Last Night of Freedom is the debut novel by Mancunian author, Dan Howarth from the brilliant Northern Republic who are an independent press established in Merseyside in 2021. They aim to champion writing from, you guessed it, Northerners! Aptly, this novel is set in a remote part of the Lake District as four old university friends reunite for a stag party that soon goes awry as a group of locals seek to bring back a warped stag tradition and all of a sudden the friends find themselves hunted...
Drawn into a deadly game of one-upmanship and forced to prove their masculinity, only one of them can survive. The question becomes, how much do they really value each other’s friendship?
Told from multiple points of view with a Black Mirror meets The Purge vibe, I really liked the concept of this novel but part of me wishes the author leant into the weirdness a little more. Whilst there were moments of violence and squeamishness, I have to admit I was hungry for more and felt there was potential to go harder with the folk-horror element, but perhaps that’s down to personal taste. My other criticism would be that the dialogue felt rather surface-level, I would’ve preferred less of it and to be shown instead of told. That said, I think the relationship between the four main characters was well developed and realistic and the twist at the end was oddly satisfying. I didn’t like any of these characters but strangely enough, I like how the author made that happen. What this debut does well is explore how class and masculinity are performed, especially in group settings. The use of the horror genre to portray toxic masculinity is clever and disturbing but also strangely fun to read. Last Night of Freedom is a great debut to kick off your horror reading list this spooky season!
Review by Abi.
Last Night of Freedom was published on 11/10/24 by Northern Republic
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