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The White Road
A cutting-edge thriller about discovering horror lurking at the top of the world.
Desperate to attract subscribers to his fledgling website, 'Journey to the Dark Side', ex-adrenalin junkie and slacker Simon Newman hires someone to guide him through the notorious Cwm Potcaves, so that he can film the journey and put it on the internet. With a tragic history, it has been off-limits for decades, and unfortunately for Simon, the guide he's hired is as unpredictable and dangerous as the watery caverns that lurk beneath the earth. After a brutal struggle for survival, Simon barely escapes, but the gruesome footage he managed to collect goes viral. Ignoring the warning signs of mental trauma, and eager to capitalize on his new internet fame, Simon latches onto another escapade—a trip to Everest. But up above 8000 feet, in the infamous Death Zone, he'll need more than his dubious morals and wits to guide him, especially when he uncovers the truth behind a decade-old tragedy—a truth that means he might not be coming back alive.
Desperate to attract subscribers to his fledgling website, 'Journey to the Dark Side', ex-adrenalin junkie and slacker Simon Newman hires someone to guide him through the notorious Cwm Potcaves, so that he can film the journey and put it on the internet. With a tragic history, it has been off-limits for decades, and unfortunately for Simon, the guide he's hired is as unpredictable and dangerous as the watery caverns that lurk beneath the earth. After a brutal struggle for survival, Simon barely escapes, but the gruesome footage he managed to collect goes viral. Ignoring the warning signs of mental trauma, and eager to capitalize on his new internet fame, Simon latches onto another escapade—a trip to Everest. But up above 8000 feet, in the infamous Death Zone, he'll need more than his dubious morals and wits to guide him, especially when he uncovers the truth behind a decade-old tragedy—a truth that means he might not be coming back alive.
304 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2017
145 people are currently reading
5689 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Lotz
41 books799 followersSarah Lotz is a screenwriter and fiction novelist with a fondness for the macabre and fake names.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 492 reviews
May 16, 2017
3.5 STARS
*Thank you to Shotsmag for my paper copy for which I have given an honest review *
“Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I do not know whether a man or a woman
-But who is that on the other side of you?”
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land and Other Poems
Simon Newman is described as an 'adrenalin junkie' (though in reality he's a bit of a slacker, a drifter) His friend and colleague Thierry (with whom he runs the creepy website' Journey To The Dark-Side') persuades him to take on risky pursuits in their desire for fame and fortune.
The story begins in the underground Cwm Pot cave system in the heart of Wales. Simon has enlisted the help of experienced caver Ed (a somewhat dodgy character) he met online. The cave system has been closed to the general public, following the deaths of a group of cavers some years previously, and their remains are still down there.
Herein lies the real reason that Simon and Thierry have chosen this particular cave system - they want footage of the dead bodies for their website. Insensitive to the feelings of the victims’ families, they plough ahead with their mission. However, things go disastrously wrong and Simon barely escapes with his life. Internet footage goes viral, and gives them a taste of the fame they crave, but what happened down there will have lasting repercussions for Simon.
Following on from Cwm Pot, and eager to capitalise on their internet footage, Thierry decides to send Simon to Mount Everest, to obtain video footage of the remains of climbers who'd died in their quest to reach the summit. Thierry manages to acquire the money needed for Simon to join a team who are about to climb Everest, but of course he has to keep the real reason he's there to himself.
This was an unusual storyline, but the author captured the claustrophobic feel of the Cwm Pot cave system particularly well, ensuring that the reader experiences Simon's panic at being trapped, his desperate struggle for breath in the tiny confined spaces. Ditto his experience on Mount Everest - the sheer physical effort and determination needed to achieve success on such a difficult climb, whilst fighting altitude sickness at the same time, is to be admired. However, both in the cave systems, and on Mount Everest, Simon has experienced the 'third man' syndrome, whereby a person senses an unseen presence, usually thought to bring comfort in times of trauma, and it's this that really sets this book apart, giving the narrative a very dark feel to it.
I found this to be quite an absorbing, though creepy tale, and the author created plenty of tension. The characters however, left a lot to be desired, there wasn't a single one with whom I felt an affinity. I still enjoyed it, and for the most part it flowed well, but I thought the story lost it's way towards the end of the book.
*Thank you to Shotsmag for my paper copy for which I have given an honest review *
“Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I do not know whether a man or a woman
-But who is that on the other side of you?”
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land and Other Poems
Simon Newman is described as an 'adrenalin junkie' (though in reality he's a bit of a slacker, a drifter) His friend and colleague Thierry (with whom he runs the creepy website' Journey To The Dark-Side') persuades him to take on risky pursuits in their desire for fame and fortune.
The story begins in the underground Cwm Pot cave system in the heart of Wales. Simon has enlisted the help of experienced caver Ed (a somewhat dodgy character) he met online. The cave system has been closed to the general public, following the deaths of a group of cavers some years previously, and their remains are still down there.
Herein lies the real reason that Simon and Thierry have chosen this particular cave system - they want footage of the dead bodies for their website. Insensitive to the feelings of the victims’ families, they plough ahead with their mission. However, things go disastrously wrong and Simon barely escapes with his life. Internet footage goes viral, and gives them a taste of the fame they crave, but what happened down there will have lasting repercussions for Simon.
Following on from Cwm Pot, and eager to capitalise on their internet footage, Thierry decides to send Simon to Mount Everest, to obtain video footage of the remains of climbers who'd died in their quest to reach the summit. Thierry manages to acquire the money needed for Simon to join a team who are about to climb Everest, but of course he has to keep the real reason he's there to himself.
This was an unusual storyline, but the author captured the claustrophobic feel of the Cwm Pot cave system particularly well, ensuring that the reader experiences Simon's panic at being trapped, his desperate struggle for breath in the tiny confined spaces. Ditto his experience on Mount Everest - the sheer physical effort and determination needed to achieve success on such a difficult climb, whilst fighting altitude sickness at the same time, is to be admired. However, both in the cave systems, and on Mount Everest, Simon has experienced the 'third man' syndrome, whereby a person senses an unseen presence, usually thought to bring comfort in times of trauma, and it's this that really sets this book apart, giving the narrative a very dark feel to it.
I found this to be quite an absorbing, though creepy tale, and the author created plenty of tension. The characters however, left a lot to be desired, there wasn't a single one with whom I felt an affinity. I still enjoyed it, and for the most part it flowed well, but I thought the story lost it's way towards the end of the book.
June 29, 2017
3.5 stars
If you've read Sarah Lotz, you know that her books sometimes get a little off-kilter in the best of ways. This one goes a bit in the direction of, I guess the best way to describe it would be: ghost story. It has an eerie horror feel where you'll end up thinking is creeping up behind you. Plus Lotz's usual atmospheric feel is present. When Simon explores the caves, I felt like I was venturing into the narrow caves with the cold rising water. I really felt like I was there. And when we're going up Mount Everest, I felt the cold air, the high altitude, the struggle to breathe. There is something so vivid and real about her writing that just takes you to the setting working perfectly to make readers feel the fear the characters are feeling. It's really quite brilliant. And this is why I will never stop reading Lotz.
In The White Road, there are two different stories that come together later in the book. For a while, I was wondering how the two would be connected besides the fact that they're both adventure type stories. Eventually it becomes quite clear before the author even spells it out to the reader. You'll know what I mean.
It's 2006. Simon Newman is an adrenaline junkie. He has a click-bait type website with his roommate Thierry. And in an effort to get clicks, Simon is going into the Cwm Pot caves to film dead bodies. The trip goes catastrophically wrong leaving Simon with PTSD and footage of his near-death experience. It goes viral. But to keep their website popular, they need more. Someone suggests Simon go film dead bodies on Mount Everest because it's essentially the opposite of the previous location in altitude.
Somewhere along the line Simon's story connects with Juliet's story which is told through her journal. I can't give any more details on the plot. In regard to the formal, there are emails in addition to the journal entries interwoven in. Interestingly enough, there are connections to a poem by T.S. Eliot.
While I was creeped out at times and live for the atmospheric setting, I still am left wishing there was more. I'm just not sure what. Certain plot points lacked resolution, which I know I should expect to some extent. It just left me feeling unsatisfied.
Who is the third who walks always beside you?
If you've read Sarah Lotz, you know that her books sometimes get a little off-kilter in the best of ways. This one goes a bit in the direction of, I guess the best way to describe it would be: ghost story. It has an eerie horror feel where you'll end up thinking is creeping up behind you. Plus Lotz's usual atmospheric feel is present. When Simon explores the caves, I felt like I was venturing into the narrow caves with the cold rising water. I really felt like I was there. And when we're going up Mount Everest, I felt the cold air, the high altitude, the struggle to breathe. There is something so vivid and real about her writing that just takes you to the setting working perfectly to make readers feel the fear the characters are feeling. It's really quite brilliant. And this is why I will never stop reading Lotz.
In The White Road, there are two different stories that come together later in the book. For a while, I was wondering how the two would be connected besides the fact that they're both adventure type stories. Eventually it becomes quite clear before the author even spells it out to the reader. You'll know what I mean.
It's 2006. Simon Newman is an adrenaline junkie. He has a click-bait type website with his roommate Thierry. And in an effort to get clicks, Simon is going into the Cwm Pot caves to film dead bodies. The trip goes catastrophically wrong leaving Simon with PTSD and footage of his near-death experience. It goes viral. But to keep their website popular, they need more. Someone suggests Simon go film dead bodies on Mount Everest because it's essentially the opposite of the previous location in altitude.
Somewhere along the line Simon's story connects with Juliet's story which is told through her journal. I can't give any more details on the plot. In regard to the formal, there are emails in addition to the journal entries interwoven in. Interestingly enough, there are connections to a poem by T.S. Eliot.
While I was creeped out at times and live for the atmospheric setting, I still am left wishing there was more. I'm just not sure what. Certain plot points lacked resolution, which I know I should expect to some extent. It just left me feeling unsatisfied.
September 8, 2023
Even better 2nd time round!
just love Sarah Lotz. I've loved them all even the often maligned Day Four.
I loved this whilst being inordinately disturbed by it – you know those times where you read something or watch something and it plays on your mind for days even weeks afterwards, leaving you feeling slightly perturbed for no reason you can put your finger on. I’m a fan of books that do that – means they really have gotten under your skin.
‘Who is the third who walks always beside you?’
Yes. That.
So with “The White Road” then, Sarah Lotz gives us a kind of a ghost story, with an edge of horror and a side of creepy “look behind you” vibe. Simon is not particularly likeable and falls into things – after a caving expedition goes awry he finds himself somewhat of a You Tube superstar. Trying to cash in on that his friend sends him off to climb Everest – the narrative jumps between Simon and Juliet, a previous climber, its not until much later that their two stories come together.
Sarah Lotz as she always does writes with an atmospheric, darkly twisted tone that just gets right to the heart of things. I shivered my way through this, I was living on that mountain with Simon and with Juliet – I couldn’t look away and the night in between the two days I read this over was full of those weirdly incoherent dreams that you only half remember when you awake. For me, that’s clever, beautiful writing right there.
I don’t want to talk about the actual plot much – there are many levels I could dissect for you but let’s not do that – Just know that if you are a fan of creepy, intense and authentic feeling stories then The White Road will tick every box for you. The author walks the line between the real and the imagined so beautifully, the mythology that she builds The White Road from – the third man factor – is enough to make you nervous to begin with. The tension and the sense of unease build inexorably over the course of the storytelling, the setting is wild and uncontrollable and that comes across brilliantly. By the end, an end that haunts, I was so involved that it was hard to leave behind.
The White Road is chilling, in more ways than one, it is also intelligent, wonderfully written and has an enigmatic, mysterious other sense about it that will dig deep into your consciousness. From the opening claustrophobic and downright scary set up to the strangely even more claustrophobic mountain, you will get hook line and sinkered into this one – when a novel literally heightens all your senses as you read it you know you’ve got a good one.
