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ericarobyn's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Neverest by T.L. Bodine is a chilling survival story centered around grief, regret, and the search for answers in order to move on. Filled to the brim with quiet, unsettling moments, this book will have you nervously turning each page.
Mourning the loss of her husband, Carrie has made it through the horrible phone call, followed by the funeral and burial, but she can’t begin to move on until she has an understanding of what happened. Undeterred, even when begged by her late husband’s best friend, Carrie goes to Everest to climb and look for her husband’s body or any trace of information that may show her what happened to him.
Once on the mountain, mostly alone in the cold with her thoughts, we learn that grief isn’t the only weight Carrie is carrying up the mountain with her; she’s also carrying the weight of guilt and regret.
She’s not an experienced climber, but she has determination on her side. Will she get the answers she craves or will the mountain claim another victim?
There’s just something about this author’s writing style that sucks me right in every time. I absolutely devoured this book!
I was so invested in this character’s journey! Her emotional scenes were so spot on for how I have handled grief in the past, I couldn’t help but feel for her.
As the story progressed, I loved not knowing whether there was really something supernatural going on, or whether it was just altitude psychosis … and that ending! PHEW.
My Favorite Passages from Neverest
Outside, it had gone from evening to night to the earliest hours of morning, time stubbornly refusing to stand still for grief.
Uncertainty became a living creature that shared her body and drove her, against her better judgment, to fixate.
Otherwise, the path felt increasingly lonely as it wound its way up the mountain. Even when they passed other hikers on the trail, there was a sense of isolation that had not been present closer to the towns — like the whole area was holding its breath in anticipation of something.
She doesn’t know how to explain that she needs the distraction. Needs to feel busy, in control of something. That without something to keep her hands busy, she’ll be dragged down into an abyss in her thoughts — that focusing on the here and now is the only thing keeping her from falling into the limitless void of ‘what ifs’ and uncertainty.
The crowd has morphed, grotesquely, into an assembly of ghosts, and nobody else seems to have realized it.
Isn’t it funny how altitude and tiredness and grief all affect the body in the same way?
All the same, I felt an odd awareness that, even if I wished, I would not be able to raise my voice. Like when you’re in a dream and try to call out but can only whisper. I cannot explain it, but I was certain that the mountain itself had stolen my voice, suppressed it to maintain the level of ghostly hush that now filled the cold slope.
Behind her, the crevasse seems to grow narrower, as if the waiting mouth were starting to close in disappointment that it would have no fresh prey to swallow.
It is not true after all what people always say — that you can feel nothing in a dream. Dreams can be painful. Dreams can be more real than anything.
My Final Thoughts on Neverest
One of the very best slow-burn and suspenseful novels I have ever read, this one carries readers along step by step, taking everything in as we climb the mountain and break down the walls in the main character’s mind to see the full picture. Like the climb itself, things are only made clear at the top.
I loved every single second of this story. This is a must-read for fans of horror that has elements of survival, real-world horrors, and the supernatural.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood and Death
Minor: Infidelity
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