The White Road

I love Sarah Lotz – her books don’t fit into any specific genre and often defy description, they are just damned good. Simon Newman risked his life to get people to subscribe to his “Journey ro the Dark Side” website when he filmed his harrowing trip into the bowels of the earth at Cwm Pot. Simon’s guide nearly killed him, but he emerge from the caverns with freaky scary video of dead cavers that made him an internet sensation. Now ready for his next adventure, Simon prepares to trek up Mount Everest, where he will encounter an old mystery and the presence he felt in the caverns will make a return. So creepy, so good, so sorry the book is over!

I loved this whilst being inordinately disturbed by it – you know those times where you read something or watch something and it plays on your mind for days even weeks afterwards, leaving you feeling slightly perturbed for no reason you can put your finger on. I’m a fan of books that do that – means they really have gotten under your skin.

‘Who is the third who walks always beside you?’

Yes. That.

So with “The White Road” then, Sarah Lotz gives us a kind of a ghost story, with an edge of horror and a side of creepy “look behind you” vibe. Simon is not particularly likeable and falls into things – after a caving expedition goes awry he finds himself somewhat of a You Tube superstar. Trying to cash in on that his friend sends him off to climb Everest – the narrative jumps between Simon and Juliet, a previous climber, its not until much later that their two stories come together.

Sarah Lotz as she always does writes with an atmospheric, darkly twisted tone that just gets right to the heart of things. I shivered my way through this, I was living on that mountain with Simon and with Juliet – I couldn’t look away and the night in between the two days I read this over was full of those weirdly incoherent dreams that you only half remember when you awake. For me, that’s clever, beautiful writing right there.

I don’t want to talk about the actual plot much – there are many levels I could dissect for you but let’s not do that – Just know that if you are a fan of creepy, intense and authentic feeling stories then The White Road will tick every box for you. The author walks the line between the real and the imagined so beautifully, the mythology that she builds The White Road from – the third man factor – is enough to make you nervous to begin with. The tension and the sense of unease build inexorably over the course of the storytelling, the setting is wild and uncontrollable and that comes across brilliantly. By the end, an end that haunts, I was so involved that it was hard to leave behind.

The White Road is chilling, in more ways than one, it is also intelligent, wonderfully written and has an enigmatic, mysterious other sense about it that will dig deep into your consciousness. From the opening claustrophobic and downright scary set up to the strangely even more claustrophobic mountain, you will get hook line and sinkered into this one – when a novel literally heightens all your senses as you read it you know you’ve got a good one.

Highly Recommended.

The White Road will creep under your skin, fill your mind with all the ghastly things and make you leery of participating in activities like, oh, let's say caving or mountain climbing. I was totally going to go climb Everest next year, really! Never mind that I have a bum knee, a bum ankle, and maybe I'm scared of heights and also am a wimp, maybe I could have considered it anyway. But nope. Not now. None of my more rational reasons for never climbing Everest are nearly as convincing as reading this book. My knee may hurt, but it doesn't haunt me night and day and give me the creeps. Maybe this is fiction, maybe there really aren't haunted caves or mountains, either way, I am very content staying planted on the ground (not beneath or above) letting other people figure that out. I will bask in the experience vividly given to me via Lotz's book. Kind of like how I felt about cruises after reading Day Four.

Lotz has cemented herself as one of my favorite horror authors with this book. The characters are real and fascinating. The book is just downright creepy! I love it! The dark sense of humor that is layered through out is one of the things that makes her work so memorable and enjoyable for me. The vast majority of this book is from Simon's perspective. He is blessed with this dark sense of humor, he is self deprecating, irreverent (at least in his inner thoughts), and just absolutely wonderful to read. There were a few sections from another perspective and while I did like these sections, and do think they are critical for the book, I did not love them in the same way as Simon's perspective and it was definitely because I missed the humor. Keep in mind, this is not a criticism, those sections are necessary and good, I just missed the laughs that I was having with the rest of the book. Those types of things that you think "oh, I shouldn't really be laughing, but damn! That is so funny! So wrong, yet hilarious!"

The story all starts because Simon and his friend want to drive more traffic to their website. It is full of lists whose titles start with things like "Top 10 most disgusting things...". The type of lists that are all about shock value and can be summed up in one amazing click baity title. It was decided that Simon should venture down into a dangerous (and closed down) cave system, not because the descent would be scary enough, but because deep down in those caves are the bodies of three boys who became trapped and died there. With the cave system being so hard to traverse, there was just no way to recover the bodies. So why not send Simon down and film them for the website? Yeah, this is the type of disrespectful stunt they are willing to pull to gain page hits. Added bonus, Ed, his random tour guide found off a forum on the internet, is about the creepiest fucker I have ever read. Just thinking back to him makes me cringe and shudder.

