Jenny Kiefer is a Kentucky native and an avid crafter and rock climber. Together with her mother, she is the owner and manager of Butcher Cabin Books, an all-horror bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky. She is also the author of This Wretched Valley.
2025 Splatterpunk Award Nominee for Best Novel
A January 2024 Indie Next List Pick
One of Esquire’s Best Horror Books of 2024 (So Far)
A Library Journal Best Horror Book of 2024
“A hallucinatory nightmare of a novel that blends adventure,
horror, and historical fiction and isn’t shy about violence or
strangeness.”—New York Times
“Kiefer’s debut heralds the arrival of a major new horror talent.
Through vivid descriptions of the creepy setting and thoughtful
character portraits, Kiefer maintains a feeling of unease and
nail-biting tension throughout. Devotees of daylight horror will be
entranced.”—Publisher’s Weekly, ★ starred review
“A terrifying debut, rendered with the intensity and skill of Scott
Smith’s cult favorite The Ruins and touches of The Hunger by Alma
Katsu and Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. The novel announces Kiefer’s
intentions to boldly begin her climb to the top of the
genre.”—Library Journal, ★ starred review
“Kiefer’s gory and intense debut centers on a doomed rock-climbing
expedition beset by horrors both human and supernatural. Kiefer, a
climber herself, utilizes her knowledge of the sport to deliver an
evocative and pulse-pounding survival horror novel inspired by the
Dyatlov Pass incident. This disturbing outing marks her as a writer
to watch and will appeal to fans of Scott Smith’s The Ruins (2006)
and the Showtime series Yellowjackets.”—Booklist
“A master class in both suspense and gore, This Wretched Valley is
a treat for climbers and horror lovers alike.”—Laura Hubbard,
BookPage
“Despite being the author’s debut novel, This Wretched Valley is a
glittering contender for Best Horror of 2024…this book is
unshakeable.”—Cemetery Dance
“If you love wilderness horror, This Wretched Valley is a
must-read. But be forewarned: after reading this chilling debut,
you may never want to set foot in the great outdoors again.”—Alma
Katsu, author of The Hunger and The Fervor
“This propulsive, hair-raising read will have you jumping at
shadows and second-guessing your next trek into the woods. With
nimble pacing, scream-worthy scares, and an ever-present sense of
dread, a trip to This Wretched Valley is one you’ll never forget. A
standout debut.”—Rachel Harrison, national best-selling author of
Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth
“Twisty and brutal, Jenny Kiefer’s debut unfolds like your favorite
creepy new horror flick. Welcome to This Wretched Valley, where
everything bleeds.”—Christopher Golden, New York Times best-selling
author of All Hallows and Road of Bones
“A dread-inducing Kentucky spin on the Dyatlov Pass incident, This
Wretched Valley drops its readers right into uncharted territory
without a compass and demands we navigate our way out alive and in
one piece. Not since Scott Smith’s The Ruins has a novel imbued a
region with such desperate horror.”—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of
Ghost Eaters and What Kind of Mother
“[This Wretched Valley is] horror that challenges our perceptions
and understanding of the physical world, and that distorts our
reality, [with] all of the elements I look for in horror—folklore,
an environment that is a character itself, and characters trying to
understand and survive through a horrific situation.”—Cynthia
Pelayo, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Children of Chicago and
The Shoemaker’s Magician
“This Wretched Valley made me nervous to keep going; not many books
can do that. There’s a heaviness to the dread, and Kiefer layers
looming atmosphere onto gripping desperation with a masterful
touch. Forget the outdoors—stay inside with this enthralling book
instead.”—Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Queen
of Teeth
“This Wretched Valley is a fast-paced free fall straight into a
Kentucky nightmare. Kiefer’s prose sings in this horrific tragedy
of blood and dread and paranoia. The story will drag you kicking
and screaming into the night and will not let you go. I lost sleep
over it. Highly recommended.”—Todd Keisling, Bram Stoker
Award–nominated author of Devil’s Creek and Cold, Black, and
Infinite
“This Wretched Valley is a reality-warping, body-horror,
don’t-go-into-the-woods nightmare which grips from its very first
sentence. Kiefer deftly weaves something Dyatlov Pass–shaped from
her characters’ hubris and pain, leading them to a ghastly and
inevitable end sure to delight fans of The Troop or Blair Witch. A
truly unforgettable debut.”—Ally Wilkes, Bram Stoker
Award–nominated author of All the White Spaces
“This Wretched Valley is suspenseful, mysterious, and filled with
racing adrenaline and paranoia. Jenny Kiefer calls us to question
reality along with the novel’s characters and haunts us with
repeating pasts and rotting bones both refleshed and unfleshed.”—Ai
Jiang, Nebula and Locus Award finalist and author of Linghun
“Jenny Kiefer takes one of the most intriguing and horrific
mysteries of the last century—the Dyatlov Pass incident—and pushes
beyond our worst imaginings. An isolated valley and ominous
small-town warnings set the stage for a skillful and bone-chilling
tale of isolation and the limits of human endurance. Kiefer
skillfully weaves historical horror into a modern-day setting, and
the result is a deliciously adrenaline-laden nightmare. A fantastic
debut that keeps all its promises.”—Laurel Hightower, author of
Below and Crossroads
“Jenny Kiefer’s debut novel, This Wretched Valley, is rich with
poisonous paranoia and a steadily climbing dread. By the time you
realize that you are lost in this book’s clutches, you’ll think
twice about ever camping in the woods again.”—P. L. McMillan,
author of Sisters of the Crimson Vine
“Set deep in the backwoods of eastern Kentucky, This Wretched
Valley by Jenny Kiefer took me to a place I’d never want to go, yet
found myself completely unable to leave. What started off as a
Michael Crichton–like adventure soon gave way to something more
reminiscent of Jennifer McMahon’s The Winter People and Scott
Smith’s The Ruins. A ghost story on steroids, with wonderfully
disturbing images laced throughout. I don’t think I’ll ever go
hiking again!” —J. H. Markert, author of The Nightmare Man
“Reading This Wretched Valley, you will find malice dangling from
every branch while an old hunger gathers beneath your feet. Eerie,
vicious, and unforgettably Kiefer.”—Andrew F. Sullivan, author of
The Marigold and The Handyman Method
“Scary on multiple levels, highlighting the terrors of the
wilderness and exploring the supernatural.”—Amanda Mullen,
ScreenRant
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