Overall Take:
This was a twisty and creepy horror book that I really enjoyed. I’ll be buying a copy.
Star Rating:
5 Stars
Genre:
Horror (light – creepy, atmospheric), sci-fi, paranormal
Synopsis:
In the small town of Deadhart, a boy is found murdered with his throat ripped out and the blood drained from his body. The town believes this is the work of the Colony, an ostracized community of Vampyres.
Detective Barbara Atkins is commissioned to determine if a culling should be authorized. As she starts digging, she deals with a town who is determined to make the Vampyres pay, but the deeper she digs, the darker the secrets she finds.
Thoughts:
I love this author. C.J. Tudor writes such amazingly descriptive novels and she is so captivating. As I was reading this book, I felt myself being transported to the bone chilling town of Deadhart Alaska. I’m not sure if it’s coincidence or what, but when I got into this one, I got so cold I had to cuddle under the blanket on my couch, I just felt like I was there because the writing was so good. It was wonderfully atmospheric.
I loved how the Vampyres were written into the story. The backstory and world building was eloquently pieced out over the course of the book. Usually, I prefer to know the backstory going into the book, but the way this one was done, I enjoyed it being pieced out. Once the pieces started coming together, and things started clicking it was amazing. I just loved how the Vampyres were seemingly a normal part of the world. I do wish that there would have been a little more history, but this one already dragged a little for me in the middle, so I didn’t mind.
The characters had a lot of depth and felt very real, even the side characters who didn’t have a large role were well done. The characters felt like real people, and I could envision them right in front of me as part of my world. Even the Vampyres were easy to picture and came to life easily.
I loved how the twists were presented as well, they were done in a way that made sense and everything just went with the natural progression and flow. Nothing was truly surprising except the final reveal, but everything was chilling. It was perfect. The ending was just great and made a lot of sense with the rest of the book.
The pacing was well done for most of the book, though as I mention things did lag a little for me about the 50-70% marks. I wanted more details on some things, but then got a few too many on others. It didn’t really deter from my overall liking of this one, I still loved it and wholeheartedly recommend it to others.
I do think that even though this book contained Vampyres and some chilling aspects, it wasn’t horror heavy, and won’t appeal to those who prefer more horror heavy reads. However, I tend to lean more toward horrors that are written like thrillers, and this book delivered in that way for me.
I will continue to seek out books by this author. Each one I have read has been a five-star read for me. I’m not even sure how I could rate them in order of preference, because they are all just so good in their own unique way. I love how the author writes and am excited for what she comes up with next.
Thanks for my copy to:
Thank you so much to Random House Books, Ballantine Books, and Netgalley @netgalley for this e-arc. All thoughts are my own.
Publication Date:
April 9, 2024
Author:
C.J. Tudor
Page Length:
352 pages
Publisher:
Random House Publishing, Ballantine Books
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