The Gathering by C.J. Tudor

 "Black clouds bristled on the horizon. The white snow undulated like a vast frozen sea. A storm was coming, something foul on the air. .... They were back. It was about to begin again."

Plot summary:  When a teen's throat is ripped out in Deadhart, Alaska, Detective Barbara Atkins, a homicide detective and doctor of forensic vampyr anthropology, is called in to investigate his murder. But she's walking into a powder keg. And no one is happy to see her. Because Deadhart is a town full of secrets. The citizens want to cull the nearby vampyr Colony. The vampyrs are fueling for a fight and very ready to defend themselves. The current murder resembles one from 25 years ago. The town's fanatical preacher has her own agenda. The nights are getting colder...and longer. And if the boy's murderer wasn't a vampyr, Barbara just might have a psychopath on her hands.

My thoughts:  The Gathering is a compelling mix of police investigation and psychological thriller with a touch of supernatural horror. And it reads fast. I really like the way Tudor writes, and this book is no exception. It's atmospheric and suspenseful. And Tudor has created an interesting world where vampyrs are a segregated but protected species, although one very much feared and disliked by humans. I did feel like there were A LOT of characters (and even more secrets!) to keep track of, some going far back into Deadhart's past, which made it feel a little convoluted at times. But everything gets wrapped up in a satisfying way at the end, which I appreciated. Though once again I could have done without the epilogue. All in all, I'd give this one 4 stars. 

Happy Reading!

Other books by C.J. Tudor that I've enjoyed:

The Burning Girls

The Chalk Man

From my TBR shelf...

"It is a quiet place, especially at night.  Too quiet, you'd be entitled to think, for any kind of monster to live among its pretty, tree-shaded lanes....If you let yourself think this, you would be wrong. For 17 Orchard Lane is the home of the Radleys, and despite their very best efforts, they are anything but normal."

The reason I bought a copy of the The Radleys by Matt Haig a couple of years ago is because I liked his witty and wonderful novel, The Humans, so much. (And also because my library didn't own any copies of this one.) So I don't know why I then let it languish unread for so long on my shelf. Maybe because I was afraid it wouldn't be as good as I hoped. But I needn't have worried. The Radleys is a very readable and entertaining novel with a great ending. I liked it a lot!

It's about a married couple, Peter and Helen Radley, who are vampires that have chosen to become "Abstainers" in order to give their two children an ordinary, human life. The only problem? Clara and Rowan Radley aren't human; they're vampires, too. They just don't know it. Until the night Clara is attacked by a boy from her high school. When she fights back and tastes blood for the very first time, the secret Peter and Helen have been keeping from their children is revealed in a big way. And suddenly Clara and Rowan know who they really are...and what they're meant to be. To make matters even worse, Peter's brother, Will, an unrepentant blood-drinking vampire, shows up at their house causing even more havoc for Helen and her family. And suddenly their quiet existence is threatened with extinction.  "The Radleys explores the lengths to which a parent will go to protect a child, the costs of denying your true identity, the undeniable appeal of sin, and the everlasting bonds of family love."

Happy Reading!

P.S. This book counts as my fourth TBR read for The Backlist Reader Challenge hosted by Lark at The Bookwyrm's Hoard. Only six more TBRs to go!

Charmed by Charming...

"I come from a long line of dragon slayers ... I used to be one of the modern-day knights who patrol the borders between the world of man and the supernatural abyss that is its shadow. I wore non-reflective Kevlar instead of shining armor and carried a sawed-off shotgun as well as a sword ... until the day I discovered that I had been cursed by one of the monsters I used to hunt. My name is Charming by the way. John Charming. And I am not living happily ever after."

John Charming may be hunted and alone, but he's also super-fast, strong, handsome, dangerous, irreverent, wolfish and funny. If it sounds like I'm gushing, I am. I have a bit of a bookish crush on John Charming.  I also really like Sig, the blond Valkyrie he meets in Charming, Elliott James' excellent urban fantasy adventure. Sig is beautiful and tough, with supernatural powers of her own; she's as good in a fight as John, if not better, which comes in handy when they have to hunt down a dangerous vampire hive. Can you tell that I loved this novel? It's fast-paced humorous magical fun. And there's at least three more books in the series! (Which I can't wait to check out of the library because I'm already itching for another dose of the very charming John Charming.)

Happy Reading!

Stoker's Manuscript

"So you wish to enter the world of the undead ... To immerse in this is to invite the undead into your life."  Mara lifted an eyebrow over her glasses in that way the fortune teller asks if you really wish to know of your days ahead.  "By the time you understand my warning," she said, "it will be too late, and they will be in your life."

I love Bram Stoker's Dracula; it's one of my favorite classics. So, when I saw the title of Royce Prouty's novel and read it's premise, I had to buy it. His main character, Joseph Barkeley, is a rare book dealer who has been hired to authenticate an original draft of Stoker's Dracula for a mysterious buyer. As part of his job, Joseph must also transport the manuscript to Castel Bran in the heart of Romania: Dracula's Castle. There, Joseph becomes tangled up in the dark secrets of his undead employer, the secrets hidden in Bram Stoker's original manuscript, and the secrets of his own past.

I think what I liked best about this novel was Joseph's own history as a Romanian orphan and his return to the country of his birth. Prouty transports you to Romania and really gives you a tour of that country and it's people -- it's bookish travel at its very best! I also liked that his vampires are in the same vein as Bram Stoker's, with a few added twists. His story is good--interesting and very readable--and his suspenseful ending would make Stoker proud.

I wish he'd included a bibliography at the end of his novel so I knew what books he read to research Bram Stoker's life. (I'm in the mood for a good biography.) Beyond that, I'm happy to have checked another book off my TBR stack.

Happy Reading!