Title: The Valley (Linkville Horror #2)

Author: Mike Salt

Release date: April 5th, 2023

*Disclosure – ‘The Valley’ was published by DarkLit Press and was offered to me as a digital ARC. I have a novella releasing through DarkLit in 2024, but saying that, I declined accepting the ARC and preordered the three books in the series – at that time – and have recently purchased the fourth. This review is completely my own thoughts.*

After whipping through the first book in this ‘linked’ series (see what I did there!) of horrors set in and around Linkville, ‘Damned to Hell,’ I dove into book two, ‘The Valley.’ This book had me really excited and if you’ve read my reviews before or read any of my own works, you’ll know I’m always up for strange things happening in the woods.

This one, just from the description, had me salivating over a novel that sounded like it would be a throw back to the Eli Roth time period of horror movies. There was a solid stretch there where every director was ripping and shredding their actors and actresses by tossing them into the woods – in literally every country – and having things there attack. And I was all for it.

So, with this one, a group of friends rent a cabin in the woods (YES!) and find a strange map (DOUBLE YES!) and they decide to hike to the place on this strange map (GOOD GOD YES!) only to run into trouble (AHHHHHH!!!!!!), I knew this novel was gonna be perfect for me!

What I liked: If you read that previous paragraph and didn’t skip it – thanks for that! – then you’ll know exactly what you’re in for. A group of friends, who gather annually in different places around the world to have fun, decide this year that they’re going to go to the mountains instead of say, Vegas, or Cancun. At first, there are some grumblers, a few who are annoyed and don’t want to hike, but the cabin is great and the scenery is world class.

Salt does a solid job of getting us to that point, some great banter between life long friends, but it’s when the generator runs out of fuel that things really take off. A few head to the basement to refuel it and while down there, stumble upon what looks like a desk specifically for researching an area of the mountains. A waterfall that isn’t noted on some standard maps. And as a group, they decide to hike to it and see what it’s all about.

Of course, this is after learning that the previous owner died a grisly death and one of the friends in the group has been having strange dreams. You know, normal stuff in horror books that characters immediately overlook, ha!

It’s from here that the group faces its first real obstacle. As they go, a stranger arrives. They threaten them, the group scatters and soon enough they find themselves in a ghost town that seems to have been abandoned long ago. While here, a strange fog settles, time becomes irrelevant and they have to work together to potentially escape.

Mike keeps the tensions high, the anxiety growing and the hope of any of them surviving barely dangling out in front. We learn the horrible truth of this cursed place and when we get to the very end, are given a glimpse of just how much that strange town had wrecked havoc on those who make it out.

What I didn’t like: While I did enjoy the group of friends, I did find that there was almost too many of them, which made for tough going as the story progresses and you’re trying to remember who is who and who they are with. This also worked to diminish some of the emotional moments where a stronger connection between reader and characters would’ve resulted in a more impactful reaction.

As well, the time spent in the town did feel a bit longer, as we do circle around a few times, seemingly not progressing towards a resolution. It pays off in the end, but a few chapters did come off as repeats of the previous ones.

Why you should buy this: After reading the first two books in Salt’s Linkville series, I’m invested and really want to see what book three will throw at me. So far, both books can be read as individual books with no ties to each other, other than a shared location, and even that was a bit of a stretch based on this one being up in the mountains.

This one was a fast-paced story, set in a great spot with some truly fantastic storytelling that had me intrigued and unsettled at the same time! Now, onto book three!

4/5