In terms of traffic to their website, the caves were a hit, however, the trip down Simon's life forever, haunting him. And wow, it's changes in some creeptastic ways. His partner in crime decides that his next big venture (to renew interest after the traffic boost gained from the caves starts to taper) is to pull a similar stunt on Everest. Once again, sending Simon to do the dirty work. And in addition to any supernatural type of horror you might find in this book, I have to say, just the description of the vividly harsh conditions on Everest are enough to scare me away from the mountain.

Another thing I love about Simon, is he does have a conscious. He is actually quite conflicted by all of this, and it may be part of why the story really spirals for him. He just does not seem to have the energy or backbone to stand up to his friend. It is often this internal conflict that would give moments of levity as he could see the absurdity of his "mission". Maybe this could be a lesson to listen to your conscious (and maybe choose your friends wisely). So while, Simon may do some questionable things, I found him extremely relatable and very likable.

I really can't recommend this book enough. Seriously, I never want to meet a person named Ed. I never want to go caving. I never want to climb Everest. Just to make sure I add something positive, this book may also have shown me the appeal of curling up in a ball. All kidding aside, this is one of my favorite horror books in quite a while. I know this story will stick with me because of how much it got under my skin while reading. Absolutely loved it!!

This story was just as frightening and suspenseful as I expected, but I was surprised to find some rather touching moments as well. Simon is a complex character, and the horror that he goes through is rooted as much in the "real world" as it is in the supernatural. Can't wait to start recommending this to people.

Anyone who knows me well knows I have some pretty hard deal breaker rules. Things that I have forbade anyone in my life to participate in. The first is joining a motorcycle gang. I have watched Sons of Anarchy. I know this is bad news. The next one is going to space. Nothing good happens in space. The third, and very serious deal breaker I have, is Everest. Do not climb Everest.
Needless to say, this book helped to justify all my fears and terrify me to the core.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, nothing good happens on Everest!

The White Road, the upcoming release by Sarah Lotz follows Simon, a thrill seeking adrenaline junkie, films tragic situations and creepy places for his website Journey to the Dark Side. After an incident in a cave goes wrong, Simon begins to struggle with some PTSD; but, after the footage recovered from his time in the cave goes viral, Simon latches on to this internet fame and makes the trip to Everest. Ignoring the signs of his mental trauma and uncovering a decade old tragedy, Simon learns the truth that will change him and anyone who views his footage…forever.

From the first moments of this book, I was completely sucked in. After Simon faces his near death experience in the caves and it becomes clear that he will be going to Everest, I couldn’t stop myself from becoming entirely consumed in the text. The novel is broken down into sections. The first, narrated completely by Simon as he goes into the cave and the experiences he faces there. The second, as Simon prepares and arrives at Everest, is narrated by Simon and also by a female climber, who is writing a book based on her experiences climbing Everest. The third section blends all the facets of the plot together.

This novel brought up so many concepts that I find chilling; the human fight for survival, the idea of the third man factor (a phenomenon people experience in life threatening scenarios where they feel a presence of someone who is not truly there either encouraging them to keep going or give up- CREEPY!), and, truly, the uncertainty of nature. There are so many moving pieces to this plot and it is truly impossible to discuss without giving away key pieces to the text, but please note, that if you are someone who likes an authentic feeling text that will unnerve you, The White Road will appeal to you.

Dark, twisty and ominous, I’m giving this one a 5 star rating. It has been days since I have finished this one and I am still thinking about it.

https://lynns-books.com/2017/05/29/the-white-road-by-sarah-lotz/
The White Road is the second book that I’ve read by Sarah Lotz and has definitely cemented her on my list of authors I will automatically pick up. She has a knack for writing the sort of things that just give you the plain old creeps. A wonderful way of wording things that make your skin prickle and give you the feeling that you’re being watched. I simply loved this book.

At the start of the story we meet Simon Newman as he embarks on a journey through the notorious Cwm Pot caves. Simon and his friend Thierry run a blog called ‘Journey to the Dark Side’ and in a desperate attempt to gain more traffic and turn the site into a going concern they’ve come up with a plan to go filming inside caverns that have been closed to the public following a tragic accident involving flash flooding. The TLDR is that things go wrong but the footage Simon manages to take turns the blog viral and Thierry comes up with a new plan for the next venture. Everest. Basically the two are taking footage of the dead and Everest is a perfect opportunity. Not the nicest or most sensitive way to go about things but the two think they’ve hit on something and they’re not going to let morals or feelings of sensitivity get in the way.