Highly Recommended.
just love Sarah Lotz. I've loved them all even the often maligned Day Four.
I loved this whilst being inordinately disturbed by it – you know those times where you read something or watch something and it plays on your mind for days even weeks afterwards, leaving you feeling slightly perturbed for no reason you can put your finger on. I’m a fan of books that do that – means they really have gotten under your skin.
‘Who is the third who walks always beside you?’
Yes. That.
So with “The White Road” then, Sarah Lotz gives us a kind of a ghost story, with an edge of horror and a side of creepy “look behind you” vibe. Simon is not particularly likeable and falls into things – after a caving expedition goes awry he finds himself somewhat of a You Tube superstar. Trying to cash in on that his friend sends him off to climb Everest – the narrative jumps between Simon and Juliet, a previous climber, its not until much later that their two stories come together.
Sarah Lotz as she always does writes with an atmospheric, darkly twisted tone that just gets right to the heart of things. I shivered my way through this, I was living on that mountain with Simon and with Juliet – I couldn’t look away and the night in between the two days I read this over was full of those weirdly incoherent dreams that you only half remember when you awake. For me, that’s clever, beautiful writing right there.
I don’t want to talk about the actual plot much – there are many levels I could dissect for you but let’s not do that – Just know that if you are a fan of creepy, intense and authentic feeling stories then The White Road will tick every box for you. The author walks the line between the real and the imagined so beautifully, the mythology that she builds The White Road from – the third man factor – is enough to make you nervous to begin with. The tension and the sense of unease build inexorably over the course of the storytelling, the setting is wild and uncontrollable and that comes across brilliantly. By the end, an end that haunts, I was so involved that it was hard to leave behind.
The White Road is chilling, in more ways than one, it is also intelligent, wonderfully written and has an enigmatic, mysterious other sense about it that will dig deep into your consciousness. From the opening claustrophobic and downright scary set up to the strangely even more claustrophobic mountain, you will get hook line and sinkered into this one – when a novel literally heightens all your senses as you read it you know you’ve got a good one.
Highly Recommended.
August 23, 2018
We’ll give it a three star rating, though I am reluctant to even give it that much.
This is my first venture into the world of Sarah Lotz and her writing, which is important to note from the outset. The story took me to new heights and offered some self-examination in some chilly conditions, something that I presumed at the beginning of this reading journey would prove exciting. Simon Newman is a thrill seeker of sorts. Not only that, but he likes to document those who seek thrills, but do not succeed, to the point that they lose their lives. Teaming up with a friend, Simon agrees to go inside a cave to explore, in hopes of finding—and documenting with video—a number of bodies of fellow cave explorers who perished. Macabre? Definitely, but when the exploration does not go as planned and Simon almost loses his life, he has an epiphany of sorts, as well as collecting a ton of emotional baggage. Simon turns to his next adventure, climbing the north side of Mount Everest, where there are surely many bodies are strewn across its paths. Lying to falsify his need to be there, Simon learns about an epic explorer, Juliet Michaels, who lost her life trying to be the first female to ascend to the summit. Through her journals (which the reader also experiences as a secondary narrative), Simon is able to learn that Juliet faced demons of her own, only to perish in the attempt to conquer them. With the climb moving forward, Simon meets a fellow climber whose story is closely tied to Juliet’s, all while he is on the lookout for new video footage to wow his website viewers back home. Struggling to come to terms with his past struggles, Simon realises that there is much more to the Juliet Michaels story than meets the eye, if only he will take the time to follow the path laid out before him. Lotz pens this interesting story, which may ‘pique’ the curiosity for some, though I found it to be an avalanche of convoluted writing.
I would suspect that the worst thing for an author is to have a reader spend time with a book and think, ‘Ok! So where is the point in all this?’ I felt that way throughout this novel and could not shake that it was not simply me in a poor reading mindset. I cannot criticise the writing, for it was quite well developed, or even the characters, as they did reveal themselves in a decent fashion. While the narrative was excessively long, I can see the Lotz wanted to condense each ‘happening’ into a single chapter, thereby making them long and somewhat convoluted (like a mountain trail?). I could not find myself caring much about the story or how the characters moved from one mindset to another. I like to learn and Lotz offers many chances to explore mountain climbing, going so far as to add a glossary of terms and peppering the narrative with ‘mountain-speak’. I just felt that the story left me feeling disconnected, like an old piece of Velcro that no longer has the ability to adhere to much of anything. Surely there are others who loved the book and praise Lotz for her writing. First impressions are strong and I simply could not find myself loving the book or the premise. Maybe I am just too jaded or want action rather than epiphanies embedded in a deeper meaning. Whatever it is, I cannot pretend that I am the problem, though perhaps I need my own hike away from the rest of the world to clear my head.
Thanks, Madam Lotz, for sharing this piece. I did not find it engaging, but I am sure others will lap it up.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
This is my first venture into the world of Sarah Lotz and her writing, which is important to note from the outset. The story took me to new heights and offered some self-examination in some chilly conditions, something that I presumed at the beginning of this reading journey would prove exciting. Simon Newman is a thrill seeker of sorts. Not only that, but he likes to document those who seek thrills, but do not succeed, to the point that they lose their lives. Teaming up with a friend, Simon agrees to go inside a cave to explore, in hopes of finding—and documenting with video—a number of bodies of fellow cave explorers who perished. Macabre? Definitely, but when the exploration does not go as planned and Simon almost loses his life, he has an epiphany of sorts, as well as collecting a ton of emotional baggage. Simon turns to his next adventure, climbing the north side of Mount Everest, where there are surely many bodies are strewn across its paths. Lying to falsify his need to be there, Simon learns about an epic explorer, Juliet Michaels, who lost her life trying to be the first female to ascend to the summit. Through her journals (which the reader also experiences as a secondary narrative), Simon is able to learn that Juliet faced demons of her own, only to perish in the attempt to conquer them. With the climb moving forward, Simon meets a fellow climber whose story is closely tied to Juliet’s, all while he is on the lookout for new video footage to wow his website viewers back home. Struggling to come to terms with his past struggles, Simon realises that there is much more to the Juliet Michaels story than meets the eye, if only he will take the time to follow the path laid out before him. Lotz pens this interesting story, which may ‘pique’ the curiosity for some, though I found it to be an avalanche of convoluted writing.
I would suspect that the worst thing for an author is to have a reader spend time with a book and think, ‘Ok! So where is the point in all this?’ I felt that way throughout this novel and could not shake that it was not simply me in a poor reading mindset. I cannot criticise the writing, for it was quite well developed, or even the characters, as they did reveal themselves in a decent fashion. While the narrative was excessively long, I can see the Lotz wanted to condense each ‘happening’ into a single chapter, thereby making them long and somewhat convoluted (like a mountain trail?). I could not find myself caring much about the story or how the characters moved from one mindset to another. I like to learn and Lotz offers many chances to explore mountain climbing, going so far as to add a glossary of terms and peppering the narrative with ‘mountain-speak’. I just felt that the story left me feeling disconnected, like an old piece of Velcro that no longer has the ability to adhere to much of anything. Surely there are others who loved the book and praise Lotz for her writing. First impressions are strong and I simply could not find myself loving the book or the premise. Maybe I am just too jaded or want action rather than epiphanies embedded in a deeper meaning. Whatever it is, I cannot pretend that I am the problem, though perhaps I need my own hike away from the rest of the world to clear my head.
Thanks, Madam Lotz, for sharing this piece. I did not find it engaging, but I am sure others will lap it up.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
April 24, 2017
Simon Newman is described as an 'adrenaline junkie' in the blurb, but really he's more of a drifter who lets himself be persuaded into risky stunts by his best mate Thierry. (The two of them run a website, 'Journey to the Dark Side', a pre-clickbait-era 'geek' forum which has attained moderate popularity due to Simon and Thierry's penchant for adding their own commentary to creepy video footage. Due to being the fitter of the two and possessing some climbing experience, Simon tends to be the guinea pig for their expeditions.) At the beginning of The White Road, Simon is heading to Wales to explore a dangerous underground cave system – closed to the public for years after the death of a group of young cavers – with a dodgy guide he met online. Predictably, it all goes pretty badly wrong; Simon barely makes it out alive, and the trauma he experiences there will prove to be indelible.
But then the resulting footage goes viral. Journey to the Dark Side explodes, and suddenly its creators are minor celebrities. Thierry (who's one of those friends ex machina whose parents have bucketloads of money) convinces Simon they need to go big for their next stunt: Simon should attempt to climb Everest. So – partly because he doesn't have much else to do with his life – Simon dutifully heads off to Tibet to start training for the climb. Can he escape the spectre of his terrifying experience in Wales? (What do you think?) And what does his expedition have to do with the journal, written years earlier, of a professional climber named Juliet?
The White Road is a tale of perseverance and endurance, and it is a horror story. It inevitably reminded me of Michelle Paver's ghost stories Dark Matter and Thin Air, both of which revolve around similar expeditions. The challenges and conditions of mountain-climbing – the isolation enforced by a hostile environment, the confusion of altitude sickness, the darkness and cold and the frozen bodies left scattered across the landscape after failed expeditions – naturally lend themselves to ideas of shadowy figures, optical illusions, the mind playing tricks. If you've read anything else by Lotz, it will come as no surprise that such a master of atmosphere is adept at conjuring up incredibly eerie images and exploiting the full potential of such an inhospitable setting.
I spent the best part of Easter Monday curled up with The White Road and some Creme Eggs. I knew from the start that I'd want to read this book in one go, and it was the perfect accompaniment for a duvet day – gripping, chilling and absolutely absorbing. You're thrown into the action from the very beginning; it hits the ground running and never really stops. A welcome return to form (and first-person narration!) from Lotz after the lacklustre Day Four. I was so engrossed I didn't even mind the fact that the black page edges on the paperback proof left ink stains all over my hands.
I received an advance review copy of The White Road from the publisher, Hodder & Stoughton.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
But then the resulting footage goes viral. Journey to the Dark Side explodes, and suddenly its creators are minor celebrities. Thierry (who's one of those friends ex machina whose parents have bucketloads of money) convinces Simon they need to go big for their next stunt: Simon should attempt to climb Everest. So – partly because he doesn't have much else to do with his life – Simon dutifully heads off to Tibet to start training for the climb. Can he escape the spectre of his terrifying experience in Wales? (What do you think?) And what does his expedition have to do with the journal, written years earlier, of a professional climber named Juliet?
The White Road is a tale of perseverance and endurance, and it is a horror story. It inevitably reminded me of Michelle Paver's ghost stories Dark Matter and Thin Air, both of which revolve around similar expeditions. The challenges and conditions of mountain-climbing – the isolation enforced by a hostile environment, the confusion of altitude sickness, the darkness and cold and the frozen bodies left scattered across the landscape after failed expeditions – naturally lend themselves to ideas of shadowy figures, optical illusions, the mind playing tricks. If you've read anything else by Lotz, it will come as no surprise that such a master of atmosphere is adept at conjuring up incredibly eerie images and exploiting the full potential of such an inhospitable setting.
I spent the best part of Easter Monday curled up with The White Road and some Creme Eggs. I knew from the start that I'd want to read this book in one go, and it was the perfect accompaniment for a duvet day – gripping, chilling and absolutely absorbing. You're thrown into the action from the very beginning; it hits the ground running and never really stops. A welcome return to form (and first-person narration!) from Lotz after the lacklustre Day Four. I was so engrossed I didn't even mind the fact that the black page edges on the paperback proof left ink stains all over my hands.
I received an advance review copy of The White Road from the publisher, Hodder & Stoughton.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
May 4, 2017
This is the first book I’ve read by Sarah Lotz, plus it’s the first I’ve read to do with natural, mountainess horror… and I have to say I really enjoyed it! It instantly pulls you into the story, and the writing and setting instantly creates such an atmospheric, creepy and chilling feeling.
