THE BLACK HUNGER by Nicholas Pullen – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Black Hunger by Nicholas Pullen
Published by Redhook on October 8 2024
Genres: Adult, historical, Horror
Pages: 400
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Nicholas Pullen’s dark historical horror novel is bleak but well written, with interesting characters I came to care for.

The Black Hunger is a very slow-paced, complex historical horror novel, and I thought about putting it down at times. But ultimately I’m glad I pushed through. There is something very compelling about Nicholas Pullen’s narrative style, and I think readers who love historical fiction, especially stories set in the late 1800s India, China and other Asian countries, will love it. It reminded me of both Dracula and Raiders of the Lost Ark, so if either of those interest you, please consider giving this a try.

The story is split up into four main sections that focus on different characters. The first section takes place in England where we meet John Sackville, also known as Lord Dalwood, a scholar who eventually goes to Oxford to study Sanskrit and other languages. John is a closeted gay man—absolutely necessary at the time, as it was illegal and punishable by imprisonment—and is in love with his childhood friend Garrett. Over the years, John has been able to take Garrett with him as his valet, from boarding school to Oxford and later to India, but they are always careful not to reveal their relationship to others.

The next section is a series of letters between Dr. Samuel Abravanel, a man who dabbles in both psychology and the law, and Finlay Stewart, an Earl who is trying to declare his wife Clara insane so he can seize control of her property. Samuel agrees to visit the Earl and evaluate Clara, while Finlay hopes his legal expertise will result in a formal declaration of insanity. The catch is that Sam knows Clara and was once in love with her, and he doesn’t believe for a second that she’s crazy. Clara’s story is fantastical and hard to believe, but Sam has seen things himself that he can’t explain.

The third section is a long letter written by Clara’s husband Ian before he died, telling of his horrifying experience while staying at the castle of Count Vorontzoff in Ukraine.

And finally, we return to John Sackville and Garrett, who have been sent on a dangerous mission to Mongolia, from which they might never return. All of these events and characters continue to cross paths throughout the story, and all are connected in interesting ways. At the heart of the story is a secret group known as the Dhaumri Karoti, who use dark magic in order to bring about the end of the world. There’s a lot I’m not saying due to spoilers, so if my recap sounds vague, that’s why!

I loved the way the story unfolds, and while it is slow and full of detailed accounts of places and historic events, it kept me engaged most of the time. Pullen is a strong writer who obviously knows a lot about the time period and the parts of the world where the story takes place. At times I did find myself lost when the story switched to another character, but it didn’t take long to figure out how each section tied into the others. By ending one characters’ section with a cliffhanger and switching to another character, the author created lots of tension. 

The overall vibe of the story is gothic horror, and Pullen did a great job creating a creepy atmosphere of dread. He doesn’t give us answers about the nature of the evil until almost the end, so the entire story is like a puzzle that needs to be solved. There are some harrowing sections in The Black Hunger and some of them were very emotional. This isn’t a story with many feel-good moments, and I can’t say it ended on an upbeat note, so readers looking for a happy ending definitely need to pick up something else to read.

As for negatives, I did get bored occasionally, since there is so much detail about the characters’ day-to-day lives. And I’ll admit I’m not a big fan of historical fiction—or history for that matter!—so a lot of the drier passages were lost on me. This is one of those books that would benefit from having a map, since the story takes place across several countries and involves a long journey, but there wasn’t one in my ARC (I haven’t seen the finished copy, though).

The Black Hunger was very different from my usual reads, and I’m very glad I chose to read it.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.