Title: Maggot Road

Author: David Sodergren

Release date: December 3rd, 2026

*Huge thanks to David for a digital ARC of this one!*

Are there actually horror readers out in the world who’ve not read Sodergren yet?

Sure, mainstream only readers perhaps. Those who only buy the ‘spookiest books of the season’ from the few Costco’s over here that still carry books. But if you peruse specialty shops, or online book groups such as Books of Horror or similar, David’s books are recommended enough that you’ve probably snagged one by now.

Over his last few releases, Sodergren’s tackled emotional horror – The Haar and Summer of Monsters – and extreme horror – The Suffering. Now, with Maggot Road, he’s smashed those two together and plopped it within a historical horror setting.

In some lesser writers hands, crossing between three different subgenre’s could easily fall apart, but with David’s skillset at the helm, this one never feels like its crumbling, and we never get the sense that one subgenre’s being utilized simply to have it as a marketing angle.

What I liked: The short novel follows Colle, newly married and finally feeling like he’s being considered a man in the small village of Witchaven. When, one morning, bodies wash up on the shoreline, he’s tasked with helping transport them to a nearby village to receive a proper burial, as those practices don’t take place in Witchaven. To do so, they must cross land most have vowed to never step foot upon, and the warnings from those he’s traveling with are aplenty. Keep your head down and ignore the voices and the singing you’ll hear.

Now, as we’d expect in a horror story, people don’t heed said warnings and heads pop up, eyes look where they shouldn’t and singing reaches ears. Throughout, Sodergren grounds the horrific elements with the relationship aspects. Colle wants to get the job done to respect the dead and return to his wife. He’s in the company of the man who essentially raised him, after his parents died when he was just a young boy, and though he’s not keen on the religious man and the brute, Absalom (though now I question if I’ve spelled that correctly!), they all want the same thing – coin and to return to Witchaven.

Once they arrive at the lands known as The Crone, a place barren of life outside of folkloric terrors, the story really ramps up and it doesn’t take long until a storm arrives, the men believe they’re cursed and secrets slowly are revealed. I will say, what really elevated this novel for me was the sheer atmospheric nature that David jammed into every single sentence. In the afterword he described this one as starting out as an atmosphere piece that morphed into a bit more of an extreme story, but I for one appreciate just how much of the atmosphere aspects remained throughout the various re-writes.

The final stretch of the book is an exercise in madness and while the ending ‘twist’ – though I’m not even sure that’s an accurate word to describe it – is telemarked well before it’s ‘revealed,’ it still worked to solidly execute the emotional nature of what Colle’s character arc was. The ending, told through a kind of pseudo-epilogue, was also wonderful, and featured some of my favourite imagery.

What I didn’t like: When the digital copy was sent out, Sodergren prefaced the fact that there was a lot of Scottish and older Scottish words/language used. Even going in knowing that, there were a few points where I had to Google what the word/turn of phrase meant. For the reader going in blind, I think a warning prior will definitely reduce confusion and even an inclusion at the end of some definitions. Obviously, the final copy might have that, but I throw this in there thinking of the casual reader who may not even realize David’s Scottish.

Why you should buy this: Look, if you’re a Sodergren fan, you’ll probably already have this preordered or you’ll be waiting to buy the paperback once release day arrives. His fans are vast and excited for each of his new releases – and for good reason. So, if you’ve not read a Sodergren book yet, this one’s going to scratch a variety of itches. You get deft folklore, fantastic historical horror, emotional horror, extreme horror and when you throw all of those subgenres into a blender and have David pour it into a story-cup for the reader to devour, you know it’s going to be excellent.

Another phenomenal release from a writer who continues to get better with each release, Maggot Road marks another home run from someone who seems to just be hitting his writing stride. Which is wild to think.