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Undercliff
It's the summer of 1972, and 30-something divorcee Martyn returns to London after some years away. He joins the Olive Grove, a religious community, where he forms a relationship with Amelia. Over time Martyn becomes suspicious of the Olive Grove's leaders, a pair of apparently ordinary men who can speak in perfect unison, known as the Two. A sequence of ambiguous events might indicate that the Two have malign purposes, though Martyn cannot be sure. These suspicions come to a head when Amelia breaks off with Martyn and appears to vanish. He travels to Devon, where the Olive Grove has a retreat house, in search of Amelia and the truth about the organisation. There, events take several disturbing and unexpected turns.
202 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 30, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 3, 2019
3,5 stars.
I had no idea what I was getting into when I began reading Undercliff. All I knew what that the title made me think of a remote, somehow eerie place. One look at the cover reinforced my feeling and I embraced the special experiment that is the read of Mark Brend’s novel.
A manuscript arrives. On it, a tale. Not any tale. The account of a man looking for answers. I strongly believe that us, individuals, search for a path to call ours and look for guidance in life’s events, in fate, in small moments. I met Martyn Hope and I was seduced. Not by the man himself, but by his analysis of his own life mixing subjective thoughts and external observations. It takes years to be able to look back on your life and dissect the events that had led you where you ended up. Most of us won’t even be able to do so. The author’s exquisite account of his main character’s life made me think it was possible. And that it was worth it.
When Martyn joins the Olive Grove, something in him is missing, and he is trying to fill the void. Aren’t we all? Boy, Undercliff had me pondering about our reason to exist, our beliefs, and the blurry line that our years weave until we reach our end! Do not fear, for the philosophical themes explored in the book never get so complicated that you lose the plot or feel you’re reading an essay on foggy religious theories! Mark Brend takes our hand and bring us to a place which at first seems to be the solution to Martyn’s loneliness and his doubts, before releasing his grip to let us walk into the mud and make our own opinion on what he offers.
If, at the beginning, being part of a community allows our main character to find peace, something in him stirs and decides not to settle. Is it a lack of belief? A weak faith? Or is it Martyn’s instinct warning him against immersing himself too deeply in a clan which soon looks a lot like a cult. But we are in the 1970s, there is no internet, there are no reports. Cults are difficult to break in and discover. People can only believe books, friends, what they hear or see.
I was mesmerised by Martyn’s story. In search of a better place for himself and his peace of mind, he tangles up in something bigger than him which makes him question his own thoughts and views on every aspect of his life. Can he blame this new form or religion for not finding his place among the Olive Grove people? Is it just a case of it not being what he was hoping for? What starts as a look at a possible identity crisis soon turns into something darker. Martyn sees things. Freeing himself from the power of The Two, the leader of the unorthodox group gathering people in a way regular religious communities have failed to do, Martyn slowly gets a better view of what is around him. This spurs him to examine closely who he is, and his journey into self-discovery is compelling.
While Martyn fights between what he think and what he feels, strange things begin to happen and when he gets separated from a woman he fell in love with during his time at the Olive Grove, the novel takes another turn. Despite its slow pace, Undercliff owns a steady and strong plot! With Amelia’s disappearance, the remains of the veil Martyn was living under disappears, but is he ready to fully open his eyes? Seeking for the truth and accepting it are two very different things. With only himself to rely on, Martyn decides to unravel what the Olive Grove is hiding. If the trigger is his friend’s disappearance, it is pure truth that keeps him going, and soon a bigger picture appears. A giant picture… Except it is made of bits and bouts, events which would never raise suspicions when looked at separately. With no solid ground under his feet, Martyn must fight for his life…
I am not a huge cults fan but Mark Brend kept me engrossed through the entire novel with a fantastic combination of mystery, real characters, and the exploration of one’s weaknesses and strengths. Undercliff is a riveting take on cults and power with a unique touch of blurriness which adds a marvelous disturbing edge to a quest for truth.
I would like to thank Hornet Books and Kelly @LoveBooksGroupTours for inviting me to be part of the blog tour. I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I had no idea what I was getting into when I began reading Undercliff. All I knew what that the title made me think of a remote, somehow eerie place. One look at the cover reinforced my feeling and I embraced the special experiment that is the read of Mark Brend’s novel.
