The Book:
Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Published February 8th 2022 by Nightfire
Date read: February 2, 2022
The Characters:
Nick, Sam, Julia
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Travel journalist and mountaineer Nick Grevers awakes from a coma to find that his climbing buddy, Augustin, is missing and presumed dead. Nick’s own injuries are as extensive as they are horrifying. His face wrapped in bandages and unable to speak, Nick claims amnesia—but he remembers everything.
He remembers how he and Augustin were mysteriously drawn to the Maudit, a remote and scarcely documented peak in the Swiss Alps.
He remembers how the slopes of Maudit were eerily quiet, and how, when they entered its valley, they got the ominous sense that they were not alone.
He remembers: something was waiting for them…
But it isn’t just the memory of the accident that haunts Nick. Something has awakened inside of him, something that endangers the lives of everyone around him…
It’s one thing to lose your life. It’s another to lose your soul.
The Review:
I’m an avid hiker, so I was incredibly excited to read a horror novel set on a climbing trip in the Swiss Alps. I’ve traveled to a handful of places mentioned by Nick in his travels–I’ve climbed Mt. Taranaki, which is mentioned in passing, and my friends and I got lost in fog near the summit. That’s what I was picturing while I listened to the scenes of Nick and Augustin lost on the Maudit.
Obviously, my favorite scenes were the ones on the mountain! I also enjoyed the creepy Swiss mountain town, which seemed nothing like the picture-perfect ones I’ve visited.
Echo grew on me more and more as I listened. At first I was a little lost, and it definitely helped to have a physical copy to read back through to figure out what had confused me. Without a physical copy, I would have had to restart the audiobook a few times for clarity. At the beginning, I thought I might not be smart enough to follow the author’s train of thought. Once I got a hang of the story, though, I began to really like it.
Relationships aren’t usually the focal point of horror novels, but I really liked Nick and Sam’s. I also liked Sam’s relationship with his little sister. The scene where she brought him his childhood teddy bear to give him courage was so sweet!
I definitely think horror fans will enjoy this creepy, atmospheric story.
The audiobook was narrated by David Wayman, Greg Lockett, and Lauryn Allman. I love to listen to horror novels, because I think it really enhances the experience. The terror in the character’s voices doesn’t always come across as well when you’re just reading, and these voice actors did an amazing job of increasing the suspense.
QOTD: Do you hike?
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