When a teenage boy is brutally murdered in a small Alaskan town, the town immediately knows who is responsible. It is not a jealous, a jaded friend, or serial killer stalking the teenagers of Deadhart. The culprit is a far deadlier enemy, a member of the Colony, a vampyr.

Detective Barbara Atkins isn’t as confident.

In a world where an uneasy alliance exists between humans and vampyrs, Barbara knows that whenever someone turns up dead, a vampyr is immediately blamed. As a result, Barbara works for a government agency in charge of investigating all possible related vampyr incidents and determine if a vampyr is truly at fault. If they are, Barbara is authorized a cull.

Arriving in Deadhart, all the evidence seems to point to a vampyr culprit but as Barbara digs deeper and learns that old prejudices thrive in Deadhart, she begins to suspect that the young boy’s death may only be the start to unraveling a web of deception and old town secrets.

To begin, this is an excellent story to pull out during the cold dreary months of January and February where, if you live in a place like me, snow and cold weather are the norm. You immediately feel the coldness Deadhart is situated in and it adds to the reading experience. But it is not just the ambience that The Gathering succeeds at. This is a fast paced read that, while revealing a lot of information and including a large cast of characters, is never bogged down or feels to drag. The tension is continually built and leads to exciting reveals.

The world Ms. Tudor constructs around the vampyrs is excellently done and it makes the reader think these types of groups do actually exist. Of course, it doesn’t take the reader long to realize that the Colony is very much an allegory for how minorities are treated in the United States, but Ms. Tudor does make it her own and the story feels very original.

While The Gathering is classified as a horror novel, I would not describe it overall as very scary or gruesome. While there are scenes discussing violence and how someone was killed, it was not very graphic and I would say this would be the perfect book to pickup if you are new to the horror genre (like myself).

The ending gives the impression that a second book is possible and I do hope Ms. Tudor decides to continue Barbara’s adventures. I would certainly pick it up in a heartbeat.

5 out of 5 stars