The Cabin at the End of the World
Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbours are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road. One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, "None of what's going to happen is your fault". Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: "Your dads won't want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world."Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined. The Cabin at the End of the World is a masterpiece of terror and suspense from the fantastically fertile imagination of Paul Tremblay.
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Eric, Andrew, and their seven-year-old daughter Wen are vacationing at a remote New Hampshire cabin when four strangers arrive with bizarre weapons. They say the family must choose to sacrifice one of themselves to save the world.
Yes. M. Night Shyamalan directed a 2023 film adaptation titled Knock at the Cabin, starring Dave Bautista. The film changes the novel's ending and several plot points.
Yes. The Cabin at the End of the World is psychological horror with apocalyptic religious overtones. Paul Tremblay's tone is restrained but the central premise (a family taken hostage by strangers warning of the end of the world) is sustained dread.
The Cabin at the End of the World was written by Paul Tremblay, published in 2018 by Titan Books Limited.
The Cabin at the End of the World is 137 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Cabin at the End of the World takes most readers 2 to 3 hours to finish.
The Cabin at the End of the World is a standalone novel by Paul Tremblay, not part of a series.
The Cabin at the End of the World is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.