Book Review: Last Days

Last Days is a 2012 novel by Adam Nevill about a documentary maker named Kyle Freeman. Kyle is contacted by a man named Maximillian Solomon who wants him to make a film about the Temple of the Last Days, a cult run by a woman named Sister Katherine that was thought to have met its end when several members, Sister Katherine included, were found dead from what looked like a gruesome suicide ritual. Kyle, in desperate need of money, takes the job and begins filming, but complications begin to arise in strange sightings and dreams. Soon, Kyle begins to wonder if the Temple of the Last Days has some secrets of a more insidious nature.

The atmosphere of the story is well-developed, particularly the cult. While the Temple of the Last Days itself seems to be an amalgamation of several horrific stereotypes associated with cults, the real life existence of such cults such as the one founded by Jim Jones does help in making the Temple not seem too over the top. The atrocities committed by the Temple serve not only to horrify readers but also to build upon the character of Sister Katherine, letting readers know how demented she is even if she isn’t alive and present to give them a close look. The cult itself is more effective at building up the frightening atmosphere of the story than the strange occurrences that Kyle experiences as he continues to film, giving readers the sense of a gruesome shadow hanging over the characters that continues to stalk them even after they have escaped from the cult with their lives.

As for the characters themselves, they are probably the weakest part of the book. Kyle himself is a relatively flat character and most of the information readers are given about him are in the beginning, usually concerning his career in documentary making. Personality-wise there isn’t much that sets him apart from other characters. Many other characters are only present for a single chapter and serve only as a mouthpiece for the history of the Temple. The one character with the most depth is Maximillian Solomon; though his personality will seem to change as time goes on, it can easily be explained by the events of the story having an effect on him. Still, the book would’ve been improved if Kyle’s depths were more fully explored.

 
While the characters are somewhat bland, the setting is well developed and the author’s narrative is gripping; there is the possibility that the readers might not grow to care much about the characters but they will certainly keep reading in order to figure out the mystery behind the cult. Last Days is a nice blend of the fear of humanity’s cruelty and the things that go bump in the night; it is a fine horror story of what sort of depravity humans will subject others to. While it is a pity that the characters are not exactly memorable, this is still a book I would recommend to anyone who enjoys mystery or horror.