You do have to suspend belief for this novel. A man going down to do some caving is plausible, but the idea that Simon could climb Mount Everest after no professional training is just not believable. This didn’t bother me an awful lot as I was so involved with the characters stories and encaptured by the fear of the situations, but I know it can be an issue for some people.
I’m stunned at how claustrophobic and breathless this book made me feel. When we’re down in the caves with Simon, straight off, I found myself squirming and panicking as we made our way deeper into the abyss. Then those feelings were brought back to me again as we were scaling Everest and the air was getting thinner and thinner. Lotz really has a way of writing horrifying experiences! She’s also good at adding in humour to parts of the story that others would make severely intense, and I liked that we had that chance to have a bit of a mental break from all the dramatics.
I won’t lie and say this was the most perfect book in the world, because it isn’t. I was disappointed by the final climb up Everest. It all happened to quickly, I was stunned to turn the page and find we were back down at ABC camp. It wasn’t at all as climactic as what had happened down in the caves, which seemed weird, as this was our main event! But , the climb up Everest feels like much more like a means to an end.
Lotz is a master at getting you attached to characters. Simon was witty and he was tragic, by the end I felt like I knew him completely and to be honest, I think I was in love with him a little bit. When we get to the end, that chilling, haunting end, I very nearly shed a tear. I was so attached to his character, I felt like he was worth crying for, but somehow I kept my wits about me (very unlike me!)
Like I just mentioned, the ending is one of the best I’ve read. For me, it was everything I wanted it to be, and everything I didn’t want it to be. It was raw and terrifying. I felt a little choked up by it all.
Overall, I think I’ve discovered a new type of book I like! I like this horror-in-the-wilderness feel so I’m definitely going to be checking out more books like this! (I just bought myself Ararat by Christopher Golden) Please, if you read the synopsis and thought “hmm, that sounds like it could be good”, rush out to get this! I know Lotz’s other books have garnered pretty average to poor reviews, but after this, I’m going to have to check out her other stuff.
Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for sending me an advanced reader’s copy of this book.
You do have to suspend belief for this novel. A man going down to do some caving is plausible, but the idea that Simon could climb Mount Everest after no professional training is just not believable. This didn’t bother me an awful lot as I was so involved with the characters stories and encaptured by the fear of the situations, but I know it can be an issue for some people.
I’m stunned at how claustrophobic and breathless this book made me feel. When we’re down in the caves with Simon, straight off, I found myself squirming and panicking as we made our way deeper into the abyss. Then those feelings were brought back to me again as we were scaling Everest and the air was getting thinner and thinner. Lotz really has a way of writing horrifying experiences! She’s also good at adding in humour to parts of the story that others would make severely intense, and I liked that we had that chance to have a bit of a mental break from all the dramatics.
I won’t lie and say this was the most perfect book in the world, because it isn’t. I was disappointed by the final climb up Everest. It all happened to quickly, I was stunned to turn the page and find we were back down at ABC camp. It wasn’t at all as climactic as what had happened down in the caves, which seemed weird, as this was our main event! But , the climb up Everest feels like much more like a means to an end.
Lotz is a master at getting you attached to characters. Simon was witty and he was tragic, by the end I felt like I knew him completely and to be honest, I think I was in love with him a little bit. When we get to the end, that chilling, haunting end, I very nearly shed a tear. I was so attached to his character, I felt like he was worth crying for, but somehow I kept my wits about me (very unlike me!)
Like I just mentioned, the ending is one of the best I’ve read. For me, it was everything I wanted it to be, and everything I didn’t want it to be. It was raw and terrifying. I felt a little choked up by it all.
Overall, I think I’ve discovered a new type of book I like! I like this horror-in-the-wilderness feel so I’m definitely going to be checking out more books like this! (I just bought myself Ararat by Christopher Golden) Please, if you read the synopsis and thought “hmm, that sounds like it could be good”, rush out to get this! I know Lotz’s other books have garnered pretty average to poor reviews, but after this, I’m going to have to check out her other stuff.
Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for sending me an advanced reader’s copy of this book.
May 30, 2017
4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2017/05/30/...
I’ve always held a bit of a fascination for mountaineering stories, which is really ironic considering my deathly fear of heights. Certainly I’ve never harbored any desires to scale anything more extreme than a steep hill, which is why when I first picked up Sarah Lotz’s latest novel about death and danger on Everest, I thought there would be little chance of her “ruining” mountain climbing for me the way she put me off from cruising for a whole year after I read her shipbound horror-thriller Day Four. And yet, books like The White Road still have this way of sending chills down my spine, even when I’m reading them from the warm, cozy comfort of my living room couch.
Our story begins in the winter of 2006, and protagonist Simon Newman and his roommate Thierry are a couple of slackers whose ambitions amount to nothing more than throwaway barista gigs at the local coffee shop and running their clickbait website on the side. At this point, YouTube stars and listicles are just starting to become a thing, and the two friends are hoping to grow their following enough to score a sweet advertising deal of their own. The idea for their big break comes when Simon first learns of the Cwm Pot caves in Wales, where several years ago a group of spelunkers had gotten trapped and died. Their site “Journey to the Dark Side” would become an internet sensation if Simon could go down there and come back with actual never-before-seen footage of the dead bodies, Thierry insists; it is the perfect material for their morbid audience.
Unfortunately for Simon, his venture into Cwn Pot ultimately ends in disaster. But while the incident leaves him traumatized, the salvaged footage from his harrowing experience along with the ensuing media attention does propel the website into the top ranks. Eager to take their newfound popularity to the next level, Thierry proposes the idea for another attention-grabbing stunt: Now that Simon has gone deep down underground in search of corpses to film, why not go the other way this time, and do the same thing on the highest point on earth? Mount Everest is said to be the final resting place of more than 200 people; the shocking reality is that there’s very little anyone can do for those who lose their lives at such altitudes, and their remains are often unrecoverable and left where they fell, sometimes for years and years. Surely it wouldn’t be too hard for Simon to go up there and capture more footage of a couple of dead bodies, which would undoubtedly bring even more traffic to their website.
But up above 8000 feet in the Death Zone, anything can happen. And the reality is, Simon did not emerge from Cwn Pot the same person. He is a haunted man now, after the things he’d seen in its terrifying depths, and he’s brought some of that darkness with him to the world’s highest open grave. The White Road is a story divided into three distinct sections, with the first focusing on Simon’s misadventures in the tight, twisty tunnels of the Welsh caverns. This, in my opinion, was the best part of the book. I read these first fifty pages or so feeling like my heart was stuck in my throat, the fear practically choking off my breath—and I’m not even a claustrophobe. If I had to go through even a fraction what Simon did, I would never turn a single light off in my house again, soaring electricity bills be damned. Sarah Lotz’s descriptions of the oppressive darkness and unbearably cramped spaces stirred up some of my deepest fears, and I couldn’t help but put myself in the protagonist’s place, losing hope as the underground water rose higher and higher.
Compared to that, the rest of the book almost seemed tame, even in Part II when Simon jets off to Nepal to climb Mount Everest. There are certainly plenty of frights in this section, though in a much different way than Cwn Pot. Here, we get to see the cold, merciless nature of the mountain, dispassionate about the fates of those who attempt the summit. A few years ago, I became obsessed with Everest-related history and literature after reading The Abominable by Dan Simmons, which was one particularly dark rabbit hole I fell into. I found plenty of amazing true accounts of great feats accomplished by great people, but just as plentiful were the traumatizing stories of death and disaster. Most of the fatal incidents on Everest occur in the mountain’s oxygen-starved Death Zone, which not only pushes a climber’s body to their physical limits, but also threatens to push their minds to the brink of madness. This is where some of the vagueness in The White Road comes into play. Are the strange things experienced by the characters merely the symptoms of altitude sickness, or are there supernatural shenanigans afoot? It could go either way, and the ambiguity contributes much to the suspense.
But while I really enjoyed The White Road, with perhaps the exception of the first section, I thought the book failed to pack the same punch as the author’s two previous novels, The Three and Day Four. This might have something to do with the structure, since the three disparate sections can make the story feel a little disjointed, especially in the beginning of Part II when we are introduced to an incidental character through a series of journal entries. There’s also an anticlimactic resolution, along with a few plot points that seemingly went nowhere and which I felt were implemented too awkwardly to be mere red herrings. Furthermore, Simon is not a very sympathetic character, and just when you think there’s hope for him yet, he pulls a reversal that makes you hate him all over again. Still, it’s hard not to feel bad for the guy, and Lotz makes getting invested in his story worth your time.
Is it any wonder why I’m such a big fan of the author and why every new book by her automatically gets added to my must-read list? A master of the horror genre, Sarah Lotz’s talents were especially in clear evidence in this novel with its atmosphere of tangible suspense and pure, icy terror. Thoroughly entertaining and astonishingly realistic, The White Road is a gripping, high-climbing thriller which will creep its way under your skin and stay with you for a very long time (…like fingers in your heart).
I’ve always held a bit of a fascination for mountaineering stories, which is really ironic considering my deathly fear of heights. Certainly I’ve never harbored any desires to scale anything more extreme than a steep hill, which is why when I first picked up Sarah Lotz’s latest novel about death and danger on Everest, I thought there would be little chance of her “ruining” mountain climbing for me the way she put me off from cruising for a whole year after I read her shipbound horror-thriller Day Four. And yet, books like The White Road still have this way of sending chills down my spine, even when I’m reading them from the warm, cozy comfort of my living room couch.
Our story begins in the winter of 2006, and protagonist Simon Newman and his roommate Thierry are a couple of slackers whose ambitions amount to nothing more than throwaway barista gigs at the local coffee shop and running their clickbait website on the side. At this point, YouTube stars and listicles are just starting to become a thing, and the two friends are hoping to grow their following enough to score a sweet advertising deal of their own. The idea for their big break comes when Simon first learns of the Cwm Pot caves in Wales, where several years ago a group of spelunkers had gotten trapped and died. Their site “Journey to the Dark Side” would become an internet sensation if Simon could go down there and come back with actual never-before-seen footage of the dead bodies, Thierry insists; it is the perfect material for their morbid audience.
Unfortunately for Simon, his venture into Cwn Pot ultimately ends in disaster. But while the incident leaves him traumatized, the salvaged footage from his harrowing experience along with the ensuing media attention does propel the website into the top ranks. Eager to take their newfound popularity to the next level, Thierry proposes the idea for another attention-grabbing stunt: Now that Simon has gone deep down underground in search of corpses to film, why not go the other way this time, and do the same thing on the highest point on earth? Mount Everest is said to be the final resting place of more than 200 people; the shocking reality is that there’s very little anyone can do for those who lose their lives at such altitudes, and their remains are often unrecoverable and left where they fell, sometimes for years and years. Surely it wouldn’t be too hard for Simon to go up there and capture more footage of a couple of dead bodies, which would undoubtedly bring even more traffic to their website.
But up above 8000 feet in the Death Zone, anything can happen. And the reality is, Simon did not emerge from Cwn Pot the same person. He is a haunted man now, after the things he’d seen in its terrifying depths, and he’s brought some of that darkness with him to the world’s highest open grave. The White Road is a story divided into three distinct sections, with the first focusing on Simon’s misadventures in the tight, twisty tunnels of the Welsh caverns. This, in my opinion, was the best part of the book. I read these first fifty pages or so feeling like my heart was stuck in my throat, the fear practically choking off my breath—and I’m not even a claustrophobe. If I had to go through even a fraction what Simon did, I would never turn a single light off in my house again, soaring electricity bills be damned. Sarah Lotz’s descriptions of the oppressive darkness and unbearably cramped spaces stirred up some of my deepest fears, and I couldn’t help but put myself in the protagonist’s place, losing hope as the underground water rose higher and higher.
