I had not intended to read another Andrew Michael Hurley novel quite so soon after Barrowbeck. His first novel The Loney is the one that’s really on my future TBR radar, however, a trip to my local library saw Devil’s Day on the shelf. It seemed too good an opportunity to miss, so I borrowed it. As with the blurb of Barrowbeck, the cover blurb of Devil’s Day was suitably vague to conjure ominous intrigue.

There’s lots of familiar Andrew Michael Hurley territory here. A northern, secluded scattering of farm houses called The Endlands, sets the scene…

Devil’s Day

Devil’s Day is a traditional ritual the inhabitants undertake before gathering in their sheep for the winter. They create a feast, light a huge bonfire and sing rhymes to entice and then drive the devil away from their lands. This ritual has come about from their great grandfathers’ generation, when thirteen terrible deaths, loss of livestock and disease took hold of the valley during a blizzard. Convinced the devil was jumping from victim to victim, wreaking havoc and murder on his way, the villagers developed the ritual to protect themselves.

We arrive in modern day Endlands for the preparations of Devil’s Day. John and his newly pregnant wife, Kat, have travelled up to Endlands for John’s grandad’s funeral. Devil’s Day and the Gathering will take place just a few days later. We discover more of John’s childhood and the history of the land, its owners and their secrets. Kat is uneasy, longing to return to Suffolk, but John is now deeply attached to the farm’s future.

There are a number of threads running through the book, and for me I felt some were a little underdeveloped. The history of the land ownership changing hands and who the various historical owners have been runs throughout, but I struggled to keep up with the names and the overall importance. The absence of the character of Jeff didn’t quite hit for me. Perhaps I found it hard to care about someone we could never really get to know? The sinister lodge, while hiding a big secret, didn’t turn out to be so sinister when stuck there for the night. A murder on the farm, and who did it, was relatively downplayed in the grand scheme of things. So there was lots going on that I was expecting to have more weight.

Grace

Grace’s character had a lot of potential. She is a troubled, lonely child on the cusp of adolescence, and as the book progresses you can begin to understand where her strange and sometimes sinister behaviour is leading. I would have liked this to really ramp up. I particularly felt the discomfort between her and Kat and the threat to Kat’s unborn baby. These were the moments where the gothic folk horror began to shine and I wish there had been more of them. Instead, I felt there were all the other threads lightly weaving their way in, but not having the same impact. Sometimes they actually became distractions for me, trying to weigh up their importance in the overall plot.

As a result, it felt like a lost opportunity for some really tense moments that could have had more time. If the focus had been on the increasing danger to Kat and unhinged behaviour of Grace, I’d have been gripped.

Kat

I always found myself on Kat’s side, and irritated at John’s blinkered behaviour. This was particularly so towards the end of the novel. When John more or less said that Kat would have no choice in where they lived and would do what he decided – that really bloody annoyed me! I am sure this was the intention, to increase Kat’s vulnerability by the person she’s closest to being blind to what is happening. Having seen how badly Kat wanted to leave, I did find the U-turn a little puzzling. I would have really loved to know her reaction and inner feeling’s to Adam’s birth. Did she blame Grace, John, the devil, herself etc?

I always find so much potential in AMH’s writing, and I am always the most satisfied by his novels compared to authors who rely on infusing magic into gothic horror. I much prefer the ambiguity of folklore that he explores. There were lots of really nice touches throughout, and these small isolated communities are something AMH does so well. I still really want to read The Loney so I can then make a full ranking of his work. At the moment Starve Acre remains my firm favourite due to the strength of its tension, unease and focus.