A manuscript arrives. On it, a tale. Not any tale. The account of a man looking for answers. I strongly believe that us, individuals, search for a path to call ours and look for guidance in life’s events, in fate, in small moments. I met Martyn Hope and I was seduced. Not by the man himself, but by his analysis of his own life mixing subjective thoughts and external observations. It takes years to be able to look back on your life and dissect the events that had led you where you ended up. Most of us won’t even be able to do so. The author’s exquisite account of his main character’s life made me think it was possible. And that it was worth it.
When Martyn joins the Olive Grove, something in him is missing, and he is trying to fill the void. Aren’t we all? Boy, Undercliff had me pondering about our reason to exist, our beliefs, and the blurry line that our years weave until we reach our end! Do not fear, for the philosophical themes explored in the book never get so complicated that you lose the plot or feel you’re reading an essay on foggy religious theories! Mark Brend takes our hand and bring us to a place which at first seems to be the solution to Martyn’s loneliness and his doubts, before releasing his grip to let us walk into the mud and make our own opinion on what he offers.
If, at the beginning, being part of a community allows our main character to find peace, something in him stirs and decides not to settle. Is it a lack of belief? A weak faith? Or is it Martyn’s instinct warning him against immersing himself too deeply in a clan which soon looks a lot like a cult. But we are in the 1970s, there is no internet, there are no reports. Cults are difficult to break in and discover. People can only believe books, friends, what they hear or see.
I was mesmerised by Martyn’s story. In search of a better place for himself and his peace of mind, he tangles up in something bigger than him which makes him question his own thoughts and views on every aspect of his life. Can he blame this new form or religion for not finding his place among the Olive Grove people? Is it just a case of it not being what he was hoping for? What starts as a look at a possible identity crisis soon turns into something darker. Martyn sees things. Freeing himself from the power of The Two, the leader of the unorthodox group gathering people in a way regular religious communities have failed to do, Martyn slowly gets a better view of what is around him. This spurs him to examine closely who he is, and his journey into self-discovery is compelling.
While Martyn fights between what he think and what he feels, strange things begin to happen and when he gets separated from a woman he fell in love with during his time at the Olive Grove, the novel takes another turn. Despite its slow pace, Undercliff owns a steady and strong plot! With Amelia’s disappearance, the remains of the veil Martyn was living under disappears, but is he ready to fully open his eyes? Seeking for the truth and accepting it are two very different things. With only himself to rely on, Martyn decides to unravel what the Olive Grove is hiding. If the trigger is his friend’s disappearance, it is pure truth that keeps him going, and soon a bigger picture appears. A giant picture… Except it is made of bits and bouts, events which would never raise suspicions when looked at separately. With no solid ground under his feet, Martyn must fight for his life…
I am not a huge cults fan but Mark Brend kept me engrossed through the entire novel with a fantastic combination of mystery, real characters, and the exploration of one’s weaknesses and strengths. Undercliff is a riveting take on cults and power with a unique touch of blurriness which adds a marvelous disturbing edge to a quest for truth.
I would like to thank Hornet Books and Kelly @LoveBooksGroupTours for inviting me to be part of the blog tour. I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
July 7, 2019
It is a good sign when you're not sure if anything is actually *happening* in a book, but you're enjoying it anyway and that was certainly my experience of the early pages of Undercliff. Gradually, a mystery begins to form and a realisation that a Christian group, which is the focus of the story, is more than cranky - it has secrets. But the real subject is the protagonist Martyn, whose account of his encounter with the Olive Grove group bounces back and forth between his genuine concern about their bona fides and his self-questioning. His doubts encompass more than the group's motives but apply also to himself and the credibility of his own account of events. An impartial outsider's view is less sympathetic than the protagonist would like, but what about the coincidences? Or the overt and creepy surveillance activities? Ultimately it's not so clear whether there's a conspiracy or whether the whole thing is merely the product of Martyn's febrile imagination.
I wondered whether Mark Brend may have had a brush with the cult-ish side of religion [postscript: he mentioned that none of the book is autobiographical]. Certainly there is an understanding of involuntary 'ownership' by the group - that someone's involvement with a group involves surrendering part of their individuality, and that the loss of independence persists, including within the individual's own mind, even after they have nominally left the group. It is a fertile ground for paranoia, but you know they never made it a secret: they always were out to get you.
I wondered whether Mark Brend may have had a brush with the cult-ish side of religion [postscript: he mentioned that none of the book is autobiographical]. Certainly there is an understanding of involuntary 'ownership' by the group - that someone's involvement with a group involves surrendering part of their individuality, and that the loss of independence persists, including within the individual's own mind, even after they have nominally left the group. It is a fertile ground for paranoia, but you know they never made it a secret: they always were out to get you.