Compared to that, the rest of the book almost seemed tame, even in Part II when Simon jets off to Nepal to climb Mount Everest. There are certainly plenty of frights in this section, though in a much different way than Cwn Pot. Here, we get to see the cold, merciless nature of the mountain, dispassionate about the fates of those who attempt the summit. A few years ago, I became obsessed with Everest-related history and literature after reading The Abominable by Dan Simmons, which was one particularly dark rabbit hole I fell into. I found plenty of amazing true accounts of great feats accomplished by great people, but just as plentiful were the traumatizing stories of death and disaster. Most of the fatal incidents on Everest occur in the mountain’s oxygen-starved Death Zone, which not only pushes a climber’s body to their physical limits, but also threatens to push their minds to the brink of madness. This is where some of the vagueness in The White Road comes into play. Are the strange things experienced by the characters merely the symptoms of altitude sickness, or are there supernatural shenanigans afoot? It could go either way, and the ambiguity contributes much to the suspense.
But while I really enjoyed The White Road, with perhaps the exception of the first section, I thought the book failed to pack the same punch as the author’s two previous novels, The Three and Day Four. This might have something to do with the structure, since the three disparate sections can make the story feel a little disjointed, especially in the beginning of Part II when we are introduced to an incidental character through a series of journal entries. There’s also an anticlimactic resolution, along with a few plot points that seemingly went nowhere and which I felt were implemented too awkwardly to be mere red herrings. Furthermore, Simon is not a very sympathetic character, and just when you think there’s hope for him yet, he pulls a reversal that makes you hate him all over again. Still, it’s hard not to feel bad for the guy, and Lotz makes getting invested in his story worth your time.
Is it any wonder why I’m such a big fan of the author and why every new book by her automatically gets added to my must-read list? A master of the horror genre, Sarah Lotz’s talents were especially in clear evidence in this novel with its atmosphere of tangible suspense and pure, icy terror. Thoroughly entertaining and astonishingly realistic, The White Road is a gripping, high-climbing thriller which will creep its way under your skin and stay with you for a very long time (…like fingers in your heart).
February 10, 2020
Survival horror man - I freaking love it.
Simon Newman is a digital content creator and semi retired climber who runs a website with roommate Thierry. And what will pull in more views than dead bodies preserved in a cave? Ignoring logic, sensitivity, and safety, Simon journeys into a closed cave system with a mysterious stranger named Ed. Flooded passageways, incredibly tight squeezes, and yes, dead bodies - CWM Pot has it all, even a brush with death that will shake Simon to the core.
His survival is a miraculous and the footage he shot slingshots their website into full viral status. But what Simon encountered below proves uneasy to shake. He can run to the world's highest peak but still the question remains:
Who is the third who walks beside you?
Not going to lie, this book is slow. There are times when I wanted to smack it upside it's hardcover and tell it to speed up. I also couldn't give a shit about the "romantic" subplot. So why did I like this you ask? SURVIVAL HORROR! I am a sucker for people trapped in flooding cave systems or facing dangerous icy terrain upon Everest. It just hits me in that adrenaline junkie sweet spot.
So, that's what this book did very well. Slow and atmospheric scares combined with a pressing claustrophobia, the characters shoved to the very brink of survival.
If I look at it logically and in terms of characters (they were all shit to be honest), it's not great. But considering the writing and fantastically creepy plot, it IS great. So in the end, I have to go with my gut. And my gut hasn't steered me wrong yet - except for that time I got food poisoning.
The White Road was a case of right book, right reader, right time. You may hate it, but if survival horror is your thing, it's worth a second glance.
Simon Newman is a digital content creator and semi retired climber who runs a website with roommate Thierry. And what will pull in more views than dead bodies preserved in a cave? Ignoring logic, sensitivity, and safety, Simon journeys into a closed cave system with a mysterious stranger named Ed. Flooded passageways, incredibly tight squeezes, and yes, dead bodies - CWM Pot has it all, even a brush with death that will shake Simon to the core.
His survival is a miraculous and the footage he shot slingshots their website into full viral status. But what Simon encountered below proves uneasy to shake. He can run to the world's highest peak but still the question remains:
Who is the third who walks beside you?
Not going to lie, this book is slow. There are times when I wanted to smack it upside it's hardcover and tell it to speed up. I also couldn't give a shit about the "romantic" subplot. So why did I like this you ask? SURVIVAL HORROR! I am a sucker for people trapped in flooding cave systems or facing dangerous icy terrain upon Everest. It just hits me in that adrenaline junkie sweet spot.
So, that's what this book did very well. Slow and atmospheric scares combined with a pressing claustrophobia, the characters shoved to the very brink of survival.
If I look at it logically and in terms of characters (they were all shit to be honest), it's not great. But considering the writing and fantastically creepy plot, it IS great. So in the end, I have to go with my gut. And my gut hasn't steered me wrong yet - except for that time I got food poisoning.
The White Road was a case of right book, right reader, right time. You may hate it, but if survival horror is your thing, it's worth a second glance.
February 5, 2025
I would give this a 4.3 ⭐️.
From the description, I was expecting more. The story was intriguing, but the plot seemed to lack. It had a mild suspense, and at some points, it didn’t flow into anything. Tying it together seemed as a weird transition. I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t as impressed as the synapse led on. The English jargon was hard to follow. All in all, it had a good adventure to it, which made it enjoyable to finish.
Stay thirsty my friends.
From the description, I was expecting more. The story was intriguing, but the plot seemed to lack. It had a mild suspense, and at some points, it didn’t flow into anything. Tying it together seemed as a weird transition. I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t as impressed as the synapse led on. The English jargon was hard to follow. All in all, it had a good adventure to it, which made it enjoyable to finish.
Stay thirsty my friends.
June 17, 2017
Review from Tenacious Reader: http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2017/0...
The White Road will creep under your skin, fill your mind with all the ghastly things and make you leery of participating in activities like, oh, let’s say caving or mountain climbing. I was totally going to go climb Everest next year, really! Never mind that I have a bum knee, a bum ankle, and maybe I’m scared of heights and also am a wimp, maybe I could have considered it anyway. But nope. Not now. None of my more rational reasons for never climbing Everest are nearly as convincing as reading this book. My knee may hurt, but it doesn’t haunt me night and day and give me the creeps. Maybe this is fiction, maybe there really aren’t haunted caves or mountains, either way, I am very content staying planted on the ground (not beneath or above) letting other people figure that out. I will bask in the experience vividly given to me via Lotz’s book. Kind of like how I felt about cruises after reading Day Four.
Lotz has cemented herself as one of my favorite horror authors with this book. The characters are real and fascinating. The book is just downright creepy! I love it! The dark sense of humor that is layered through out is one of the things that makes her work so memorable and enjoyable for me. The vast majority of this book is from Simon’s perspective. He is blessed with this dark sense of humor, he is self deprecating, irreverent (at least in his inner thoughts), and just absolutely wonderful to read. There were a few sections from another perspective and while I did like these sections, and do think they are critical for the book, I did not love them in the same way as Simon’s perspective and it was definitely because I missed the humor. Keep in mind, this is not a criticism, those sections are necessary and good, I just missed the laughs that I was having with the rest of the book. Those types of things that you think “oh, I shouldn’t really be laughing, but damn! That is so funny! So wrong, yet hilarious!”
The story all starts because Simon and his friend want to drive more traffic to their website. It is full of lists whose titles start with things like “Top 10 most disgusting things…”. The type of lists that are all about shock value and can be summed up in one amazing click baity title. It was decided that Simon should venture down into a dangerous (and closed down) cave system, not because the descent would be scary enough, but because deep down in those caves are the bodies of three boys who became trapped and died there. With the cave system being so hard to traverse, there was just no way to recover the bodies. So why not send Simon down and film them for the website? Yeah, this is the type of disrespectful stunt they are willing to pull to gain page hits. Added bonus, Ed, his random tour guide found off a forum on the internet, is about the creepiest fucker I have ever read. Just thinking back to him makes me cringe and shudder.
In terms of traffic to their website, the caves were a hit, however, the trip down Simon’s life forever, haunting him. And wow, it’s changes in some creeptastic ways. His partner in crime decides that his next big venture (to renew interest after the traffic boost gained from the caves starts to taper) is to pull a similar stunt on Everest. Once again, sending Simon to do the dirty work. And in addition to any supernatural type of horror you might find in this book, I have to say, just the description of the vividly harsh conditions on Everest are enough to scare me away from the mountain.
Another thing I love about Simon, is he does have a conscious. He is actually quite conflicted by all of this, and it may be part of why the story really spirals for him. He just does not seem to have the energy or backbone to stand up to his friend. It is often this internal conflict that would give moments of levity as he could see the absurdity of his “mission”. Maybe this could be a lesson to listen to your conscious (and maybe choose your friends wisely). So while, Simon may do some questionable things, I found him extremely relatable and very likable.
I really can’t recommend this book enough. Seriously, I never want to meet a person named Ed. I never want to go caving. I never want to climb Everest. Just to make sure I add something positive, this book may also have shown me the appeal of curling up in a ball. All kidding aside, this is one of my favorite horror books in quite a while. I know this story will stick with me because of how much it got under my skin while reading. Absolutely loved it!!
The White Road will creep under your skin, fill your mind with all the ghastly things and make you leery of participating in activities like, oh, let’s say caving or mountain climbing. I was totally going to go climb Everest next year, really! Never mind that I have a bum knee, a bum ankle, and maybe I’m scared of heights and also am a wimp, maybe I could have considered it anyway. But nope. Not now. None of my more rational reasons for never climbing Everest are nearly as convincing as reading this book. My knee may hurt, but it doesn’t haunt me night and day and give me the creeps. Maybe this is fiction, maybe there really aren’t haunted caves or mountains, either way, I am very content staying planted on the ground (not beneath or above) letting other people figure that out. I will bask in the experience vividly given to me via Lotz’s book. Kind of like how I felt about cruises after reading Day Four.
Lotz has cemented herself as one of my favorite horror authors with this book. The characters are real and fascinating. The book is just downright creepy! I love it! The dark sense of humor that is layered through out is one of the things that makes her work so memorable and enjoyable for me. The vast majority of this book is from Simon’s perspective. He is blessed with this dark sense of humor, he is self deprecating, irreverent (at least in his inner thoughts), and just absolutely wonderful to read. There were a few sections from another perspective and while I did like these sections, and do think they are critical for the book, I did not love them in the same way as Simon’s perspective and it was definitely because I missed the humor. Keep in mind, this is not a criticism, those sections are necessary and good, I just missed the laughs that I was having with the rest of the book. Those types of things that you think “oh, I shouldn’t really be laughing, but damn! That is so funny! So wrong, yet hilarious!”
The story all starts because Simon and his friend want to drive more traffic to their website. It is full of lists whose titles start with things like “Top 10 most disgusting things…”. The type of lists that are all about shock value and can be summed up in one amazing click baity title. It was decided that Simon should venture down into a dangerous (and closed down) cave system, not because the descent would be scary enough, but because deep down in those caves are the bodies of three boys who became trapped and died there. With the cave system being so hard to traverse, there was just no way to recover the bodies. So why not send Simon down and film them for the website? Yeah, this is the type of disrespectful stunt they are willing to pull to gain page hits. Added bonus, Ed, his random tour guide found off a forum on the internet, is about the creepiest fucker I have ever read. Just thinking back to him makes me cringe and shudder.
In terms of traffic to their website, the caves were a hit, however, the trip down Simon’s life forever, haunting him. And wow, it’s changes in some creeptastic ways. His partner in crime decides that his next big venture (to renew interest after the traffic boost gained from the caves starts to taper) is to pull a similar stunt on Everest. Once again, sending Simon to do the dirty work. And in addition to any supernatural type of horror you might find in this book, I have to say, just the description of the vividly harsh conditions on Everest are enough to scare me away from the mountain.
Another thing I love about Simon, is he does have a conscious. He is actually quite conflicted by all of this, and it may be part of why the story really spirals for him. He just does not seem to have the energy or backbone to stand up to his friend. It is often this internal conflict that would give moments of levity as he could see the absurdity of his “mission”. Maybe this could be a lesson to listen to your conscious (and maybe choose your friends wisely). So while, Simon may do some questionable things, I found him extremely relatable and very likable.
