This Wretched Valley

Starred review from October 1, 2023

DEBUT In March of 2019, four twentysomethings enter the Kentucky woods on a mission to find a never-before-discovered, let alone scaled, rock formation. Two of them are scientists eager to study the flora and geology of this unmapped region for their graduate work, while the other two consist of a rising star in the rock-climbing world and her boyfriend. However, from the first lines, readers know this story ends with all four dead. Told from the point of view of each doomed character and with timeframes alternating between the past and present, the book is brilliantly crafted, with both vivid characters and a visceral sense of place, a landscape rooted in evil with a long history of a thirst for human blood. An unputdownable and realistic example of survival horror at its best, marked by an unrelenting tension that methodically increases. This is a story that will haunt readers. VERDICT A terrifying debut, rendered with the intensity and skill of Scott Smith's cult favorite The Ruins and touches of The Hunger by Alma Katsu and Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. The novel announces Kiefer's intentions to boldly begin her climb to the top of the genre.

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October 15, 2023
Kiefer's gory and intense debut centers on a doomed rock-climbing expedition beset by horrors both human and supernatural. When geology graduate student Clay discovers an unmapped rock wall, his climber friend Dylan jumps at the chance to climb it first, the Instagram stardom she's been craving finally within her reach. Accompanied by Clay's colleague, Sylvia, and Dylan's boyfriend, Luke, the group set off into the Kentucky wilderness, never to return. Seven months later, the decaying bodies of Clay, Sylvia, and Luke are discovered, though Dylan is nowhere to be found. Were their deaths just a tragic accident--or something else? Kiefer, a climber herself, utilizes her knowledge of the sport to deliver an evocative and pulse-pounding survival horror novel inspired by the Dyatlov Pass incident. This disturbing outing marks her as a writer to watch and will appeal to fans of Scott Smith's The Ruins (2006) and the Showtime series Yellowjackets.

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Starred review from November 6, 2023
Kiefer’s debut heralds the arrival of a major new horror talent. In October 2019, the remains of graduate student Sylvia Burnett are discovered in an eerily quiet patch of Kentucky woods, seven months after she was last seen alive with three companions at a Livingston diner. Her bones are oddly immaculate (“not one scrap of skin left”), baffling local authorities. The bodies of two of her companions—fellow grad student Clay Foster and professional climber Luke Woodhaven—are discovered next, both having sustained horrific injuries. (“How had his ribcage come to be folded outward like cabinet doors, as if a set of hinges existed on either side of his body?” the authorities wonder about Foster.) The only trace of the fourth member of the group, another climber named Dylan Prescott, are some bloodstained clothes. From there, Kiefer flashes back to the origin of the trip, which was spurred by Foster’s hopes that he might be able to use light detection technology to identify undiscovered rock formations that could become the next “climbing hot spot,” and chronicles how it all went horribly wrong. Through vivid descriptions of the creepy setting and thoughtful character portraits, Kiefer maintains a feeling of unease and nail-biting tension throughout. Devotees of daylight horror will be entranced. Agent: Lane Heymont, Tobias Agency.