June 26, 2019
Undercliff is Mark Brend’s first fictional novel. Set in 1972, we follow Martyn who joins the religious community known as The Olive Grove, where he forms a relationship with Amelia. Martyn soon becomes suspicious of the community’s leaders known as the Two. As Martyn attempts to investigate, Amelia seemingly breaks up with Martyn and then vanishes. He goes in search of her and to try and discover the secrets of the Olive Grove.
My thoughts
On the whole, this is a complicated book to review. Whilst the story is certainly captivating and the author is able to hold the reader’s attention reasonably well, the pacing and tone don’t match the dark events that occur throughout. There is almost a blasé quality to the narrator, with no sense of urgency and rather a lot of hindsight. This means that I ended up struggling to get invested in the second part of the story once Amelia goes missing. I wasn’t really rooting for Martyn as much as I would have liked. It is a book that places a lot of its emphasis on the cult and it practices, which results in an unexpected heavy religious element.
The Olive Grove itself and the people involved were surprisingly realistic. As a reader, I found it relatively easy to see how and why Martyn would allow himself to be drawn into such a world. However, it was Martyn’s behaviour outside of the cult that I found to be the most frustrating; with not all of his actions as he tries to escape the cult being believable. The fact that the cult is the most realistic element of this story left me a little uncomfortable.
There is a lot of build up and explanation as to what the Olive Grove is and how Martyn becomes involved with them and Amelia however once this has been done the story becomes rushed and a little difficult to follow in places. Martyn finds himself hopping from one situation to another with little consistency in terms of how he responds to events around him.
The ending itself is confusing and felt unfinished. With little explanation of what had happened to resolve the main conflict driving this book, and a reveal that is a little hard to believe I was saddened to leave this novel feeling dissatisfied in terms of bringing the story to a close. There were a few questions raised throughout that are never really answered, clues given that are never explored nor disproved as well as characters that don’t really develop.
This is a short book, at 272 pages there was a lot of elements to tie up at the end and not enough page space to do it. I honestly think that this book could do with a few more chapters in order to give the reader time to process the final revelations as well as giving us, as readers, some closure as to the fates of the rest of the characters.
Mr Brend definitely has potential in his fictional writing – his writing style is engaging and he has demonstrated an ability to be able to lead a reader through events. However, the content of Undercliff, I feel, needs some refinement. The pacing of the novel needs some work, the slow burn of information at the start jars with the rushed middle and end sections. There also needs to be some consideration taken to giving the reader some finality at the end of the book, rather than leaving open ended events with no conclusion.
I was sent this book as part of a blog tour. The review was not published on my blog but is recreated here. All thoughts are my own
My thoughts
On the whole, this is a complicated book to review. Whilst the story is certainly captivating and the author is able to hold the reader’s attention reasonably well, the pacing and tone don’t match the dark events that occur throughout. There is almost a blasé quality to the narrator, with no sense of urgency and rather a lot of hindsight. This means that I ended up struggling to get invested in the second part of the story once Amelia goes missing. I wasn’t really rooting for Martyn as much as I would have liked. It is a book that places a lot of its emphasis on the cult and it practices, which results in an unexpected heavy religious element.
The Olive Grove itself and the people involved were surprisingly realistic. As a reader, I found it relatively easy to see how and why Martyn would allow himself to be drawn into such a world. However, it was Martyn’s behaviour outside of the cult that I found to be the most frustrating; with not all of his actions as he tries to escape the cult being believable. The fact that the cult is the most realistic element of this story left me a little uncomfortable.
There is a lot of build up and explanation as to what the Olive Grove is and how Martyn becomes involved with them and Amelia however once this has been done the story becomes rushed and a little difficult to follow in places. Martyn finds himself hopping from one situation to another with little consistency in terms of how he responds to events around him.
The ending itself is confusing and felt unfinished. With little explanation of what had happened to resolve the main conflict driving this book, and a reveal that is a little hard to believe I was saddened to leave this novel feeling dissatisfied in terms of bringing the story to a close. There were a few questions raised throughout that are never really answered, clues given that are never explored nor disproved as well as characters that don’t really develop.
This is a short book, at 272 pages there was a lot of elements to tie up at the end and not enough page space to do it. I honestly think that this book could do with a few more chapters in order to give the reader time to process the final revelations as well as giving us, as readers, some closure as to the fates of the rest of the characters.