I really can’t recommend this book enough. Seriously, I never want to meet a person named Ed. I never want to go caving. I never want to climb Everest. Just to make sure I add something positive, this book may also have shown me the appeal of curling up in a ball. All kidding aside, this is one of my favorite horror books in quite a while. I know this story will stick with me because of how much it got under my skin while reading. Absolutely loved it!!
April 6, 2022
A chilling horror story in a vein similar to Thin Air: A Ghost Story by Michelle Paver. Is there a supernatural element at work, or is the protagonist just slowly but surely losing their mind?
The main character, Simon, is not likeable, but neither are many (if any) of the other characters in the book. He is extremely realistic, and possibly his lack of likeability stems from an honest and unflinching tendency to describe himself and his self-absorbed motivations accurately.
The story has some great descriptions of both caving and mountaineering, taking the reader to places that require very little imagination to appreciate that they are both dangerous and scary. Lotz has a great talent for capturing the adrenaline clamminess of fright, of fear for one's life and limb, of the way a mind can wander into the darkest of territories in moments of peril. That is what makes this a great read.
If you like tense tales about climbing in extreme environments, this is a fine pick.
** There are seemingly endless articles online about the perils of Everest, but here are a couple that provide a nice supplement and photo imagery to go along with this book:
This one talks about the body on Everest known as "Green Boots" and also another climber (known as "Sleeping Beauty") whose death somewhat mirrors the story hinted at by the character of Juliet:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20...
This one talks about Sherpa and how one of the major problems and cause of growing numbers of deaths and serious accidents on Everest has to do with (among other things) the push by adventure companies to bring greater numbers of tourists to the mountain, and the problem of increased numbers of inexperienced mountaineers thinking they can make the climb:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-4...
The main character, Simon, is not likeable, but neither are many (if any) of the other characters in the book. He is extremely realistic, and possibly his lack of likeability stems from an honest and unflinching tendency to describe himself and his self-absorbed motivations accurately.
The story has some great descriptions of both caving and mountaineering, taking the reader to places that require very little imagination to appreciate that they are both dangerous and scary. Lotz has a great talent for capturing the adrenaline clamminess of fright, of fear for one's life and limb, of the way a mind can wander into the darkest of territories in moments of peril. That is what makes this a great read.
If you like tense tales about climbing in extreme environments, this is a fine pick.
** There are seemingly endless articles online about the perils of Everest, but here are a couple that provide a nice supplement and photo imagery to go along with this book:
This one talks about the body on Everest known as "Green Boots" and also another climber (known as "Sleeping Beauty") whose death somewhat mirrors the story hinted at by the character of Juliet:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20...
This one talks about Sherpa and how one of the major problems and cause of growing numbers of deaths and serious accidents on Everest has to do with (among other things) the push by adventure companies to bring greater numbers of tourists to the mountain, and the problem of increased numbers of inexperienced mountaineers thinking they can make the climb:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-4...
July 18, 2022
So where do I start? The book starts great, I actually loved the first part which is Simon going into some notorious caves to gather some footage for his not much successful web site! It should have stopped there! It made total sense to have a short stories, a very good one!
But then the author decided to continue to another completely unrelated adventure! Everest, as if it is that easy. The story totally fell apart after that point! No thing made sense, the reader faces half hearted disasters one after another and the main characters is just there, repeating the same pattern again and again.
Not recommended!
But then the author decided to continue to another completely unrelated adventure! Everest, as if it is that easy. The story totally fell apart after that point! No thing made sense, the reader faces half hearted disasters one after another and the main characters is just there, repeating the same pattern again and again.
Not recommended!
December 25, 2024
3.75 stars!
Review: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTYsAq9D1/
Review: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTYsAq9D1/
July 10, 2017
A couple of years ago I read The Three by Sarah Lotz. In all honesty, I was extremely disappointed by the book. I had wanted a serious horror read, only to be given… well, a less than pleasing read. Due to that, I held off on reading any more of her books. Then I saw a Goodreads giveaway for The White Road. I had an extremely lengthy mental debate before deciding to enter. I decided I would give her another chance, the typical chance to redeem herself. If nothing else, I wouldn’t be disappointed when I failed to win the book. As with every book you’re not crazy excited about winning, those ones where you think ‘I will be content either way’, I won this one. It took me a while from the time of receiving the book to actually jump in, but once I did… well, it was a mixed bag of a read.
The book had such potential. There was the promise of a wonderful chiller, a read that would make up for what I experienced after finishing The Three. Unfortunately, this one left me with much the same feeling. At a push, I would say I enjoyed this one more – in fact, I know I enjoyed this one more, as there were some scenes where I wasn’t pulling my hair out in boredom or annoyance – but that enjoyment is only a small thing. In other words, this second chance is the last for Sarah Lotz. I’m sure there are many fans out there, but it is now clear that I will not be one of them. Her writing doesn’t do it for me, her books do not deliver what I expect, and as a whole there are plenty of other writers waiting for me to pick up their books and I plan to do so instead of continuing to reading work that is clearly not my cup of tea.
The first part of this book started out okay, before it started to drag on for much longer than I’d anticipated. Had I gone into the book without expectations of what kind of story I was to be given, I may have enjoyed this element. Instead, I was impatiently awaiting Everest. I kept holding out hope that part one would end with some kind of big bang, yet it never did.
Thus, I held out hope for Everest giving us the big bang. Sadly, it didn’t. It was the more enjoyable part of the story – these are the aspects that made it a clear winner over The Three – but it also felt as though it dragged. There was never the horror I’d been hoping for, rather it was the simple possibility of there being more. This is all well and good for building up suspense and creepy feelings, but it is rather disappointing when the entire story is based simply upon things seen in the corner of the eye. I kept holding out for more, I was crossing my fingers that we would be given something solid.
The fact that we never have anything solid with this book left me disappointed. Had there been some indication of what was going on, had there been a bit more than just the mind playing tricks, I may have accepted the lack of clear answers. As it was, I felt as though the story didn’t really give me much at all.
Were it not for those decent Everest scenes, I would have been even more disappointed with this one. As it stands, this is just a confirmation that Sarah Lotz is not for me.
The book had such potential. There was the promise of a wonderful chiller, a read that would make up for what I experienced after finishing The Three. Unfortunately, this one left me with much the same feeling. At a push, I would say I enjoyed this one more – in fact, I know I enjoyed this one more, as there were some scenes where I wasn’t pulling my hair out in boredom or annoyance – but that enjoyment is only a small thing. In other words, this second chance is the last for Sarah Lotz. I’m sure there are many fans out there, but it is now clear that I will not be one of them. Her writing doesn’t do it for me, her books do not deliver what I expect, and as a whole there are plenty of other writers waiting for me to pick up their books and I plan to do so instead of continuing to reading work that is clearly not my cup of tea.
The first part of this book started out okay, before it started to drag on for much longer than I’d anticipated. Had I gone into the book without expectations of what kind of story I was to be given, I may have enjoyed this element. Instead, I was impatiently awaiting Everest. I kept holding out hope that part one would end with some kind of big bang, yet it never did.
Thus, I held out hope for Everest giving us the big bang. Sadly, it didn’t. It was the more enjoyable part of the story – these are the aspects that made it a clear winner over The Three – but it also felt as though it dragged. There was never the horror I’d been hoping for, rather it was the simple possibility of there being more. This is all well and good for building up suspense and creepy feelings, but it is rather disappointing when the entire story is based simply upon things seen in the corner of the eye. I kept holding out for more, I was crossing my fingers that we would be given something solid.
The fact that we never have anything solid with this book left me disappointed. Had there been some indication of what was going on, had there been a bit more than just the mind playing tricks, I may have accepted the lack of clear answers. As it was, I felt as though the story didn’t really give me much at all.
Were it not for those decent Everest scenes, I would have been even more disappointed with this one. As it stands, this is just a confirmation that Sarah Lotz is not for me.
January 3, 2018
Chilly, frightening, excellent.
June 9, 2017
So. Bloody. Readable.
Having enjoyed Sarah Lotz' previous two horror novels ('The Three' and 'Day Four') i was excited to hear she had a new book. I was then less excited when the advance blurb suggested it was a thriller about mountain-climbing. However, The White Road seemed pretty much like a horror to me, so I guess the marketing people were just trying to mislead those who are averse to the supernatural.
Anyway, onto the book itself. The action takes place in two main locations - a warren of caves In Wales ripe for insane types who enjoy pot-holing (Dear God, why?!), and Mount Everest. Both locations feel like characters themselves, looming over the humans in the book with a palpable atmosphere.
The book focuses on two main characters, Simon, a morally dubious ambulance chaser trying to get his dodgy website hits, and Juliet, an ace mountaineer. Focusing on only these two, allows Lotz to really show how brilliant her characters can be, which was more difficult with the somewhat sprawling cast we had in her previous two novels. Simon in particular is a joy, his acerbic self-critiques were wonderful and I was really rooting for him despite him being kind of a twat.
I won't give much of the plot away but there's huge tension, battles with nature, mental battles with supernature (is that a word?) and a really interesting insight into mountain-climbing, which i thought might be boring for some reason. It's all well-written, really fast-paced, creppy at times, funny at others and full of cool references to things I like, such as Star Wars, David Lynch and Ghostbusters.
Why not 5 stars then? Well, I expected a little more of an ending and I didn't think the story really came together as well as it could have. See spoiler below. But I really enjoyed this and I think it was probably Sarah Lotz' best yet. Bring on the next one.
Now, spoilers.
Having enjoyed Sarah Lotz' previous two horror novels ('The Three' and 'Day Four') i was excited to hear she had a new book. I was then less excited when the advance blurb suggested it was a thriller about mountain-climbing. However, The White Road seemed pretty much like a horror to me, so I guess the marketing people were just trying to mislead those who are averse to the supernatural.
Anyway, onto the book itself. The action takes place in two main locations - a warren of caves In Wales ripe for insane types who enjoy pot-holing (Dear God, why?!), and Mount Everest. Both locations feel like characters themselves, looming over the humans in the book with a palpable atmosphere.
The book focuses on two main characters, Simon, a morally dubious ambulance chaser trying to get his dodgy website hits, and Juliet, an ace mountaineer. Focusing on only these two, allows Lotz to really show how brilliant her characters can be, which was more difficult with the somewhat sprawling cast we had in her previous two novels. Simon in particular is a joy, his acerbic self-critiques were wonderful and I was really rooting for him despite him being kind of a twat.
I won't give much of the plot away but there's huge tension, battles with nature, mental battles with supernature (is that a word?) and a really interesting insight into mountain-climbing, which i thought might be boring for some reason. It's all well-written, really fast-paced, creppy at times, funny at others and full of cool references to things I like, such as Star Wars, David Lynch and Ghostbusters.
Why not 5 stars then? Well, I expected a little more of an ending and I didn't think the story really came together as well as it could have. See spoiler below. But I really enjoyed this and I think it was probably Sarah Lotz' best yet. Bring on the next one.
Now, spoilers.
September 26, 2025
That ending will haunt me. There is something about a tragic ending that makes me fall in love with a book. Like leave me devastated and I will never forget you. ALSO CAVE SCENES!!!
.
.
.
FULL REVIEW...
There is something deeply captivating to me about a wilderness survival story where the physical needs of the characters are in extreme peril. Throw them into the most dangerous places imaginable and let me watch them try to figure their way out whilst also battling hunger, cold, and exhaustion. I was so pleased that this book featured my absolute favorite kind of deeply claustrophobic and isolating setting... underground caves! What's more terrifying than being trapped in the darkness, in a tight space, miles under the earth?
