Bloody Books - THE WAY OUT by RACHEL HARRISON

To return to the Bloody Books this week after an accidental extended hiatus, we come to a three part entry into the Warhammer Horror label. Released originally as part of the Digital Horror Week 2019. THE WAY OUT by Rachael Harrison is a unsettling foray into the corners of 40k that light seldom covers. Which, considering the setting, is saying a lot.

We follow Captain Karina Arq and her crew fall from the Warp to make their way to supposed salvation upon the Refuge space station. The horror of the Warp is full and present here, not the teeth and tentacles of the deamons inside but the isolation, being cut off from reality is a premise that works well for a true Lovecraftian tale in 40k. Being an audio drama, there is a wonderful element to the aural element, both in music and the soundscape of the forgotten station. Its a shame that it wasn't able to go full radio play, but as always, Keeble brings the weight and gravity such a tale needed. After all, this is a haunted house tale, and whats a haunted house without a suitably gravel-voiced brit.

It's a tension-heavy tale, character driven and oozing wonderfully 41st millennium dialogue. The environments creak and groan, pushing out the elements, details and characters of the cast, with each part of the three episodes focussing on a theme that ties the characters into the tale, building backstories and motivations for each that slowly shifts to the foreground as the crew as the secrets of what dwells at the heart of the station fall into place.

This is a high production treat, with tight tale-telling bringing the gravatas of the performances up to a level only matched by the some of the finest soundwork seen outside of a Dirk Maggs production. Each instalment may be part of a whole, but by shifting the themes from episode to episode we get a whole much greater than it's parts. It is a shifting swirl of tension and implication over jumpscares and messily described entrails. A bleak experience to be sure, but satisfying in a darkened macabre manner.