The Decadence

A clever, contemporary take on the classic "haunted house" story ... The Decadence is incredibly unsettling, yet undeniably seductive and surprising at every turn

Thought-provoking, terrifying and startlingly intelligent, this is a novel of horrors that hide in the shadows and those that exist rawly in daylight for all to see

An unflinching look at the destructive allure of belonging and the perils of abandoning oneself to achieve it. You may never find your way back

Sequestered in a pressure cooker of hedonistic excess, the horror creeps in insidiously - from the first tendrils of unease to the final horrible denouement. This is a triumph of the queer gothic

Lush, complex, and close to the bone, The Decadence filled me with horror in the best way - the horror of a classic haunted house tale, but also the horror of your twenties, with all its dead-ends, debauchery, self-doubt, and longing

The Decadence's group of late twenty-somethings bicker, seethe and hard party their way through a genuinely creepy and evocative contemporary ghost story which weaves together queerness, lockdown flouting, and the malevolent inheritances of history with deftness and aplomb. Leon Craig has a keen eye for observation and a very dark and distinctive imagination and this novel intrigues and unsettles

Layered, observant, and genre-bending, The Decadence is darkly funny and aware of the complexities of modern friendship in relation to class and politics and the present moment in our shared history

Seeking a reprieve from the drudgery of the COVID pandemic, a group of twentysomethings sneak into an isolated medieval manor for a week of debauchery, only to find themselves very much not alone. As old wounds are reopened and friendships pushed to the breaking point, Holt House draws the revellers deeper into its hateful history, gradually exposing their darkest selves. A drug-fuelled cross between The Decameron and The Haunting of Hill House, The Decadence is Craig at her unsettling, gothic best