My favorite part of the book was the very beginning and the very end. Picking up with the cave diving was an incredibly strong start to this book. The dark, enclosed underground setting with our lead protagonist, Simon, climbing down the cave system following a sketchy, unstable man who is having dark fits of paranoia and violence left me horrified! The dynamics between these two characters were disturbing and played out vividly in my mind. The author did a wonderful job creating an atmosphere of dread.
The following portion of the story picks up with Simon planning his ascent of Mount Everest. In theory this second part should have been just as gripping as the setting was similarly unique and interesting. However, I found that it was slower and took a while to get to the most urgent high stakes moments. There were character perspective switches here as well where I felt like it took my patience to get through, especially when it came to the exposition of the new characters/flashback portions. What I did like though was once we got further up the mountain there was a harrowing portrayal of what a lack of oxygen and extreme cold can do to a person's mind and body, with a tragic turn of events that I wasn't expecting.
While it starts out as an action/adventure thriller it does slowly turn into more of a supernatural horror with a psychological suspense undertone in the latter half of the book. After the disastrous Mount Everest climb the remainder of the novel focuses on Simon grappling with the consequences of his choices while falling deeper into depression. I felt like this was a vivid portrayal of the long-term effects of PTSD and trauma and how deeply it can consume a person. The way that Simon's unrelenting obsessions and delusions are portrayed was deeply sad but connected with me particularly in the way mental illness and unresolved trauma can present.
I really enjoyed the aspect of the "third man" apparition because it was so spooky and I loved the ambiguity of whether it was real or not. There is the constant question of whether Simon is truly experiencing this, or if it is all in his head? Again, the author did an excellent job portraying the often very thin line between reality and delusion.
I absolutely loved the end of this book where we return to the subterranean caves and then the very finale around the last 5% where we see Simon's outcome. It was dark, haunting, and unforgettable. I could picture it with perfect clarity and it left a pit in my stomach. This is definitely a book that will stick with me for that ending alone.
.
.
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reading notes:
4% I actually really like this audio narrator!
11% ughhh this attack in the darkness is horrifying 😬
30% i'm having such a hard time paying attention. This is during the girl's pov about climbing mountains. Mostly, her flashback portions.
44% it is interesting and I really like the unique setting but there's something about the story itself that is not keeping my attention very well. Maybe it's the lack of tension... Or high-stakes, maybe once they get further up the mountain this will improve. I did find the cave scene in the beginning, very tense and scary.
49%.Why am I just now realizing that juliette is in a different time period. I kept wondering when they were going to run into her. Now that I know this I feel a bit more interested especially knowing the outcome of Juliettes expedition.
86%. They keep saying that "fingers in your heart " quote the whole book long and I never once understood it.
90% its so unfair how much Simon's life has suffered from what happened while his partner who was equally culpable is thriving more than ever. I guess a good person has guilt on their consciousness while well the opposite is also true.
99% super creepy scene with ed sitting passenger seat and muddy water pouring from his mouth.
100% The lasting ramifications of ptsd & trauma. I feel so bad for Simon. main character who is struggling with intense mental illnesses and doesn't recover from it. I love reading about this type of character. And I think it's comforting to me because sometimes it feels like my own mental illness will consume me.
And reading about somebody else. Who has a similar experience? Makes me feel less alone. I just love books like this. And I didn't expect to find that here. It's certainly not the main focus But it's a little bit sprinkled in there and it's that type of thing that will make me remember this one
Excellent ending, sad and creepy and haunting. Why do I love a sad heartbreaking ending so much hahaha
(im so mad about how his story leaked, but also that was a clever wrap up to Simon's story and just solidified how terrible his old friend was...) I also LOVE how we got to go back in the cave one last time that was so scary again!!!
.
.
.
FULL REVIEW...
There is something deeply captivating to me about a wilderness survival story where the physical needs of the characters are in extreme peril. Throw them into the most dangerous places imaginable and let me watch them try to figure their way out whilst also battling hunger, cold, and exhaustion. I was so pleased that this book featured my absolute favorite kind of deeply claustrophobic and isolating setting... underground caves! What's more terrifying than being trapped in the darkness, in a tight space, miles under the earth?
My favorite part of the book was the very beginning and the very end. Picking up with the cave diving was an incredibly strong start to this book. The dark, enclosed underground setting with our lead protagonist, Simon, climbing down the cave system following a sketchy, unstable man who is having dark fits of paranoia and violence left me horrified! The dynamics between these two characters were disturbing and played out vividly in my mind. The author did a wonderful job creating an atmosphere of dread.
The following portion of the story picks up with Simon planning his ascent of Mount Everest. In theory this second part should have been just as gripping as the setting was similarly unique and interesting. However, I found that it was slower and took a while to get to the most urgent high stakes moments. There were character perspective switches here as well where I felt like it took my patience to get through, especially when it came to the exposition of the new characters/flashback portions. What I did like though was once we got further up the mountain there was a harrowing portrayal of what a lack of oxygen and extreme cold can do to a person's mind and body, with a tragic turn of events that I wasn't expecting.
While it starts out as an action/adventure thriller it does slowly turn into more of a supernatural horror with a psychological suspense undertone in the latter half of the book. After the disastrous Mount Everest climb the remainder of the novel focuses on Simon grappling with the consequences of his choices while falling deeper into depression. I felt like this was a vivid portrayal of the long-term effects of PTSD and trauma and how deeply it can consume a person. The way that Simon's unrelenting obsessions and delusions are portrayed was deeply sad but connected with me particularly in the way mental illness and unresolved trauma can present.
I really enjoyed the aspect of the "third man" apparition because it was so spooky and I loved the ambiguity of whether it was real or not. There is the constant question of whether Simon is truly experiencing this, or if it is all in his head? Again, the author did an excellent job portraying the often very thin line between reality and delusion.
I absolutely loved the end of this book where we return to the subterranean caves and then the very finale around the last 5% where we see Simon's outcome. It was dark, haunting, and unforgettable. I could picture it with perfect clarity and it left a pit in my stomach. This is definitely a book that will stick with me for that ending alone.
.
.
.
reading notes:
4% I actually really like this audio narrator!
11% ughhh this attack in the darkness is horrifying 😬
30% i'm having such a hard time paying attention. This is during the girl's pov about climbing mountains. Mostly, her flashback portions.
44% it is interesting and I really like the unique setting but there's something about the story itself that is not keeping my attention very well. Maybe it's the lack of tension... Or high-stakes, maybe once they get further up the mountain this will improve. I did find the cave scene in the beginning, very tense and scary.
49%.Why am I just now realizing that juliette is in a different time period. I kept wondering when they were going to run into her. Now that I know this I feel a bit more interested especially knowing the outcome of Juliettes expedition.
86%. They keep saying that "fingers in your heart " quote the whole book long and I never once understood it.
90% its so unfair how much Simon's life has suffered from what happened while his partner who was equally culpable is thriving more than ever. I guess a good person has guilt on their consciousness while well the opposite is also true.
99% super creepy scene with ed sitting passenger seat and muddy water pouring from his mouth.
100% The lasting ramifications of ptsd & trauma. I feel so bad for Simon. main character who is struggling with intense mental illnesses and doesn't recover from it. I love reading about this type of character. And I think it's comforting to me because sometimes it feels like my own mental illness will consume me.
And reading about somebody else. Who has a similar experience? Makes me feel less alone. I just love books like this. And I didn't expect to find that here. It's certainly not the main focus But it's a little bit sprinkled in there and it's that type of thing that will make me remember this one
Excellent ending, sad and creepy and haunting. Why do I love a sad heartbreaking ending so much hahaha
(im so mad about how his story leaked, but also that was a clever wrap up to Simon's story and just solidified how terrible his old friend was...) I also LOVE how we got to go back in the cave one last time that was so scary again!!!
July 23, 2017
I'm afraid I didn't get into this book as much as I hoped for. But one of my favourite lines in the book was .... Simon December 2006. I met the man who would save my life twice and ultimately destroy it on a potholed road in the arse-end of the Welsh countryside. I particularly liked that line as it made me laugh with the words arse-end. I haven't come across that kind of word in a book, which shows how the author Sarah Lotz has a way with giving her characters a speaking voice, that readers will relate too.
May 9, 2022
Although I was not a huge fan of the ending of this novel this book was great! From beginning to end, I could not put it down. This book was thrilling, creepy and gave me a little bit of anxiety at some parts. Would highly recommend this book, especially if you are into cave or mountain scenario books!
June 14, 2017
Who is the third who walks beside you?
3.5 stars
I am a big fan of Sarah Lotz' previous two books, The Three and Day Four. I know the latter is far from popular but I just really enjoy her weird, quirky, literary brand of horror. Everything in her books is just slightly off-kilter and surreal, the line between real-world horror and supernatural horror is excellent, and while her books tend to be large they are also very compelling. I was thrilled when we got the synopsis for The White Road because it sounds a lot like The Descent, one of my favorite horror movies. I was ready for strange cave horror and I... kind of got it?
The first 20% of this book is phenomenal. It's two guys in a terrifying cave system looking for dead bodies. I'm very claustrophobic, so even normal caving is difficult for me to read about. Add in a possibly haunted set of narrow caves with dead bodies and rising waters and I'm sold. Because above all else, I love being scared. It's why I read horror: that creeping terror that has you checking behind the shower curtain at 2am, the way you'll rush into bed and get your feet off the floor as soon as possible just in case there are gremlins lurking there. And boy oh boy does the first section deliver on that. It's so eerie and surreal, really pushing the "is this just crazy people or is something more sinister at work" vibe of hers that I love so much.
From there, it is kind of downhill. It pains me to say that because I did enjoy The White Road, but it did not live up to my expectations. As you can tell from the cover, this switches to mountain horror early on. It's an interesting contrast, going from the bowls of the earth to the top of Everest. And there's certainly a lot of potential in mountain horror. But it felt a little flat. The characters were trope-y, the horror was not as potent, the vibe was a lot less subtle. It plays with some cool ideas but most of them never feel explored to their full potential.
I think one of the main problems is that it's too short for what it tries to do. There's the first cave section, the "middle" mountain section which makes up most of the book, and then a sort of afterword that deals with PTSD and mental illness. The middle section was too long and stiffer than what we usually get from Lotz. The ending part was great, but too short--it felt very rushed. I wanted at least 50 more pages to explore that section of the main character's life, and it was really weird that we'd skip over years after spending the majority of the book exploring just a few weeks in Simon's life.
Don't get me wrong: I liked this, and I think if I hadn't read her other books I would like it more. The first section is really a master class in horror. But I am hoping she returns to the world of The Three in her next book, because it's where she excels and I think there's a lot of potential left there.
3.5 stars
I am a big fan of Sarah Lotz' previous two books, The Three and Day Four. I know the latter is far from popular but I just really enjoy her weird, quirky, literary brand of horror. Everything in her books is just slightly off-kilter and surreal, the line between real-world horror and supernatural horror is excellent, and while her books tend to be large they are also very compelling. I was thrilled when we got the synopsis for The White Road because it sounds a lot like The Descent, one of my favorite horror movies. I was ready for strange cave horror and I... kind of got it?
The first 20% of this book is phenomenal. It's two guys in a terrifying cave system looking for dead bodies. I'm very claustrophobic, so even normal caving is difficult for me to read about. Add in a possibly haunted set of narrow caves with dead bodies and rising waters and I'm sold. Because above all else, I love being scared. It's why I read horror: that creeping terror that has you checking behind the shower curtain at 2am, the way you'll rush into bed and get your feet off the floor as soon as possible just in case there are gremlins lurking there. And boy oh boy does the first section deliver on that. It's so eerie and surreal, really pushing the "is this just crazy people or is something more sinister at work" vibe of hers that I love so much.
From there, it is kind of downhill. It pains me to say that because I did enjoy The White Road, but it did not live up to my expectations. As you can tell from the cover, this switches to mountain horror early on. It's an interesting contrast, going from the bowls of the earth to the top of Everest. And there's certainly a lot of potential in mountain horror. But it felt a little flat. The characters were trope-y, the horror was not as potent, the vibe was a lot less subtle. It plays with some cool ideas but most of them never feel explored to their full potential.
