Before You Wake – Adam L.G. Nevill
Reviewed by Steve Stred
I recently devoured Nevill’s other three-story collection, ‘Before You Sleep,’ and dived into this after finishing that one.
I loved the three stories that were featured in ‘Before You Sleep,’ which made me excited for this mini-collection.
KR: You can read the Before You Sleep Kendall Review HERE
We open with ‘The Angels of London.’ Easily my favourite story of the three. We follow Frank, a man trying his best to turn his life around, now living in a run-down apartment complex. The place is overseen by the elusive Granby. Granby collects the weekly rent but doesn’t seem to do much else –no maintenance, no improvements. Instead, each week, he demands more money.
Frank finally has enough and confronts him, which opens up a whole other level to this story. While at first, it had some tension, after a dire warning, things escalate and the ending is phenomenal.
The second story was ‘Always in Our Hearts.’ I personally didn’t really enjoy this one. We follow a hired driver who heads to a location to pick up his next ride. On the surface it had some potential, but I just didn’t connect.
The last story, ‘Hippocampus,’ was a return to form and I really enjoyed it. We arrive at a seemingly abandoned freight liner. Nevill gives us a POV tour through the ship. This made me feel like I was playing a video game where you are searching for someone or something, walking through each room and finding more and more carnage. Really had a lot of fun with this one.
‘Before You Wake’ was another fun outing from Nevill. I’ve now read the two free ebooks and know I need to take the deep dive next into a novel. I currently have three; Last Days, The Ritual and The Reddening. So I’ve decided to tackle Last Days and will be starting that tonight. I’m really excited to dive in and will keep you all posted about how that goes.
Definitely check this quick collection out and for those who haven’t read Nevill yet – get on it!
KR: I should add that this collection is FREE. So please make sure you grab a copy.
Before You Wake
A trilogy of horror tales selected from the award-winning writer’s second full collection – HASTY FOR THE DARK – featuring more of the nightmarish visions and ghastly creatures that have been disturbing readers for years.
In this book, you’ll find three stories of occult and demoniac horror.
Before You Wake is available FREE from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Steve Stred
Steve Stred writes dark, bleak horror fiction.
Steve is the author of the novels Invisible & The Stranger, the novellas The Girl Who Hid in the Trees, Wagon Buddy, Yuri and Jane: the 816 Chronicles and two collections of short stories; Frostbitten: 12 Hymns of Misery and Left Hand Path: 13 More Tales of Black Magick, and the dark poetry collection Dim the Sun.
On September 1st, 2019 his second collection of dark poetry and drabbles called The Night Crawls In will arrive. This release was specifically created to help fund the 1st Annual LOHF Writers Grant.
Steve is also a voracious reader, reviewing everything he reads and submitting the majority of his reviews to be featured on Kendall Reviews.
Steve Stred is based in Edmonton, AB, Canada and lives with his wife, his son and their dog OJ.
You can follow Steve on Twitter @stevestred
You can visit Steve’s Official website here
Yes, I enjoyed the Before You Wake, freebie too and it got me reading more Adam Nevill, and having met him at UK Ghost Story Festival in Derby – I now have The Reddening to read – over xmas.looking forward