Return to Neverbury

by Chris Lynch

Somewhere on the coast of England, Neverbury is a little quaint seaside town with the kind of problems that a lot of quaint little English seaside towns have these days... magicians, lawyers, creeping horrors, changelings, folk music purists, portals to hell, idle gods, ghosts, militant amateur cycling clubs, and a serious problem with something called "Big Chicken".

There are the gods above and the great thing below... praise them all.

Genres: Horror

230 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 31, 2025

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Reviews

[Sharron Joy Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are back to Neverbury, the quaint seaside town that is soaked in supernatural shenanigans. Every variety of haunted and damned thing lurks here hidden under the facade of a seemingly harmless English village. Morbidly macabre and gorgeously gruesome, here are ten stories exploring the dark underbelly of normality.

Amidst the horror there is the darkest humour and an almost whimsical feel as the horror sneaks up on you, feeling almost normal in this place. The residents are quirky and they look after their own.

This is such an entertaining read, each story a little glimpse into the weird and uncanny where ancient gods and demons live in suburbia, alien creatures stalk the woods and witches keep order. This is the second book in the series and I cannot wait for more from this small provincial village that harbours eccentric characters and the darkest horrors.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

The unknown is terrifying, but the unknown can also be confusing. Every story in this book straddles the line between sharing juuust enough details to be understandable and leaving enough unseen to the reader that they can fill in the gaps with their own horrific imagination. However, it fails as often as it succeeds.

Of these stories, quite a few are *so* sparse on the details that I finish them wondering what the hell was going on, more than I am particularly scared.

And when stories aren't finishing without quite enough having been revealed that you can understand what's going on or the nebulous threat that is being presented... they are being cut off suddenly before the twist ending can be explored. So many of these stories could have done with a few extra pages of content to round them out.

Some of them feel like they end right in the middle of the action and you never get the resolution you thought was the point of the story. It seems to be that the point of the stories is "Neverbury is weird and horrible", which, cool, but often I want to know what happens! And I don't understand why we aren't allowed to.

[BookswithLydscl | · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

Not quite as wholly brilliant as book one but still delightfully twisted and dark.

[Horror Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This followup to the very awesome Welcome To Neverbury continues its absolutely fantastic blend of horror/comedy. As in the previous book, the author takes us on trip through the weird bizarre town of Neverbury and its many terrors lurking underneath the small English town exterior.

The settings of these interconnected stories are innocuous at first glance. A used bookstore, a flower shop, a bicycling group are just a few. But it doesn't take long for unexpected and horrific things to show themselves. But that's the norm for this town and each one digs under the surface to reveal dreadful secrets and people who are not who they might appear to be.

There's still a sense of surprise though because some of these tales take an "out of left field" twist at the end that you won't see coming. Sure, a haunted house seems like just another trope, but once you realize what's haunting it, it gives the story an extra punch.

And it's not just the cosmic entities waiting to snatch a victim in it's bloodthirsty tentacles you have to worry about. The residents like things a certain way here and you're best off not rocking the boat!

Put together, this book and the first is an engaging, often bloody, often funny, and always compelling look at a weird small English town. I highly recommend it.

I received an ARC of this book from the author. This review is voluntary and is my own personal opinion.

[Em Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

📚ARC📚

✨ 4.5

“There was strength, beneath the rust.”

This was such an incredible follow up, I thoroughly enjoyed the first and this did not let me down.

It was brilliant diving back into this world and finding out more stories from the small town of Neverbury.

Chapter Three: It’s What’s Inside That Counts really stood out for me, there was something about it that I’m sure I won’t forget anytime soon, it’s wriggled its way into my brain.
Also, there was a cheeky little mention for my home town which caught me completely off guard! 😂

Honestly, I really hope we get to revisit this strange town again in the future.

A huge thank you to the author for reaching out to me about this sequel and sending me a copy via Booksprout.

[Rubin Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having enjoyed the first book very much, I wanted this to be as good. It just wasn't.
It's enjoyable, but it lacked something.
It wasn't helped by the dozen or so spelling mistakes, missing and or additional but wrong words.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bit of a mixed bag, but even the worst stories are an easy three or four stars. And the very best are brilliant, hence the five star rating. The peddlers and Frank's Farm will live with me for a while.

[Sass · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t think it was as strong as the first one. It felt less subtle and leaned more into horror. I was hoping we’d see some of the earlier characters again, like Mabel, but unfortunately we didn’t.

[M D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this immensely, it was not as immediate as the first book in the series, but once the rhythm of the stories had settled it was a cracking read.