I think one of the main problems is that it's too short for what it tries to do. There's the first cave section, the "middle" mountain section which makes up most of the book, and then a sort of afterword that deals with PTSD and mental illness. The middle section was too long and stiffer than what we usually get from Lotz. The ending part was great, but too short--it felt very rushed. I wanted at least 50 more pages to explore that section of the main character's life, and it was really weird that we'd skip over years after spending the majority of the book exploring just a few weeks in Simon's life.
Don't get me wrong: I liked this, and I think if I hadn't read her other books I would like it more. The first section is really a master class in horror. But I am hoping she returns to the world of The Three in her next book, because it's where she excels and I think there's a lot of potential left there.
April 11, 2017
'Who is the third who walks always beside you?'
A good page-turner of a yarn - but if you read Michelle Paver's Thin Air last year then this book feels like a re-run.
Lotz has a brilliantly claustrophobic start as a blogger goes down into a closed-off cave system, and this is so vividly done that we feel every scrape of rock and struggled-for breath.
The later sections set on two separate attempts to climb Everest are also very well done but do feel familiar. The refrain is a line from Eliot's The Waste Land, 'Who is the third who walks always beside you?', drawing on both Arctic exploration and the bible, and hence works well as a cue to shadowy figures at the corner of the eye, misplaced equipment and questions of hallucination vs. something more spiritual.
Lotz writes well but there are no real surprises here, and I found the character of Simon, hapless blogger turned haunted climber, not the most congenial of book companions/narrators. I perhaps would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't read Paver's extremely similar story so recently, and Paver's is the one that had me peeking over my shoulder and jumping at every small sound! A good yarn, all the same.
A good page-turner of a yarn - but if you read Michelle Paver's Thin Air last year then this book feels like a re-run.
Lotz has a brilliantly claustrophobic start as a blogger goes down into a closed-off cave system, and this is so vividly done that we feel every scrape of rock and struggled-for breath.
The later sections set on two separate attempts to climb Everest are also very well done but do feel familiar. The refrain is a line from Eliot's The Waste Land, 'Who is the third who walks always beside you?', drawing on both Arctic exploration and the bible, and hence works well as a cue to shadowy figures at the corner of the eye, misplaced equipment and questions of hallucination vs. something more spiritual.
Lotz writes well but there are no real surprises here, and I found the character of Simon, hapless blogger turned haunted climber, not the most congenial of book companions/narrators. I perhaps would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't read Paver's extremely similar story so recently, and Paver's is the one that had me peeking over my shoulder and jumping at every small sound! A good yarn, all the same.
May 13, 2025
Not scary, not entertaining, not worth it. I should also mention that the BCB is somewhat misleading.
February 19, 2017
I received an ARC of this book last week. I knew nothing about the story, but the blurb sounded interesting. So I decided to give it a go.
Simon Newman a bit of an adrenaline junkie. He's also chasing a different dream every other year, and doesn't keep in touch with his family. So when he decides to hire a complete stranger to take him to a hidden cave in Wales and the footage from the horrifying incident goes viral, he agrees to chase another incredible feat: Mount Everest.
But someone--or something--might be shadowing him...
Okay. I read this during the weekend, and although I found Part One totally gripping, I didn't enjoy the rest of the book. I just didn't care about Juliet, and I didn't enjoy the rest of Simon's story. I even found myself skimming ahead quite a bit because the Everest storyline just didn't grab me.
But let's go back to Part One because--even though the blurb totally gives this section away--the first 57 pages of this book are awesome! The fact that Simon heads into an underground cave where three kids died decades ago with a stranger he met online is tense enough. That Ed winds up being unhinged, but helps save Simon's life (not a spoiler, like I said, it's in the blurb) and loses his own is astounding. Plus the writing is so good. The claustrophobic surroundings are downright creepy, and atmospheric.
I couldn't put it down. It's just a shame that the rest of the book lost me. I didn't care about anything after that.
So, in The White Road, the author introduces an interesting, adventurous concept and even manages to grip the reader at the beginning. It's creepy, and whether inside an underground cave or above the world on a treacherous mountain, it totally captures the surroundings. I just didn't feel that it delivered as a whole.
For me, the first part was excellent, but IMO it wasn't enough to carry the whole book.
Simon Newman a bit of an adrenaline junkie. He's also chasing a different dream every other year, and doesn't keep in touch with his family. So when he decides to hire a complete stranger to take him to a hidden cave in Wales and the footage from the horrifying incident goes viral, he agrees to chase another incredible feat: Mount Everest.
But someone--or something--might be shadowing him...
Okay. I read this during the weekend, and although I found Part One totally gripping, I didn't enjoy the rest of the book. I just didn't care about Juliet, and I didn't enjoy the rest of Simon's story. I even found myself skimming ahead quite a bit because the Everest storyline just didn't grab me.
But let's go back to Part One because--even though the blurb totally gives this section away--the first 57 pages of this book are awesome! The fact that Simon heads into an underground cave where three kids died decades ago with a stranger he met online is tense enough. That Ed winds up being unhinged, but helps save Simon's life (not a spoiler, like I said, it's in the blurb) and loses his own is astounding. Plus the writing is so good. The claustrophobic surroundings are downright creepy, and atmospheric.
I couldn't put it down. It's just a shame that the rest of the book lost me. I didn't care about anything after that.
So, in The White Road, the author introduces an interesting, adventurous concept and even manages to grip the reader at the beginning. It's creepy, and whether inside an underground cave or above the world on a treacherous mountain, it totally captures the surroundings. I just didn't feel that it delivered as a whole.
For me, the first part was excellent, but IMO it wasn't enough to carry the whole book.
August 28, 2017
I honestly believe that Sarah Lotz is one of the most under appreciated authors out there. It appears many reviewers don't care for her work. It truly baffles me because I have now read three of her books and have really enjoyed them all. The White Road is an atmospheric, claustrophobic, and creepy little novel. I enjoyed every minute of it!
December 27, 2017
https://lynns-books.com/2017/05/29/th...
The White Road is the second book that I’ve read by Sarah Lotz and has definitely cemented her on my list of authors I will automatically pick up. She has a knack for writing the sort of things that just give you the plain old creeps. A wonderful way of wording things that make your skin prickle and give you the feeling that you’re being watched. I simply loved this book.
At the start of the story we meet Simon Newman as he embarks on a journey through the notorious Cwm Pot caves. Simon and his friend Thierry run a blog called ‘Journey to the Dark Side’ and in a desperate attempt to gain more traffic and turn the site into a going concern they’ve come up with a plan to go filming inside caverns that have been closed to the public following a tragic accident involving flash flooding. The TLDR is that things go wrong but the footage Simon manages to take turns the blog viral and Thierry comes up with a new plan for the next venture. Everest. Basically the two are taking footage of the dead and Everest is a perfect opportunity. Not the nicest or most sensitive way to go about things but the two think they’ve hit on something and they’re not going to let morals or feelings of sensitivity get in the way.
Basically, if I hadn’t already read Miss Lotz I might have hesitated about picking this up as caving and climbing are not my usual type of read but I found this absolutely fascinating and I don’t know whether that’s down to the level of detail and descriptions or the element of fantasy realism that accompanies the adventures. The story uses a strange phenomena now known as ‘the third man’ factor. Shackleton was the first explorer to mention a feeling he had of being accompanied when in situations of extreme hardship and following his revelation other adventurers came forward to relate their own similar experiences. The third man became immortalised in a poem by T S Eliot and Lotz has taken this idea and given it a dark and ghostly twist.
I won’t delve any further into the plot but let you find your own path.
What did I love about this? Primarily it boils down to the writing. I have no idea about caving or climbing so how well researched or believable either of these two tales are is unknown to me – but, whilst I might not know all the hard facts what I can say is that the story comes across, without doubt, as plausible and well constructed. The first part of the story where Simon is caving – I didn’t want to leave that story at all, it was so intense I could have kept on reading – and this isn’t the primary focus of the story. It was packed with drama and tension. The darkness, the claustrophobia, the fear – they’re palpable. Reading it made me scared and I was sat on a comfy chair in the living room.
Then we move onto Simon joining a team of climbers making an attempt on Everest. Like I did, you may be thinking ‘no way would he get away with that’ – and why would he even try. It’s dangerous enough for highly trained and experienced climbers let alone relative newbies who stopped climbing after one fall. But again, Lotz pulls this off. She creates a brooding atmosphere that is so believable that you’re sat on the edge of your seat reading, barely able to put the book down. The cold, the fear, the hunger, the frost bite, the extreme exhaustion, the struggle to breath at high altitude. Reading this certainly gives you this whole new sense of wonder and respect really for those who undertake it and Simon certainly doesn’t get off lightly in fact he pretty soon comes to realise just how much in over his head he really is as each day becomes a fight to survive.
In terms of characters – the main character is Simon. He’s not a bad guy really. Okay, he’s made some choices that might not be totally endearing and he’s currently climbing up a mountain with a group of people who he has lied through his teeth to. But, I didn’t find that I disliked him. More I felt sorry for him because he seemed unable to step away from his choices even as he was making things worse. The climbing team is only thinly sketched really, apart from one character who shares a little page space sharing with the readers similar experiences to those that Simon is going through. Simon does steal the show but it was interesting to read the other POV. Then we have Ed – Simon’s original guide down through the caves. Oh dear – what an unusual, weird and incredibly creepy guy. Well, I say that, but maybe he was just a little unhinged. One thing for sure – I would not have wanted him as my guide. In point of fact Simon wasn’t overly keen on the idea but again his inability to step away, make excuses or simply say no stepped in.
Now lets talk about the whole ‘realism’ aspect of the story. The whole issue of whether Simon is being accompanied by an ‘other’. An apparition or maybe an hallucination caused by trauma? What Lotz manages to do is manipulate your own fears in an expert way. Whether you believe there is something sinister stalking Simon or whether there’s a scientific explanation underlying it all what is really clear is that his story is scary, its gripping and it will hold you until the end of the book where you’ll actually find yourself wanting more.
Okay, that’s it for me. I had no criticisms for this at all – or at least nothing that springs to mind immediately. I thoroughly enjoyed this, it surpassed my expectations and has pretty much cemented Lotz on my ‘go to’ list of authors.
I received a copy through Netgalley courtesy of the publisher. The above is my own opinion.
“Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together.
But when I look ahead up the white road,
there is always another one walking beside you” T S Eliot, The Wasteland
The White Road is the second book that I’ve read by Sarah Lotz and has definitely cemented her on my list of authors I will automatically pick up. She has a knack for writing the sort of things that just give you the plain old creeps. A wonderful way of wording things that make your skin prickle and give you the feeling that you’re being watched. I simply loved this book.
At the start of the story we meet Simon Newman as he embarks on a journey through the notorious Cwm Pot caves. Simon and his friend Thierry run a blog called ‘Journey to the Dark Side’ and in a desperate attempt to gain more traffic and turn the site into a going concern they’ve come up with a plan to go filming inside caverns that have been closed to the public following a tragic accident involving flash flooding. The TLDR is that things go wrong but the footage Simon manages to take turns the blog viral and Thierry comes up with a new plan for the next venture. Everest. Basically the two are taking footage of the dead and Everest is a perfect opportunity. Not the nicest or most sensitive way to go about things but the two think they’ve hit on something and they’re not going to let morals or feelings of sensitivity get in the way.
Basically, if I hadn’t already read Miss Lotz I might have hesitated about picking this up as caving and climbing are not my usual type of read but I found this absolutely fascinating and I don’t know whether that’s down to the level of detail and descriptions or the element of fantasy realism that accompanies the adventures. The story uses a strange phenomena now known as ‘the third man’ factor. Shackleton was the first explorer to mention a feeling he had of being accompanied when in situations of extreme hardship and following his revelation other adventurers came forward to relate their own similar experiences. The third man became immortalised in a poem by T S Eliot and Lotz has taken this idea and given it a dark and ghostly twist.
