RDR Rating: 3/5 Stars 
The land is alive and it’s hungry.
Dylan is a newly sponsored athlete for Petzl looking for her big break, Clay is a university student who dreams of using LiDAR technology to complete his geology PhD dissertation and jumpstart his career. Along with Clay’s research assistant Sylvia, Dylan’s boyfriend Luke and their dog Slade, the group sets off to document what they believe is an undiscovered valley, with the perfect cliff face for climbing, hoping to establish Kentucky’s newest adventure destination. Soon after arriving in Livingston, Kentucky the group is warned by the locals about the mysterious patch of woods off of Route 490, where “a lot of people who go into the woods on that side of the road don’t come back out.” When the group fails to heed the warnings, they find themselves in the valley where things quickly start to go wrong, Slade goes missing, their equipment and technology begins to malfunction and the forrest seems to have a mind of it’s own, constantly shifting and preventing them from finding their way back to their jeep. In a country with no more frontiers left to discover, Dylan and Clay are banking on his LiDAR technology to lead them to the last bit of untouched land, only to find out that some places are better left undisturbed.
Cursed land. A hungry forest with a mind of its own. A terrain stocked with misplaced poisonous plants. What could go wrong on this rock climbing expedition? This survival/adventure horror is perfect for anyone who wants to be terrified to stray off the beaten path. This story picks up pretty quickly as Clay and his friends descend into the seemingly perfect valley and rock face he had discovered while flying over months earlier. Very soon after entering the woods, things start to seem off, and personally I would have turned around immediately after any of the following events:
- The locals warn the group about people entering the woods and not returning
- Their dog, Slade is hesitant to enter the valley (always trust your dog)
- Slade finds a HUMAN BONE
- The forest is full of exotic poisonous plants that should not be there
- There is no cell service
This novel was inspired by the Dyatlov pass incident, which I LOVE because this is something I think about frequently. For those who are not familiar with the Dyatlov pass incident, it is one of the first stories that will pop up if you search “Unsolved/Unexplained mysteries.” I’ll save you from the extra tab in your browser and will give you a brief summary of the unexplained incident:
In January of 1959 a group of eight men and two women embarked on a ski expedition in the Ural mountains, on a route estimated to be a “category III” or most difficult. The group members, who were mostly students or graduates of Ural Polytechnical Institute, were all experienced skiers and hikers. When the group was not heard from after the agreed upon date, volunteer search teams were sent out and were eventually joined by the police and army rescue teams. On February 26th searches found the group’s badly damaged tent, half torn down and covered with snow. Investigators believed that the tent had been cut open from inside and that the hikers had fled barefoot and in various stages of undress.
Two of the skiers were found next to the remains of a fire dressed in only their underwear, in positions that suggested they were moved postmortem. Some bodies of other members of the group were found in positions suggesting they were trying to return to their tent, and the remaining bodies were found wearing other hiker’s clothes, in a ravine under 5 meters of snow. These group members had dug out a shelter in the snow, but were found outside of it. The buried bodies were found to have sustained fatal injuries including skull damage and chest fractures, which investigators concluded would have been caused by a great force similar to that of a car crash. The bodies were not found to have any external injuries, but one of the women was missing her tongue.
Many controversial theories exist regarding what happened to the skiers. The regions in which they were hiking, Kholat Syakhl and Mt Orten, were rumored to be called “Mountain of the Dead” and “Don’t Go There” by the indigenous Mansi people, due to the dangerous terrain and a rumored legend that nine Mansi hunters died mysteriously there or went missing. However, it is more likely that the area’s names have more to do with their lack of game, treacherous terrain and the wind that blows from the mountain. A theory exists that the group may have been killed for camping too close to Mansi hunting grounds. Investigation claims the group left with only one ice ax but two were found with the bodies. There are theories that a Russian Yeti led to the group’s demise, that the area was subjected to government experiments which led to several items of clothing testing for abnormally high levels of radiation or that the group was driven to flee due to panic attacks caused by infrasound from rare weather phenomena. Some believe that the group simply died due to harsh natural conditions and hypothermia. Despite the many theories, the case has never been solved and the pass was named after the expedition leader, Igor Dyatlov.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Dyatlov Incident this website has all the details, including photos and partial journal entries from the victims.
While the author herself claims inspiration from the Dyatlov Incident, This Wretched Valley has themes which make me think The Donner Party story lent inspiration to the story’s premise as well. What better premise for a nature driven horror story than terrifying unexplained occurrences and the horrible things they can drive humans to do to each other.
This novel focuses on themes of land cursed by human greed. Themes of man’s misguided belief that any “unclaimed” land is theirs for the taking and nature’s hungry response and desire to remain unblemished by man’s touch.
Personally I loved the themes of this novel, but there is plenty of horror and gore as well. Nature can be terrifying enough on its own, throw in some cannibalistic ghosts and a morphing forest which imparts an infectious rage on those who dare to claim it and you basically have a nature based slasher.
My only dislike with this novel was that I felt that the horror was a little all over the place with what seemed like many partially developed stories. If you know me you know I like a fully fleshed out story with my horror and I feel that this could have used a little more work here. Some of the chase/fight scenes were a little too drawn out and repetitive for me.
Something I have been living for lately, and which this novel certainly provides, is the author’s incorporation of personal knowledge or expertise. I’m also reading Mad Honey right now, and the amount of bee keeping knowledge I’ve been presented with has my mind buzzing. In this case, Jenny Kiefer uses her personal rock climbing experience, which I think adds more depth to the story through imparting lived experience onto her characters, down to the minute details that only a rock climber would know. I also think this is a great example of how you absolutely can learn through reading fiction.
This Wretched Valley is a very recent release from January, so it’s a great addition to any 2024 horror TBR. This is going to be a great read for anyone who is into survival horror, for me it had a lot of similarities to The Southern Reach Trilogy, but with much more of a paranormal aspect to it.
My favorite part of the book, something I think more horror authors should adopt and what some may consider a minor SPOILER...
And The Final Girl trophy goes to… Slade, THE DOG! Way to go Slade! I live for horror novels where the dog doesn’t die.
Because fiction is often a great springboard for learning here are some non-fiction books you can read if you want to learn more about The Dyatlov Incident or The Donner party:
Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of The Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar
The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny by Michael Wallis
The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel James Brown
I’d love to hear what you thought about This Wretched Valley once you’ve read it. What are your theories on what happened to Dylan AND what theory do you believe about the Dyatlov Pass Incident?