was a bit more characterization, since we only got surface level examinations of the characters, I still found them to be enjoyable to read. The stakes got high, the horror got wacky, and I genuinely had a really good time with this novel. I'll be very excited to put it on my shelf when it gets published, adding another fun addition to my slowly growing survival outdoor horror collection.

Man vs. the unknown is an awesome horror trope. When a meteor crashes in a campground in Colorado, Mike, Wade, and a couple other campers must face off against wormlike being that eat them. But this is just the start. The Nameless Things are the real horror. A little bit creature feature, cosmic horror, and body horror make this book a great read!!!

easy and fastpaced work with the nameless things being this interesting scar.e the twists were VERY obvious but i wasn't that disappointed. the narrative plot was weird, though. 3 stars. tysm for the arc.

This was a quick and fast paced read however, I felt it lacked quite a bit.
The Nameless Thing for one seemed like an after though and that it was just there for fun and didn't have a real purpose. And second the deaths within the story were quick, lack luster, and di not leave much to the imagination. While it as good, it was just an OK read for me..

I was not shocked to learn that this author was Australian, or that she lives in the UK, based on the language used in this book, which claims to be written from the perspective of a queer American man. So much of the book is written in British English that when she finally got around to the scene where the British and Australian characters were comparing slang and swear words, and our "American" narrator was left befuddled, it was humorous for all the wrong reasons. You're telling me this man says "torch" and "trousers" and "bugger" and says things like "can't be assed" (there is no American equivalent to "can't be arsed", Ms. Duffy; you're better off saying "can't be fucked"), but he doesn't know what "bollocks" means? Ridiculous!!

I was shocked, however, to learn that Louise "Ernest Jensen" Duffy has written five books before because this one was not even close to being good. The characters weren't compelling, it was difficult to get into, and the language used was so boring and generic it felt exhausting to read for such a short book. Normally, I'd finish something this length in a day or two, but this one took me about a week because I had to keep putting it down. The only part that got any kind of an emotional reaction out of me was when I thought they might have to leave the boy's dog behind near the end.

Don't get me wrong. This book wasn't COMPLETELY terrible. It just wasn't very good. As a writing teacher, if one of my high school or college age students turned something like this in, I'd be impressed. But knowing this comes from an adult author who has written multiple other novels, I'm severely disappointed, not only in her, but in the company or companies who have agreed to publish her. Is this really what we've come to in this day and age? Is media literacy really down this much? I sure hope not.

I never knew what was about to happen at any time in this book, lol! I was unprepared for the crazy horrors that went down….part body horror, part cosmic, some dark humor…I was sucked in this story until the end. This is the first book by the author that I’ve read but I’ll definitely look for more!

I would love to have loved this but I didn't. It was a little meh and never took off. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this free eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

A fast-paced, nasty little horror thriller, this will put the fear of God into hikers, and the fear of everything else into the remainder of the audience. A delightful blend of horror, science fiction, and thriller, this book follows a cast of characters through a hike trail taken over by the titular ‘nameless things’ that crashed to Earth on an asteroid.

The book is really well done, with a lot of gore, awful deaths, searing descriptions, and a sense of menace so heavy you could cut it with a knife. It has a somewhat predictable ending, but that is somewhat to be expected in a survival novel.

The only thing I didn’t like quite as much as in other horror novels was the characterisation. There’s not much room for growth when you’re fighting for your life, but I did want to like some of the characters a bit better than I did. I thought that there was definitely a little that could be adjusted in the characters, but the action did compensate sufficiently for this.

This was a really fun horror novel, with a lot of influences that were apparent. It’s well worth the time, particularly if you’re a horror fan and you’re looking for a far more satisfying read than recent tourist horror that seems to be prevalent at the moment.

I love horror stories set in the wilderness and I also love creature features so Nameless Things sounded right up my street and it mostly delivered! The book is set in Devil’s Cup State Park in Colorado and sees various hikers come together as they try to make it back to civilization after they realize that the ground is infested with dangerous worms.

The highlight of this book for me was the worms themselves. I’m a big fan of Tremors, and the worms in this story have that vibe but weirder. I also flew through the story because of how fast-paced it was, but I do wish there had been more pauses. Not only would this have provided opportunities for more character development between the many moments of action, but slowing down would have left room for more description of the horror. But overall, Nameless Things is a fast and fun read!

This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Will definitely read more books by this author in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book!!

I LOVED this book! It was a bit slow in the beginning but then boom I was hooked!! I finished it in one sitting! My first by this author but will not be my last!!

Thank you so much Netgalley for this ARC.
What drawn me to this book is the cover. It is so well done.
This book was pretty good. Not the best but not the worst. I enjoyed it enough.

A fun and fast-paced (if not notably well-executed) thriller along the lines of David Keopp's "Cold Storage." It reminded me a lot of one of my all-time favorite movies, Tremors--funny and a little scary/suspenseful with a likable lead character. I'd read a sequel.