Title: The Devil’s Mountain

Author: Jack Harding

Release date: April 25, 2022

Since the time when I started watching documentaries and later discovering more and more about history on the internet (I didn’t get internet until Grade 10 or so, 1996ish), I’ve always been fascinated with Hitler and the Nazi’s scope concerning both the sheer volume of buildings and bases they built, but also their supposed occult leanings. I don’t want to go down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole here, but I know I’m not the only one out there who sees an old, abandoned base covered in vines and let’s their brain wander to what could be lurking down there and what the Nazi’s might’ve conjured from somewhere else.

Which brings me to Harding’s ‘The Devil’s Mountain.’ This actually just came on my radar the other day, when Kev Harrison shared one of those ‘newsletter-sign-up-and-get-free-books’ posts. I clicked the link, scrolled through the listings and grabbed a couple, one being this one.

What I liked: The story follows Dylan and Nikki, recent love birds, who are travelling through Germany and visiting some historical sites. One such site is Teufelsberg, a former CIA station that was built on top of a former Nazi training site.

Harding does a great job of capturing the two in that amazing, beginning of a relationship state, flirting, joking and bantering frequently. Both Dylan and Nikki are likeable characters and the lead up to them arriving at the location was fun.

Once at the site, things grow ominous and claustrophobic, Harding doing a great job of keeping us on our toes as well as confused and second guessing everything.

The ending was a nice bit of fun, tying things together while still leaving enough unanswered to let our minds wander.

What I didn’t like: Two things stuck out for me. The first was, I felt like for the length of the story, it took far too long to actually get to the location and then the events at the location itself felt rushed. I would’ve loved it to be maybe 20% getting there, 70% there, 10% wrap up. Instead it was closer to 75% getting there, 20% there and 5% wrap up, so the events came off as really rushed.

Secondly, I wasn’t a huge fan of some of the overly descriptive moments. When the wind is described as ‘insinuating’ it felt like it was reaching for something that it never fully arrived at.

Why you should buy this: If you snagged this as a freebie, definitely get on it. Other wise, this is a quick, single sitting read that will have you hyperventilating. This was your classic 90 minute movie where a single frame isn’t wasted and the action comes fast and furious.

And PS – it looks like at the time of writing this (Friday, June 17, 2022) the ebook is free on Amazon!

3.5/5