I won’t delve any further into the plot but let you find your own path.
What did I love about this? Primarily it boils down to the writing. I have no idea about caving or climbing so how well researched or believable either of these two tales are is unknown to me – but, whilst I might not know all the hard facts what I can say is that the story comes across, without doubt, as plausible and well constructed. The first part of the story where Simon is caving – I didn’t want to leave that story at all, it was so intense I could have kept on reading – and this isn’t the primary focus of the story. It was packed with drama and tension. The darkness, the claustrophobia, the fear – they’re palpable. Reading it made me scared and I was sat on a comfy chair in the living room.
Then we move onto Simon joining a team of climbers making an attempt on Everest. Like I did, you may be thinking ‘no way would he get away with that’ – and why would he even try. It’s dangerous enough for highly trained and experienced climbers let alone relative newbies who stopped climbing after one fall. But again, Lotz pulls this off. She creates a brooding atmosphere that is so believable that you’re sat on the edge of your seat reading, barely able to put the book down. The cold, the fear, the hunger, the frost bite, the extreme exhaustion, the struggle to breath at high altitude. Reading this certainly gives you this whole new sense of wonder and respect really for those who undertake it and Simon certainly doesn’t get off lightly in fact he pretty soon comes to realise just how much in over his head he really is as each day becomes a fight to survive.
In terms of characters – the main character is Simon. He’s not a bad guy really. Okay, he’s made some choices that might not be totally endearing and he’s currently climbing up a mountain with a group of people who he has lied through his teeth to. But, I didn’t find that I disliked him. More I felt sorry for him because he seemed unable to step away from his choices even as he was making things worse. The climbing team is only thinly sketched really, apart from one character who shares a little page space sharing with the readers similar experiences to those that Simon is going through. Simon does steal the show but it was interesting to read the other POV. Then we have Ed – Simon’s original guide down through the caves. Oh dear – what an unusual, weird and incredibly creepy guy. Well, I say that, but maybe he was just a little unhinged. One thing for sure – I would not have wanted him as my guide. In point of fact Simon wasn’t overly keen on the idea but again his inability to step away, make excuses or simply say no stepped in.
Now lets talk about the whole ‘realism’ aspect of the story. The whole issue of whether Simon is being accompanied by an ‘other’. An apparition or maybe an hallucination caused by trauma? What Lotz manages to do is manipulate your own fears in an expert way. Whether you believe there is something sinister stalking Simon or whether there’s a scientific explanation underlying it all what is really clear is that his story is scary, its gripping and it will hold you until the end of the book where you’ll actually find yourself wanting more.
Okay, that’s it for me. I had no criticisms for this at all – or at least nothing that springs to mind immediately. I thoroughly enjoyed this, it surpassed my expectations and has pretty much cemented Lotz on my ‘go to’ list of authors.
I received a copy through Netgalley courtesy of the publisher. The above is my own opinion.
“Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together.
But when I look ahead up the white road,
there is always another one walking beside you” T S Eliot, The Wasteland
October 26, 2021
After reading a few chapters I kind of lost interest in this book because it was mostly about cave exploring and after about 5 or 6 chapters of them exploring at cave and getting trapped and then having to move again I kind of lost interest there was no wow Factor or anything of interest to keep going.
August 26, 2024
**Rating: 2.5/5**
The White Road starts off strong, where we journey into the Cwm Pot caves with Simon Newman, an adrenaline junkie with the aim of obtaining footage of deceased spelunkers for a website. The narrow twists and turns of the cave system, the claustrophobia, the darkness settling in and the fear of being trapped underground with no hope for rescue were all described incredibly well. There were moments of genuine panic and I was gripped by the “malevolent presence” Simon experiences.
However the book then takes us all the way to Everest, and from there on it begins derailing. Firstly you’d need to suspend your disbelief in order to look over a few massively unrealistic plot points. Training and preparing for Everest is no joke. Financial concerns aside, there’s no way that “using the flat as my gym, haring up and down the stairs, a rucksack of second-hand climbing books on my back” for a couple of months would be enough to get someone physically fit enough, especially if the one in question hasn’t climbed in years and doesn’t have any high altitude experience whatsoever. There’re prerequisites for attempting Everest, none of which Simon has. Instead he fakes an entire resume, lies about his climbing experience, and still manages to get a spot on what is supposedly a very reputable guiding company. Did they not think to do background checks? How did his lack of experience not reveal itself at some point?
Another point I’d like to make - the “horror” in this book essentially revolves around Simon and Juliet experiencing the “Third Man syndrome”. While chilling at first, it grew repetitive after pages and pages of the same phenomenon. There’s a lot of build up that honestly felt a bit messy and could’ve been edited to be more compact. We are then treated to a rather anti-climatic ending, where we get two pages clumsily and hastily wrapping everything up. It felt like all the build up and anticipation was for nothing.
Unfortunately I don’t think I could recommend this book unless you have a deep love for creepy caving and/or mountaineering stories. And even then you’d need a sufficient suspension of disbelief and a whole lot of patience to fully enjoy the reading experience.
The White Road starts off strong, where we journey into the Cwm Pot caves with Simon Newman, an adrenaline junkie with the aim of obtaining footage of deceased spelunkers for a website. The narrow twists and turns of the cave system, the claustrophobia, the darkness settling in and the fear of being trapped underground with no hope for rescue were all described incredibly well. There were moments of genuine panic and I was gripped by the “malevolent presence” Simon experiences.
However the book then takes us all the way to Everest, and from there on it begins derailing. Firstly you’d need to suspend your disbelief in order to look over a few massively unrealistic plot points. Training and preparing for Everest is no joke. Financial concerns aside, there’s no way that “using the flat as my gym, haring up and down the stairs, a rucksack of second-hand climbing books on my back” for a couple of months would be enough to get someone physically fit enough, especially if the one in question hasn’t climbed in years and doesn’t have any high altitude experience whatsoever. There’re prerequisites for attempting Everest, none of which Simon has. Instead he fakes an entire resume, lies about his climbing experience, and still manages to get a spot on what is supposedly a very reputable guiding company. Did they not think to do background checks? How did his lack of experience not reveal itself at some point?
Another point I’d like to make - the “horror” in this book essentially revolves around Simon and Juliet experiencing the “Third Man syndrome”. While chilling at first, it grew repetitive after pages and pages of the same phenomenon. There’s a lot of build up that honestly felt a bit messy and could’ve been edited to be more compact. We are then treated to a rather anti-climatic ending, where we get two pages clumsily and hastily wrapping everything up. It felt like all the build up and anticipation was for nothing.
Unfortunately I don’t think I could recommend this book unless you have a deep love for creepy caving and/or mountaineering stories. And even then you’d need a sufficient suspension of disbelief and a whole lot of patience to fully enjoy the reading experience.
May 17, 2020
Thrilling, harrowing and extremely well-researched, The White Road delves deep—and steep—into the psychology of extreme climbers. I was tense from page one and that tension never really let up! I thoroughly enjoyed this, despite the protagonist being an absolute tool. Would definitely recommend to fans of survival horror and any interest in what it takes—and costs—to climb Everest.
December 3, 2021
kind of a cross between into thin air and the last days of jack sparks - endlessly fascinated by stories about people who climb down very deep things & die and also people who climb up very high things & die so quite frankly i’m obsessed with this book for feeding me twice
June 23, 2017
“Ed was either a psychopath who was toying with me for sadistic reasons or a paranoid schizophrenic.”
Neither of the two possibilities above describes someone I would like to be my guide if I were to enter unground caves – but that’s just the situation Simon finds himself in, he needs content for his website Journey to the Darkside, which he owns with his room mate, Thierry, and what could be better content than dead bodies in a cave!? After tackling the caves, there’s only one place to go next – Mount Everest! The descriptions of being underground and journeying up Everest are harrowing, but even more harrowing is how Simon copes in the aftermath of these events. These descriptions make The White Road an intense read, while reading it you are equal parts, excited and anxious at what’s to come.
The White Road is a horror novel but it’s not your average in your face scare, it’s psychologically scary – I can only liken it to a similar feeling, albeit nowhere near as strong, I felt when reading House of Leaves. The crux of this novel is the notion of The Third Man, I cannot explain this concept without fully confusing you but in this novel it’s the idea that you are not alone, a presence is felt beside you – that is an extremely simplified version but I wanted to give you an idea of what Simon is dealing with, what inner and/or outer battle he is facing. How fragile the human mind really is…
There are times throughout this book you will like Simon and there’s other times you’ll question his actions but one things for sure, you feel a pull towards him, to his journey, to what he is trying to overcome. The White Road is very well written in the sense that it plays on your own emotions, creating feeling of anxiety, fear, panic but what really gives this novel its chill factor is, these aren’t feelings that make you scared of the dark, but feelings that make you scared of the silence, scared of those quiet moments where you begin to wonder what is real and what isn’t, what is possible and what isn’t. Between the claustrophobic feeling of Simon in the cave, his harrowing climb up Everest and the notion of the third man, this book haunts you from the inside out!
I really liked the ending of this story too, except I didn’t like the way it was delivered. Weaved into this novel are journal entries, website articles and emails. And the last thing the reader is left with in this one didn’t leave me with the deep, questioning feeling these kinds of book tend to leave behind. Don’t get me wrong, you will stay thinking about this one after you’ve read it, but I was perhaps, looking for a more emotional delivery of the ending.
Overall, I really enjoyed The White Road and I think it’s a great read for those who enjoy horror novels with a psychological kick rather than a ‘lock your doors’ feel.
*My thanks to the publisher (Hodder & Stoughton) for providing me with a copy of this book via Book Bridgr*
Neither of the two possibilities above describes someone I would like to be my guide if I were to enter unground caves – but that’s just the situation Simon finds himself in, he needs content for his website Journey to the Darkside, which he owns with his room mate, Thierry, and what could be better content than dead bodies in a cave!? After tackling the caves, there’s only one place to go next – Mount Everest! The descriptions of being underground and journeying up Everest are harrowing, but even more harrowing is how Simon copes in the aftermath of these events. These descriptions make The White Road an intense read, while reading it you are equal parts, excited and anxious at what’s to come.
The White Road is a horror novel but it’s not your average in your face scare, it’s psychologically scary – I can only liken it to a similar feeling, albeit nowhere near as strong, I felt when reading House of Leaves. The crux of this novel is the notion of The Third Man, I cannot explain this concept without fully confusing you but in this novel it’s the idea that you are not alone, a presence is felt beside you – that is an extremely simplified version but I wanted to give you an idea of what Simon is dealing with, what inner and/or outer battle he is facing. How fragile the human mind really is…
There are times throughout this book you will like Simon and there’s other times you’ll question his actions but one things for sure, you feel a pull towards him, to his journey, to what he is trying to overcome. The White Road is very well written in the sense that it plays on your own emotions, creating feeling of anxiety, fear, panic but what really gives this novel its chill factor is, these aren’t feelings that make you scared of the dark, but feelings that make you scared of the silence, scared of those quiet moments where you begin to wonder what is real and what isn’t, what is possible and what isn’t. Between the claustrophobic feeling of Simon in the cave, his harrowing climb up Everest and the notion of the third man, this book haunts you from the inside out!
I really liked the ending of this story too, except I didn’t like the way it was delivered. Weaved into this novel are journal entries, website articles and emails. And the last thing the reader is left with in this one didn’t leave me with the deep, questioning feeling these kinds of book tend to leave behind. Don’t get me wrong, you will stay thinking about this one after you’ve read it, but I was perhaps, looking for a more emotional delivery of the ending.
Overall, I really enjoyed The White Road and I think it’s a great read for those who enjoy horror novels with a psychological kick rather than a ‘lock your doors’ feel.
*My thanks to the publisher (Hodder & Stoughton) for providing me with a copy of this book via Book Bridgr*
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