This Wretched Valley

Four climbers and researchers and one dog hike into a remote stretch of Kentucky wilderness to find a rock face that appears on no map. Clay, a geology graduate student, hopes a LIDAR discovery will make his career. Dylan, newly signed as a professional climber, wants the first ascent. Her partner Luke and Clay's research assistant Sylvia complete the group.

The valley they reach is one the locals avoid. Time seems to loop back on itself there, and events repeat even when the group's own cameras show otherwise. The forest starts to wear the party down, physically and mentally.

This is wilderness horror, bleak and escalating, with body horror and madness at its core. The book draws on the real Dyatlov Pass incident, and the expedition turns into a slow, grotesque decline rather than a sudden disaster. The bodies are found eventually, laid out in patterns nobody can explain.

Expect a grim, claustrophobic read in which the dread builds steadily and the setting does as much damage as anything else. It suits readers who want horror that is unsettling and physical, and who do not need comfort at the end of a chapter.