The grieving widower.
Two motherless daughters.
A beautiful house in the Norwegian woods.
But there is a darkness creeping in from the outside...
THE NESTING by C. J. Cooke
Published: Sep 2020
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Horror Fiction
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Serendipity: the phenomenon of finding something beneficial that was not being sought after, quite by chance. This seems an odd word to associate with a thriller, given the horror aspects and the instinctual knowledge that what's about to transpire can only have undesirable consequences. But there it was at the beginning of this standalone novel, insisting that I remember reading it, and make unprovoked references back to it as each new element of the book unfolded. The thing about serendipity is that it's too close to 'fate' for me to dismiss, and I couldn't help but feel a certain level of fate was at work in this novel. Elements out of the characters control, and yet brought about entirely by their fateful wrongdoings.
"...it's creepy here. As though the forest has intentions. The fir trees loom over her like gods."
This novel was electric. How could you not be captured by the concept of a woman who'd recently attempted suicide applying for a position of a nanny to two children who'd recently lost their mother to a sadly successful attempt? There's serendipity in that, as well as a heavy heaping of irony, and so much sadness. But what began as a lonely fiction, soon evolved into an unusual, desolate thriller when Lexi follows her new employer and his children to Norway where he's building their family home on the site of his wife's suicide. What follows is a careful weave of Norwegian folktales through a mysterious horror fiction. We're left with the sense that there's nothing you need fear more than what's ten feet from your window. In an isolated house in Norway where the fjords and the looming forests surround you, and the snow smothers sound, you'd do well to remember that the power of nature should not be underestimated, and if it's tampered with the consequences will be fatal.
"...people nowadays regard nature in very romantic terms, like it's something out of a Wordsworth poem...what they don't realise it that nature has been around much longer than we humans. We don't understand it, not really...Nature always protects itself by whatever means possible."
My only criticism of The Nesting would be its hasty conclusion. After a perfectly eerie build up, everything unravelled and righted itself within the last 30 pages of the book. The conclusion was satisfactory, but I felt it could have been savoured a bit more.
Nonetheless, I would rate and recommend this novel. Its cover is striking, it's concept unusual and it's language is easy and atmospheric to read.
This is the latest of C. J. Cooke's novels, though the first I've read, so it was a brilliant introduction to her writing style. Let me know which I should try next!
Happy reading!
Zuzu
Zuzu
Find me across social media @zuzuspages for more bookish content - links below!
I do love an eerie tale, so will definitely check this out 💋x
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd left it until later in the year as it was a cold, dark setting so would have been more atmospheric!
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