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  • The Ritual

  • By: Adam Nevill
  • Narrated by: David Thorpe
  • Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (710 ratings)
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The Ritual cover art

The Ritual

By: Adam Nevill
Narrated by: David Thorpe
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Summary

From Britain's 'master of horror', Adam Nevill, comes The Ritual, winner of the August Derleth Award and perfect for fans of Stephen King. Now a major film with Rafe Spall.

In The Ritual, four old university friends reunite for a hiking trip in the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle. No longer young men, they have little left in common and tensions rise as they struggle to connect. Frustrated and tired, they take a shortcut that turns their hike into a nightmare that could cost them their lives.

Lost, hungry and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, they stumble across an isolated old house. Inside, they find the macabre remains of old rites and pagan sacrifices; ancient artefacts and unidentifiable bones. A place of dark ritual and home to a bestial presence that is still present in the ancient forest, and now they're the prey.

As the four friends struggle toward salvation they discover that death doesn't come easy among these ancient trees....

©2011 Adam Nevill (P)2011 Macmillan Digital Audio

What listeners say about The Ritual

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
    62
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Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Chilling stuff

On the surface, every horror cliche rears its head in this tale; protagonists lost in the woods, the lonely isolated house, ancient burial mounds and suggestions of a sinister and macabre history. From Hp Lovecraft to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the horror genre has always been full to the brim of stories that tread a similar path. The Ritual however, stands head and shoulders above its peers. The storytelling is impeccable and the narration both spirited and unpretentious. After half an hour I was gripped and almost breathless. Listening to this on headphones in the dead of night was a genuinely nerve shredding experience, but in the best possible way, Highly recommended!

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

This had me scared of the dark....

I bought this audio book as it was on special offer for Halloween along with a couple of other titles. I took a punt on this one after reading some glowing reviews on Amazon and was in no way disappointed.



I stupidly started to listen to this at night, on Halloween and after an hour and a half of the story I was ridged with fear in my bed, doing everything in my power to pluck up the courage to get up and use the toilet! I eventually did and vowed not to listen to the rest of it in the dark but I had to know what happened. Over the next 48 hours devoured the rest and low and behold found myself in bed ridged with fear AGAIN unable to switch the damd Ipod off for the last hour and a half!



A perfect choice, Peter Thorpe is fast becoming one of my favourite narrators, he brings every story he reads to life brilliantly and is the perfect choice for this relentless scare fest.



This is some wonderfully creepy and intense stuff that I’d highly recommend this if you enjoy a good scare.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Oh My. No stroll or camp will be the same.

From it's comencement you may think, just another story about four lads of on a jolly, get lost and bitten, or eaten or abducted.

No just a terifing story. I found myself re-tracing the story, how a bad situation can only get EVEN WORSE! No camping with the kids this summer.Or forestry walks . Poor boys etc. No more Abba or A-Ah for me

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Ritual

I have had this story in my library for some time now,when I first tried to listen to this story I found it so slow and nothing was happening so I gave up,then I recently went back to it and I am so glad I did it turns out to be a very good story,these four guys just out for a camping holiday and decided to take a shortcut through the woods,fatal mistake they get lost and cannot escape then the nightmare begins when the story picks up its really gripping.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • M
  • 23-12-12

unrelenting terror

Just finished Adam Nevill’s amazing The Ritual. The plot is quite thin, but that’s not a fault – it’s supposed to be about the people involved in the story. Indeed, it’s testament to Adam’s skill that he carries our interest across 400 pages in what is, essentially, a two-act tale. It’s hard to talk about what happens without giving stuff away, but I’ll try my best.



The first half of the book is a hunt – an often brutal, suspenseful trail around a deep, dark wood full of seriously weird stuff: ancient churches, broken up houses, bone pits – you name it, it’s here. This steady accumulation of unsavoury details stacks up in the reader’s mind until a menacing air of doom and terror starts building.



Then, in act two, where the focus shifts from environmental terror to a very human one, it just gets worse and worse. The first appearance of the new incoming characters sets the tone for a relentless sequence of nightmarish set-pieces the equal of any snuff-like horror movie (Texas Chainsaw, etc). And this mounts to a dreamlike conclusion in which the reader is left so disoriented that s/he is unable to decide what is real or otherwise. Very powerful.



The ending of the book – the dreamlike last few pages – contains some great writing, a fitting end to a sterling example of modern horror. I loved it. I hate effusive reviews which lack critical edge, but what can I say? Read this book.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not all stories are worth telling

It's not often I give up on a book when I'm 71% in.
Part 1 is okay. There's some idiot plotting, but the characters are otherwise reasonably credible, and there are some atmospheric scenes and moderately exciting bits. It's about 60% of the book.
Part 2 is utterly tedious, and drains away the goodwill that Part 1 generated. I thought about listening to the rest at double speed, then realised I actively don't want to know how it pans out.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Spine chilling

Getting lost in the woods with a group of friends has never been so scary. Creepy cabins, ritualistic sacrifices. A hiking trip gone badly wrong. Extremely well read and perfect to listen to in bed.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Not just a slasherfest, but a great horror novel

Though I agree with the previous reviewer that this book seemed at times a bit too long, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book is in two parts, and the second part drags a bit but introduces characters and new twists that I did not see coming, at all. The character's plight is atrocious, yet there are moments of real humanity and warmth that are heart-wrenching. I had never read or heard Adam Nevill's books before and find him a truly gifted author. This is not just a slasher-fest, it has depth and meaning. The narrator does a very very good job, his voice is, at times, mesmerizing. Recommended

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

a bit too long

The narration was very good and the story was in parts unnerving but it would have benefited from some ruthless editing. A lot of the story involves an internal dialogue of the main character. His trials and tribulations are so dreadful that you end up just wanting it to be over. A writer of thrillers wants to create this feeling but it's a fine line between relentless fear and dislocation from the story. Having said this the characters are well drawn and the story is compelling but it could have been better in a shorter version

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Great first half. Got tiring durin the second.

I loved the first half. I got through it pretty quickly. But the second half seemed to drag on for me, which spoiled it overall.

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3 people found this helpful