The Black Hunger

• Author: Nicholas Pullen
• Genre: Gothic Horror
• Publication Date: October 8, 2024
• Publisher: Redhook

Thank you to Redhook, Orbit, and Angela Man for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

CONTENT WARNING: homophobia, antisemitism, violence, child physical abuse, class privilege, mental illness, racism, colonialism

John Sackville will soon be dead. Shadows writhe in the corners of his cell as he mourns the death of his secret lover and the gnawing hunger inside him grows impossible to ignore.

He must write his last testament before it is too late. It is a story steeped in history and myth—a journey from stone circles in Scotland to the barren wilderness of Ukraine where otherworldly creatures stalk the night, ending in the icy peaks of Tibet and Mongolia, where an ancient evil stirs.

A horror novel has to sound really, really good, and be such an intriguing concept that I can’t pass it up, and am willing to potentially have nightmares to read it. Most of the time, this works well, except for that one book that was so scary I had to stop reading, hide it in the back of the closet, barricade the door, and donate it to the library as soon as possible. This book is not getting that kind of treatment, and I was blown away by how good it is.

Like so many of my favorite reads, this one doesn’t fit into only one genre. This was my introduction to Pullen’s writing, and he seamlessly blends mystery, horror, historical fiction, and romance into a wonderful combination that really worked well. His writing is almost intoxicating, clear, vivid, and wonderfully descriptive without being flowery. I could easily visualize myself in India, Tibet, Scotland, and Ukraine with the characters. 

As a reader who often likes to tell myself that I’m going to go to sleep after I finish the chapter, the first thing I noticed after reading for a while was that there aren’t any chapters. The story is broken up into parts, with the setting and characters changing between three alternating parts. It was a bit of a surprise to me when part 2 took place well before the events of part 1, in a completely different place and time, but I quickly grew accustomed to the changes. I found myself anticipating the next part so I could find out what was going on with the three sets of characters, who frequently overlap since the whole story takes place over nearly 4 decades.

The story begins with John reflecting back on his life and writing his last testament. We flash back in time a bit and see John’s early life as the heir to the Earl of Dorset. There is a growing romance that occurs between John and his best friend, Garrett. They had to stay closeted due to society’s expectations, and there is an ongoing struggle between his oppression as a gay man and his privilege as a white, British, son of an earl. However, I think it gives him a huge advantage with regard to seeing things outside of the typical British way of thinking. I loved how clear-eyed John is able to see what happens as a result of British colonialism:

“‘Britain is a power, most certainly, convinced of our civilizing mission. But we don’t bring civilization, so far as I can see. More often we bring death. And perhaps money. And I’m not even thinking of the repression. We kill bodies when we need to. But much more insidiously, we kill souls. We kill cultures. Cultures older and richer than our own.’”

There is heavy foreshadowing throughout the story, on the part of all characters, but especially John and Dr. Abravanel. The characters themselves and the connections they have with the others in the story completely captivated me. There is exploration of class privilege, especially between John and Garrett, but also between Dr. Abravanel who is working class and Jewish, automatically making it difficult for society to see him on even footing with nobles. 

In each section, there are overlapping aspects. This is what made this such an unusual read for me, where every time period was equally fascinating, while I normally tend to enjoy one more than another. The abrupt change in characters and setting at the start of Part 2 was a little jarring, until I realized that each part has these elements that stay consistent throughout the story, dropping breadcrumbs of hints that lead the reader to a conclusion about the mystery of what is occurring. 

One of my favorite aspects of the story is that it takes place entirely in places that I’ve never been to, but are also exotic, unfamiliar locales that actually exist. Reading about the stunning locale of Sikkim, India, made me wonder if that’s really a place, and it is. The photos are just as beautiful as I’d pictured, and it really speaks to the author’s ability to depict settings as vividly as a photograph. I loved learning a bit about Buddhism, and areas like Nepal, Bhutan, and India, along with some good old creepy action involving runes, standing stones, and mystery.

This is one of those horror books that was right up my alley. The gothic vibes made everything creepy yet far away enough not to scare me at night (although I’d probably feel different if I lived in one of these areas). Pullen combines inspiration from a villain in real life and turns him into the supervillain of nightmares. Overall, this is a fantastic read and I enthusiastically recommend it to horror fans, people like me who can only read horror-lite, those who are fascinated by Eastern religion and locales, love a queer romance, like historical horror, or just want something a little spooky for the season. 

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