For readers who enjoy investigation-driven horror, yes. Its main strength is the layering of a hippie-era commune over a much older religious atrocity, which keeps a crowded subgenre from feeling stock. The caveats are real: reviewers disagree on pacing, since one describes a slow burn while another found it close to unputdownable at its peak, and the cult-investigator setup will feel familiar to genre regulars.

Adam Nevill

Reviewed

October 29, 2026

Read Time

7 min read

Age & reading levelAdult

Reader rating

4.0

· 3,650 Amazon ratings, as of Oct 2026

reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

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Last Days

Name: Last Days
Author: Adam Nevill
ISBN: 1250018188

Last Days by Adam Nevill Review: Slow-Burn Docu-Horror Cult Chiller

by Adam Nevill

Adam Nevill's Last Days follows debt-ridden London documentary maker Kyle Freeman as he films the story of the Temple of the Last Days, a cult that ended in a 1975 Arizona massacre. Its award-winning dread draws on a centuries-old heresy, though the slow burn won't suit every reader.

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Adultcult massacre · graphic violence in a long climax

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Readers who like cult horror built on investigation and slow-accumulating unease, with a documentary-crew structure that moves through several haunted locations and layers a hippie-era commune over an older religious atrocity.

Worth it if

Worth reading if you enjoy found-footage-style dread, a secretive patron with a hidden past, and a historical twist that rewards patience through a long, multi-location story.

Skip if

Skip it if you want a short, fast scare, find the cult-investigator setup too familiar, or would rather avoid a long, bloody climax.

What readers & critics say

Kirkus Reviews calls it a sophisticated, literate and well-crafted paranormal horror, while LitStack describes a slow-burn supernatural novel full of atmospheric dread that channels found-footage terror; This Is Horror praises it as a gripping read from the first page, singling out the duplicitous Max Solomon as a key to its success.

“Obsession and megalomania, sex and power make for a sophisticated, literate and well-crafted paranormal horror.”

— Kirkus Reviews

Sources: Kirkus Reviews, LitStack, This Is Horror

4.0from 3,650 Amazon ratings, as of Oct 2026— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

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Last Days is a documentary-shoot horror novel in which a London filmmaker uncovers a cult whose roots run back to a 16th-century heresy. It rewards patient readers who like accumulating dread and investigation-driven plots, though the slow-burn pacing and a long, bloody climax won't suit everyone.

Is it worth reading?: For readers who enjoy investigation-driven horror, yes. Its main strength is the layering of a hippie-era commune over a much older religious atrocity, which keeps a crowded subgenre from feeling stock. The caveats are real: reviewers disagree on pacing, since one describes a slow burn while another found it close to unputdownable at its peak, and the cult-investigator setup will feel familiar to genre regulars.
Similar books: Readers who like this blend of dread and history have several natural next reads. Gemma Files' Experimental Film also mixes film-making with an older, buried horror, while Christopher Buehlman's Between Two Fires shares the medieval religious menace. For possession and faith-driven fear, The Exorcist is the classic, and Nick Cutter's The Troop offers a harsher, grislier take on isolation and dread.
Who should read this?: It suits readers who prefer atmosphere and accumulating unease to splatter, and who enjoy found-footage-style stories with a secretive patron and a cursed paper trail. Horror fans who like their scares tied to history and religion will get the most from it. It is a poorer fit for anyone wanting a quick, self-contained scare.
About Adam Nevill: Adam Nevill, also known as Adam LG Nevill, is an English writer of supernatural horror. He is known for his book The Ritual.
Tell me about the adaptation: Film rights were first optioned in early 2014, according to Wikipedia. The same source reports that in August 2026 Apple TV gave a series order to Ascension, inspired by the novel, with Caitríona Balfe cast as a documentary filmmaker. Details of how closely it follows the book are not yet established.
Are there content warnings?: The main flag is the long, bloody climax at Sister Katherine's California home, which is more graphic than the book's earlier atmospheric dread. The story also deals with a cult massacre and a 16th-century religious atrocity involving the execution of heretics. Readers sensitive to cult violence and apparitions in the home may want to approach with care.
What are the main themes?: The book is concerned with how religious extremism repeats across centuries, linking a 1970s commune to a 16th-century Anabaptist heresy. It also explores the cost of ambition and money, through Kyle Freeman's debts and his willingness to take a commission without knowing the full story. Complicity, secrecy and the idea that places retain their violent history run through the haunted locations.

Summarize this book

Is it worth reading?

Who should read this?

About Adam Nevill

Tell me about the adaptation

Are there content warnings?

What are the main themes?

Summarize this book

Kyle Freeman, a debt-ridden London documentary maker, takes a £100,000 commission from publisher Max Solomon to film the story of the Temple of the Last Days, a cult that ended in a 1975 Arizona massacre. He and cameraman Dan Connor trace the sect's haunts across London, Normandy and Arizona, and each site brings its own apparitions. The trail eventually leads to Antwerp and the Blood Friends, followers of the 16th-century heretic Konrad Lorche, before a bloody finale at Sister Katherine's California home.

Follow up

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How is the story structured?

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Our Review

We review the evidence: published critics, reader verdicts and BookTube reviews, gathered and weighed with AI assistance and edited by LuvemBooks, rather than one reader's first-hand take.

Adam Nevill's Last Days sends a debt-ridden documentary filmmaker into the history of a murderous cult, and the dread that follows has won it a British Fantasy Award.

