The Book of Witching

I just finished The Book of Witching by C.J Cooke and here are my thoughts.

Clem's literal worst nightmare comes true when her daughter, away for the weekend with her friends, ends up in the burn unit in hospital, she is unconscious. The only people who can answer the question of what happened are either dead or missing.

Clem realizes she doesn't know her daughter like she thought she did. She is into some dark stuff and the more Clem digs, the more she learns about the reason why her daughter was in the Orkneys.... The site holds a tragic event long ago, a woman executed for witchcraft. So why was Erin drawn to the site and why, upon waking, is she only answering to the name Nyx?


I was hooked right from the word witchcraft. The book straddles two timelines. We get the book from the current day and Clem's POV and centuries ago from Alison, a mother of 2 and a healer... A woman who was accused, falsely accused, of witchcraft.

I didn't need so much of the jumping back in time. I think the book was trying to go for a balance but I would have really been hooked by more on the current day and that dang book! While I understand the story of Alison is loosely based on a real witch trial and it added some serious weight to the story, it didn't excite me the same way the Clem and Erin storyline did.

The writing was eerie as all heck and I can almost feel the atmosphere running over my skin. There was so much going on but it held it all together with serious gravitas and kept the creepy vibes going the whole way through. That is an incredible feat in itself. The characters were great, they all felt realistic and I really enjoyed the book from start to finish.

Such a great horror book. It's not in your face horror but that under your skin spooky vibes that I simply adore.

4.5 stars ( I need the audiobook of this one)

Out now! (oct 8th)

Thank you to @berkleypublishing and @netgalley for my gifted copy.