It’s very easy to relax in our modern life and believe that everything there is to discover about our world has already been discovered. I wasn’t prepared to be confronted with the fact that there could be anything under our feet which archaeologists haven’t yet unearthed. Yet, McCully comes along and slaps us in the face with the bare fact that not only are there things we have yet to uncover, these things could have the power to threaten our very existence.

The pace here was excellent. Many horror writers fall foul of going into too much detail, or off on irritating and irrelevant tangents, but McCully makes sure we are alert and engaged consistently here. There is something happening constantly, whether it’s something to ponder, or something to scream about. She makes it almost impossible to stop reading, peppering ominous hints throughout her pages, and bashing us with inexorable cliffhangers.

And it’s terrifying. There is something so real and raw about McCully’s prose here, a deeply unsafe feeling of dread. When we really get into it, her descriptions of the horrors and action are utterly stomach flipping, and I was helpless in preventing a groan escaping from my throat.

The ending is so incredibly dark, and ties up any ‘what have I seen’ questions perfectly. It’s a masterstroke to create a finale so incredibly unsatisfying, and so dismal yet unpredictable.

A wonderfully well written novella which will have you checking over your shoulder in the dark for weeks to come. It’s an utterly terrifying and brutally lip-biting journey into an ancient darkness.