A Cult, a Film Crew and a Paycheck

Kyle Freeman is a respected but deep-in-debt London documentary maker. Max Solomon, a prosperous New-Age publisher, offers him £100,000 to make a film about the Temple of the Last Days, a cult that ended in a massacre in Arizona in 1975.

Kyle and his freelance cameraman, Dan Connor, travel through the sect's old haunts, according to Kirkus Reviews from Clarendon Road to Normandy to Arizona and back to London. The cult's leader, Sister Katherine, is reported to have lived in luxury while her followers lived in squalor.

Kyle chooses to focus on the myths around the group and to seek out people who were involved with it.

Solomon has a secret of his own: he founded the cult's predecessor group, The Last Gathering, and the book keeps that from Kyle at the start. The setup is a familiar one, the commissioned investigator who is told only part of the story, and it gives the plot its engine.

Where the Horror Comes From

The further Kyle digs, the stranger things become. Kirkus describes apparitions and manifestations at each site, enough to provoke hallucinogenic nightmares.

Skeletal demons come through walls, and they follow him back to his own apartment.

The explanation reaches back centuries. A visit to Antwerp and an ancient triptych by Niclaes Verhulst leads Kyle to the Blood Friends, the ghosts of followers of a 16th-century Anabaptist heretic, Konrad Lorche.

Per Kirkus, Lorche declared himself God's one king and fed a French bishop to a pig before he and his followers were captured and executed.

That layering of a hippie-era commune on top of an older, bloodier religious one is the book's most distinctive idea. Cult horror is a crowded field, and this historical twist is what keeps the premise from feeling stock.

Structure and Atmosphere

The novel is built as a docu-horror, a story told through the logic of a film shoot. LitStack's reviewer calls it a slow-burn supernatural novel that channels found-footage terror into a cult story.

In that reading the locations themselves act as hostile participants rather than backdrops.

The reviewer at Fantasy Book Review makes a related point about tone. The book is aimed at readers who like to be unsettled rather than grossed out, though Kirkus notes a long, bloody climax at Sister Katherine's luxurious California home.

Back cover with author photograph, synopsis, review quotes, and publisher information.

The setting moves a lot, and that variety is part of the design. Each site gets its own haunting, which gives the book an episodic shape within a single through-line.

What the Critics Say

Reception is positive across the sources. Kirkus calls it a sophisticated, literate and well-crafted paranormal horror and says Nevill's writing is deft and believable.

Tor.com, in a line quoted on Wikipedia, praised the "portentous premise" and "a series of solid scares" along with a smart sense of self-awareness.

The book won the 2013 British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel, the August Derleth Award. It was first published in the UK by Pan Macmillan in 2012, with the St. Martin's Griffin edition following in the US in February 2013.

Not every reviewer treats the pace as a pure virtue. LitStack's description of a slow burn, set against Tor.com's "unputdownable" at its most powerful, suggests the book's momentum varies by reader and by stretch of the story.

Who It Suits

This is a book for readers who want atmosphere and accumulating unease over splatter. The setup of a two-man film crew, a secretive patron and a cursed paper trail suits anyone who enjoys investigation-driven horror.

It is a substantial read, listed at 544 pages in the US paperback. Readers wanting a short, fast scare may find the multi-location structure more than they need.

The novel has also drawn screen interest. Film rights were first optioned in early 2014, and Wikipedia reports that in August 2026 Apple TV gave a series order to Ascension, inspired by the novel, with Caitríona Balfe cast as a documentary filmmaker.

Sources & Further Reading

The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

Cited in this review
1
Last Days (Nevill novel) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
2
LAST DAYS | Kirkus Reviews
kirkusreviews.com
3
Last Days by Adam Nevill book review - Fantasy Book Review
fantasybookreview.co.uk
Further reading
4
Adam Nevill — author profile
Adam Nevill, LuvemBooks
5
"Last Days" By Adam Nevill | A LitStack Review
litstack.com
6
{Book Review} Last Days: Adam Nevill – Together Let's Promote Horror
kendallreviews.com
7
Last Days by Adam Nevill – This Is Horror
thisishorror.co.uk

Age & Reading Level

Recommended age

Adult

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4 content notes · who it suits

Content to know about

cult massacre

graphic violence in a long climax

religious atrocity and executions

skeletal apparitions and home haunting

Best for: Adults — cult violence and a graphic, bloody finale

Skip if you want a short, fast scare or would rather avoid a long, bloody climax.

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Curated picks for readers who enjoyed Last Days, with our reasoning for each match.

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In our catalogue

Between Two Fires

Christopher Buehlman

Medieval France instead of 1970s Arizona, but the same idea: an old heresy made real, and ordinary people walking into its shadow.

A disgraced knight escorts a strange girl across plague-ravaged France while the war between heaven and hell turns literal. It shares the fascination with ancient religious corruption and treats its horrors as sincerely as Nevill does. Suited to readers who want the heresy angle expanded into full apocalyptic dark fantasy.

In our catalogue

The Exorcist

William Peter Blatty

The classic template of investigators confronting a genuine demonic force, played completely straight; the ancestor of every cult-and-possession story since.

On Amazon

Experimental Film

Gemma Files

A film historian chases lost silent footage and finds a buried legend behind it; the closest structural match to documentary-maker horror.

Not your thing?

In our catalogue

The Troop

Nick Cutter

Bounced off the slow burn? This is the opposite: relentless survival horror about a scout troop and an engineered parasite, with no breathing room.