Basically, if I hadn’t already read Miss Lotz I might have hesitated about picking this up as caving and climbing are not my usual type of read but I found this absolutely fascinating and I don’t know whether that’s down to the level of detail and descriptions or the element of fantasy realism that accompanies the adventures. The story uses a strange phenomena now known as ‘the third man’ factor. Shackleton was the first explorer to mention a feeling he had of being accompanied when in situations of extreme hardship and following his revelation other adventurers came forward to relate their own similar experiences. The third man became immortalised in a poem by T S Eliot and Lotz has taken this idea and given it a dark and ghostly twist.

I won’t delve any further into the plot but let you find your own path.

What did I love about this? Primarily it boils down to the writing. I have no idea about caving or climbing so how well researched or believable either of these two tales are is unknown to me – but, whilst I might not know all the hard facts what I can say is that the story comes across, without doubt, as plausible and well constructed. The first part of the story where Simon is caving – I didn’t want to leave that story at all, it was so intense I could have kept on reading – and this isn’t the primary focus of the story. It was packed with drama and tension. The darkness, the claustrophobia, the fear – they’re palpable. Reading it made me scared and I was sat on a comfy chair in the living room.

Then we move onto Simon joining a team of climbers making an attempt on Everest. Like I did, you may be thinking ‘no way would he get away with that’ – and why would he even try. It’s dangerous enough for highly trained and experienced climbers let alone relative newbies who stopped climbing after one fall. But again, Lotz pulls this off. She creates a brooding atmosphere that is so believable that you’re sat on the edge of your seat reading, barely able to put the book down. The cold, the fear, the hunger, the frost bite, the extreme exhaustion, the struggle to breath at high altitude. Reading this certainly gives you this whole new sense of wonder and respect really for those who undertake it and Simon certainly doesn’t get off lightly in fact he pretty soon comes to realise just how much in over his head he really is as each day becomes a fight to survive.

In terms of characters – the main character is Simon. He’s not a bad guy really. Okay, he’s made some choices that might not be totally endearing and he’s currently climbing up a mountain with a group of people who he has lied through his teeth to. But, I didn’t find that I disliked him. More I felt sorry for him because he seemed unable to step away from his choices even as he was making things worse. The climbing team is only thinly sketched really, apart from one character who shares a little page space sharing with the readers similar experiences to those that Simon is going through. Simon does steal the show but it was interesting to read the other POV. Then we have Ed – Simon’s original guide down through the caves. Oh dear – what an unusual, weird and incredibly creepy guy. Well, I say that, but maybe he was just a little unhinged. One thing for sure – I would not have wanted him as my guide. In point of fact Simon wasn’t overly keen on the idea but again his inability to step away, make excuses or simply say no stepped in.

Now lets talk about the whole ‘realism’ aspect of the story. The whole issue of whether Simon is being accompanied by an ‘other’. An apparition or maybe an hallucination caused by trauma? What Lotz manages to do is manipulate your own fears in an expert way. Whether you believe there is something sinister stalking Simon or whether there’s a scientific explanation underlying it all what is really clear is that his story is scary, its gripping and it will hold you until the end of the book where you’ll actually find yourself wanting more.

Okay, that’s it for me. I had no criticisms for this at all – or at least nothing that springs to mind immediately. I thoroughly enjoyed this, it surpassed my expectations and has pretty much cemented Lotz on my ‘go to’ list of authors.

I received a copy through Netgalley courtesy of the publisher. The above is my own opinion.

“Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together.
But when I look ahead up the white road,
there is always another one walking beside you” T S Eliot, The Wasteland

Simon and his American friend and roommate, Thierry, are trying to build up their website Journey to the Darkside, a site that attracts viewers who want to see such sensational posts as images and video of dead bodies that no one has filmed before, like some students who died in an infamous cave in Wales.
Researching spelunker sites, Simon finds a guide who has been to these caves and knows where the bodies are buried, so to speak. Contacting him they arrange a clandestine meeting and exploration of the caves.
When Simon makes the trip and meets the guide, a seemingly derelict individual named Ed, he almost thinks about turning back. After all, he had survived a climbing fall that put him in the hospital for weeks. Did he want to risk his life again?
What happens in the caverns stays in the caverns... or does it? How does Simon go from the depths of the earth to scaling the most intimidating mountain in the world? You will have to follow his journey on The White Road, yourself, to uncover these and other mysteries in author Sarah Lotz's addictively un-putdownable new novel.
Ms. Lotz knows her stuff, too, as she brings to these diverse places a thrilling and breathtaking reality.
The Recommender is a big fan of the Three and Day Four (see these titles previously reviewed here) and the White Road is right up there with these memorable titles. Thank you to NetGalley for the DRC!