The Descent (novel)

The Descent is a novel by author Jeff Long.

Plot introduction

A sci-fi/horror book that reimagines Jules Verne's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and Dante Alighieri's "Inferno" by imagining the exploration of a sub-surface world filled with alternately evolved humanoids.

Plot summary

A group of trekkers in Nepal stumble across a mummified body whilst trapped in a cave sheltering from a storm. The body is covered with tattoos, that they interpret to mean that the body was that of a RAF pilot from the 1940s, who crashed on the other side of the Himalayas. How the body got to that cave is a mystery, but it suggests there is a cave network that they might be able to use to escape. The trekkers push deeper into the network, and then start to be killed horribly until only Ike, the guide remains.

The book cuts forward a few years to a UN military base in Bosnia, where soldiers are guarding a mass grave. Every night something attacks the grave. The soldiers first assume that it is people trying to remove the evidence. One officer, Branch, leads a squad to find out the truth. He returns driven mad by the experience, raving about being attacked by demons and starting to change dramatically and physically.

The narrative cuts forward a few more years and Branch, now monstrous, is leading the world's armies in exploring a vast network of caves that has been discovered below the Earth's surface. Referred to as the "sub-planet", it is ostensibly a physical location for Hell and is filled with separately-evolved humanoids that have been alive for all human history and apparently gave rise to the idea of "demons".

The demons are classified as "Homo hadalis" (or Hadals - as in Hades), and split from "Homo sapiens" around the time of "Homo erectus".

Father Thomas, a mysterious Jesuit priest, assembles a group of scholars to study the sub-planet, with the aim of discovering if the devil has actually existed or not. They persuade Ali, a young nun who specialises in ancient languages to help them. She finds herself attached to a corporate expedition making the first inroads and explorations into this neo-New World. Accompanied by an increasingly dwindling group of scientists and private militia, she embarks on a bloody journey through a cave system cutting right across the Pacific, accompanied by the tour guide from the first chapter.

On the way she uncovers evidence of a once-great Hadal civilization - which it appears fills a role similar to Atlantis, Mu and similar, legendary civilizations thats. Meanwhile, on the surface, the members of the Jesuit's scholarly organization start to be brutally murdered, and the two storylines come together for the final climax.

Trivia

Tagline: "Adventure isn’t dead. It’s just gone to Hell."

The 2005 movie of the same name has some similar plot details (a subterranean expedition trapped underground with hominid creatures), but was not based on the book.

Other Resources

[http://jefflongbooks.com/ Jeff Long's Website]