Title: The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense, Horror
Length: 288 pages
Book Rating: B
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss
Summary:
The Bram Stoker Award-winning author of A Head Full of Ghosts adds an inventive twist to the home invasion horror story in a heart-palpitating novel of psychological suspense that recalls Stephen King’s Misery, Ruth Ware’s In a Dark, Dark Wood, and Jack Ketchum’s cult hit The Girl Next Door.
Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road.
One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, “None of what’s going to happen is your fault”. Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: “Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world.”
Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined. The Cabin at the End of the World is a masterpiece of terror and suspense from the fantastically fertile imagination of Paul Tremblay.
Review:
The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay is a suspense-laden, violent and horror-filled novel about an very unusual home invasion.
Seven year old Wen is playing outside the vacation home she is sharing with her dads, Andrew and Eric, when a stronger approaches. In spite of all of the stranger-danger warnings, Wen inexplicably strikes up a conversation with this unknown person who introduces himself as Leonard. Just about the time that doubts creep into Wen’s mind that Leonard might not be as trustworthy as she first believes, she spies three more people headed to the cabin. Wen rushes to tell her dads about the danger brewing, but it is much too late to save their family from the harrowing experience they are about to endure.
Leonard, along with Sabrina, Adriane and Redmond, have seen an apocalyptic vision along with the means in which to prevent it from occurring. Wen, Andrew and Eric figure into this plan in a particularly harrowing manner. Initially, neither Andrew nor Eric believe what the strangers are telling them but they are powerless to free themselves and Wen from this horrifying ordeal. In less than twenty-four hours, their world is turned upside down as they struggle to make sense of the fervent mission that brings Leonard, Sabrina, Adriane and Redmond to their idyllic vacation in a remote area of New Hampshire.
The Cabin at the End of the World is an incredibly atmospheric and chilling novel that is absolutely riveting. The perspectives shift between the various characters and these peeks into their minds are infinitely fascinating and quite illuminating. The violence is graphic yet not gratuitous since each act of aggression adds another layer tension to this intricately plotted story. Paul Tremblay ratchets up the tension with nail-biting suspense and a high degree of uncertainty as the novel hurtles to a terrifying conclusion that is incredibly satisfying despite a few unanswered questions.
