Devil’s Day by Andrew Michael Hurley

I borrowed this title from NetGalley, a review service that I use, having not heard of the author before. I was attracted to the title by the striking cover art and the book’s description, with its talk of an isolated village amid a moor, the devil stalking the fens at night. I was expecting a supernatural horror and indeed Devil’s Day is billed as such on Amazon. In some ways, this is an accurate description of the book, it certainly has a supernatural element, but as far as horror fiction goes it’s a slow burn. Devil’s Day might more accurately be described as a drama with a deep sense of foreboding.

The novel’s protagonist, John Pentecrost, is a school teacher who works at a public school in the south of England. Every year he returns to his family farm in rural Lancashire to help his father and grandfather bring the sheep down from the moor and partake in traditional rituals to keep the people and animals of the local community safe from the devil. The novel begins with John bringing his new wife, Katherine (Kat), who’s pregnant with their first child, with him for the first time.  John’s grandfather, popularly known as “the Gaffer”, has just died and his father is getting on in years, so John – who’s increasingly restless in his job - is thinking of broaching the subject with Kat of their moving back to Lancashire to take over the farm.   

As the plot unfolds there are tensions galore. The community John introduces Kat into is extremely wary of strangers and she struggles to fit in. She finds it difficult to understand their old ways and some of them clearly think she’s not up to it. Woodland nearby has recently been burnt down and locals blame a problem family amongst them, members of which have been in prison, bullied other kids at the village school, and generally act in an antisocial manner. As the novel unfolds, it becomes clear that John and other members of his extended family hide dark secrets.

Reading Devil’s Day, at first it seems that the superstitions and folklore that the community adhere to are just that, that this is a remote village, cut off from the 21^st Century that is backwards and quaint. As past secrets are unearthed, the reader might even conclude that this folklore has been used to cover up terrible deeds committed by the community’s members. Strange things do happen, some of which appear to have a supernatural root. By the end of the novel, and at risk of divulging spoilers, it is up to the reader to decide what is real and what is not.

This is a slow burning novel full of evocative and haunting description. The tension and foreboding ratchets inexorably upwards, but is never gratuitous and not particularly scary. This is more of an unsettling tale, not least for a city dweller like myself. I found myself wondering whether there are indeed communities like this, the kinds of places where if you wandered in and were particularly unlucky, you might not ever leave. That said, the plot of Devil’s Day did meander somewhat and the ending seemed rushed.

3 out of 5 stars