Mr Brend definitely has potential in his fictional writing – his writing style is engaging and he has demonstrated an ability to be able to lead a reader through events. However, the content of Undercliff, I feel, needs some refinement. The pacing of the novel needs some work, the slow burn of information at the start jars with the rushed middle and end sections. There also needs to be some consideration taken to giving the reader some finality at the end of the book, rather than leaving open ended events with no conclusion.
I was sent this book as part of a blog tour. The review was not published on my blog but is recreated here. All thoughts are my own
June 5, 2019
Thanks to Kelly at Love Books Tours for inviting me on to the book tour for the debut fictional novel from Mark Brend, Undercliff published by Hornet Books
The story begins with Alan receiving an unidentified manuscript, needing a break from his studies he begins to read and that begins the tale of Undercliff and the Olive Grove group..
1972 , Martyn Hope newly divorced and moving into a new area , lonely, he unintentionally joins the olive grove church group, ran by “the two” Magnus and Simon.
Eventually Martyn becomes disillusioned by his new peers and starts to wander if there is something more sinister at play, then when his new partner Amelia, also a member of the group goes missing without a trace , Martyn beings to point the finger at the group and makes his way to a reclusive property they have in Devon In search of Amelia.
Settings and the descriptions of both central London and then Devon are written beautifully and you can imagine your self in Devon and it’s cliffs.
Martyn is a likeable character, he just wants to settle and almost find something but what’s he finds is possibly bad? The brainwashed cult are almost what you would imagine it to be like and ‘the two’ head honchos are devilishly crafty and sinister and also charming and sincere...
The Book has a brooding feel from the outset, slowly paced as it builds and you wait for the group to reveal its true self.
Tense and quietly creepy, it’s a well thought out interesting read, it kept my attention , and I was always asking questions.
Recommended
The story begins with Alan receiving an unidentified manuscript, needing a break from his studies he begins to read and that begins the tale of Undercliff and the Olive Grove group..
1972 , Martyn Hope newly divorced and moving into a new area , lonely, he unintentionally joins the olive grove church group, ran by “the two” Magnus and Simon.
Eventually Martyn becomes disillusioned by his new peers and starts to wander if there is something more sinister at play, then when his new partner Amelia, also a member of the group goes missing without a trace , Martyn beings to point the finger at the group and makes his way to a reclusive property they have in Devon In search of Amelia.
Settings and the descriptions of both central London and then Devon are written beautifully and you can imagine your self in Devon and it’s cliffs.
Martyn is a likeable character, he just wants to settle and almost find something but what’s he finds is possibly bad? The brainwashed cult are almost what you would imagine it to be like and ‘the two’ head honchos are devilishly crafty and sinister and also charming and sincere...
The Book has a brooding feel from the outset, slowly paced as it builds and you wait for the group to reveal its true self.
Tense and quietly creepy, it’s a well thought out interesting read, it kept my attention , and I was always asking questions.
Recommended
May 11, 2020
Three and half stars from me.
I was lucky enough to win this book in a Devon bookclub, Goodreads giveaway, and even luckier that the author sent it to me with a handwritten vintage postcard of the setting at Undercliff in Devon.
The first half of the book is mostly set in London as the reader is introduced to the cult behind the mystery in this novel. It made me wonder if the author had first hand experience of a cult like this in the 70s. I must admit, I did, as my flatmate became involved in one when I was at college in the late 70s, so I found this personally interesting. However, for me the second half of the book in Devon really took off. I was gripped as I read about Martyn seeking the truth behind events surrounding the cult.
This is a very easy read that is at times hard to put down. I really like the book cover: a good misty, eerie view of Undercliff.
I was lucky enough to win this book in a Devon bookclub, Goodreads giveaway, and even luckier that the author sent it to me with a handwritten vintage postcard of the setting at Undercliff in Devon.
The first half of the book is mostly set in London as the reader is introduced to the cult behind the mystery in this novel. It made me wonder if the author had first hand experience of a cult like this in the 70s. I must admit, I did, as my flatmate became involved in one when I was at college in the late 70s, so I found this personally interesting. However, for me the second half of the book in Devon really took off. I was gripped as I read about Martyn seeking the truth behind events surrounding the cult.
This is a very easy read that is at times hard to put down. I really like the book cover: a good misty, eerie view of Undercliff.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews