I have been a big fan of C.J. Tudor's writing ever since the first book, The Chalk Man, came out in 2018. When I saw the newest story was a vampire tale, I was so excited to get my hands on this book!!

Then life happened -- crisis at work left me working ridiculous amounts of over time for months -- and I didn't get to this book as quickly as I wanted to. Publication date: April. Reading month: May. ARGH!

I requested my library order this book and they obliged. I was tippy top of the waiting list --numero uno! Picked it up -- lovely, new book smell. And started reading.

I couldn't put the book down once I started to read. I binge read this story over a day and a half, and loved every minute of it.

A grisly murder. Body with its throat shredded and completely drained of blood. Normally this would spark a huge police investigation, but not in Deadhart, Alaska. People there know exactly who did it. A detective who specializes in Vampyr related killings and a former sheriff team up to investigate the crime and bring justice. As their investigation deepens, they uncover darker secrets than they ever imagined. I'm not saying anything else regarding the plot because it's best to read this sort of horror story without any prior knowledge or spoilers.

This book is creepy and scary! I loved it! The setting and the characters were perfect. There were some chilling twists in the plot that I didn't see coming. I couldn't stop reading once I got completely sucked into the story.

Another great read from C.J. Tudor! I can't wait to get my hands on the next book!!

This book was very anticlimactic and hard to get into. The only character I liked was Barbara. By the end I wasn’t even sure who half of the characters were

The Gathering by C. J. Tudor was an soooo good! A different take on a world where vampires exist with humans and I was here for it. Creepy, original and cinematic, The Gathering will be one of your favorite horror reads of the year.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram!

This is the third book I’ve read by Tudor, and at this point I’d read her daily to-do list. I’ll snatch up anything she writes.

Vampires, murders, and small town Alaska – I was immediately intrigued. In this world, vampyrs (who survive on animal blood unless other arrangements are made with willing humans) and humans co-exist, and laws are in place to protect the vamps, but it’s not a stretch to assume that not everyone is happy about that. When a teen boy is found with his throat ripped out, most Deadhart citizens assume a vamp at The Colony is the culprit. Enter Homicide Detective Barbara Atkins, also a forensic vampyr anthropologist, who isn’t convinced anyone at The Colony is responsible. Because of that she doesn’t expect a warm welcome from everyone in Deadhart, and she certainly doesn’t receive one.

Barbara has her work cut out for her and is met with roadblocks and unaccommodating people at almost every turn. I loved how, despite their differences, she’s respectful to everyone she comes across whether they deserve it not not. With a long history of town secrets, plenty of suspects, and a tightly knit community, it takes her more than a minute to unravel the mystery. As the setting is in Alaska, it’s a time of year with only a few hours of daylight and heaping mounds of snow. The weather could almost be considered a character. She’s also pressured by the community to call a cull, a situation requiring the entire colony of vampyrs to be exterminated.

I had my suspicions about the murderer, but was proven wrong as the body count rose and more corpses were stored in the local tavern freezer. With no morgue, there’s no other place in town to keep bodies cold enough, so you may want to dine elsewhere.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and recommend it to fans of fast-paced, complex mystery/thrillers, secluded, weather-challenged settings, and strong, intelligent MCs.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you NetGalley, C.J. Tudor, and Ballantine Books for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I have quickly fallen in love with C.J Tudor's books and this one, once again, did NOT disappoint! It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and I couldn't "turn" the pages fast enough! If you love vampires, you will LOVE this one! 5 star read for me!

I wanted this to be a five-star read for me so bad. I was so incredibly grateful and thrilled to receive an ARC. I love C.J Tudor. I’ve read several of her books and she’s one of my favorite horror authors. This one though (ugh) it just didn’t… it just wasn’t… I don’t even know. I thought Tudor doing vampires was going to be a sure win, and yet it all fell a little flat for me. But it wasn’t the experience I was hoping and expecting. I liked the main character well enough, but something about the detective perspective just really bogged me down. The investigation was slow, a little repetitive, not very juicy or shocking. The ominous tension just wasn’t quite there, and I never felt totally immersed into the moody atmosphere. I wasn’t really liking the political and religious aspects of the plot. There are other chapters from various perspectives of towns-people that didn’t really flow or connect well and weren’t very interesting. I’m stuck on the cliffhanger at the end - will this end up being a series? I kind of hope not. I’m usually so gripped and invested in her stories, this was a definite miss for me and I hate that, but I have to be honest. Especially after absolutely loving The Drift, I'm so disappointed. It just wasn't good for me.

C.J. Tudor is one of those authors that are an automatic read for me. The Chalk Man is one of my all time favorite books and I have gobbled up all of her other books upon their release. But to be honest, when I read the description for The Gathering I had some doubts. I love a good thriller and dark mystery, but vampires? Not really my thing.

Well, let me tell you... as a reader that doesn't enjoy vampire lit, I loved this book!

Set in a tiny town in Alaska, a detective is sent to investigate a murder. But this isn't just your normal run of the mill murder. It's a suspected "vampyr" killing. In this novel, vampires (referred to as vampyrs) live amongst humans... sort of. Vampyrs live in colonies on the outskirts of human civilization, and the tension between the two groups is about as bad as you'd imagine. Our detective Barbara, a forensic vampyr specialist, must solve the murder before an all-out war breaks out. Who is really more dangerous - vampyr, or man?

I was sucked into the mystery right away, and it was such a dark and creepy read. The world she crafted was so realistic. Which sounds silly for a vampire novel, I know. But if we were to have vampires in modern times, I could see people reacting like the characters in this book. Many of the characters were hateful and cruel towards the vampire communities. It's an interesting take on the theme of prejudice. Why does fear so often turn into hate?

I found the middle of the book to drag a little bit, but I was invested enough at that point to push through. There were some minor characters and events that didn't feel necessary, and I think the pace of the book would have been better without them.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. Even for my fellow non-vampire readers!

Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a story about hating thigh neighbor.

I feel like this was a cross between True Detective & 30 Days of Night. The mounting dread was palpable & I got more invested with each unnerving event. The world building is expertly done & the author managed to avoid the trap of lengthy exposition via interviewing details throughout the story.

I’m hoping for another book set in the same world!

CJ TUDOR absolutely crushed this book. This is a vampire book unlike any I have ever read. The character descriptions and details in this book kept me up into the early hours of the morning. If you like a good story and are a fan of vampires, you NEED to read this book! Go get it!

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Fast paced and entertaining. A witty, spine tingling vampire tale. A unique take on a familiar trope- atmospheric, eerie and unnerving.

This is a story about vampires, but also about life in small towns and the secrets that everyone keeps.

The colony of vampyrs has lived in an old mining town near the small town of Deadhart, Alaska, for decades. There was an incident many years ago when a local boy was killed and it was blamed on the vampyrs. When a new killing happens, a detective specializing in vampyrs is sent to investigate. She is an outsider in a very small town and runs into locals who want to eliminate the entire vampyr colony without a thorough investigation. The former sheriff of the town, Jensen, ends up helping her with the investigation, even though he is retired and lives as a recluse.

This was an atmospheric read and I could really picture this little isolated town and its inhabitants. They all have secrets to keep and are wary of outsiders. The vampyrs have their own reasons to stay away from the people of the town. They have suffered at their hands before and just want to keep to themselves.

The mystery is interspersed with glimpses of the life of a young vampyr, but we don't know what time period she was in. It was a very interesting read and not the usual kind of novel for me. I enjoyed it. The vampyrs don't go around sucking blood from humans, so it wasn't gory like that. The detective did a great job and I thought the suspense was just right. The ending was great.

I have been loving books that take place in Alaska and this had the promise of a great mystery. I really enjoyed our main character, Barbara, but found the long list of other characters and their backstories hard to follow and keep track of. When the big reveal happened I had to go back and try to remember what I already learned about them. Still a fun book! Really loved how the vampires were explained and wish there had been more!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Such a fabulous novel. The Gathering is so much more than a who-done-it thriller with a supernatural twist. Rather, The Gathering delves into the unfortunate and disappointing ways in which we find new types of prejudices and ways to discriminate again other groups. In the case of Tutor's latest novel, it is humans that are oppressing vampires. It is a novel that stands as both entertainment and critical self-reflection, and does so with perfect balance.

Tudor is one of my favorite authors in the horror/thriller genre and this book about a murder in Alaska and a colony of vampires piqued my interest from the first page. Barbara Atkins is a detective and a "vampyre anthropologist" and is called to the small Alaskan town of Deadhart after a teenage boy is found with his throat torn open. Deadhart is a town which coexists with a local vampire colony who are protected under the law in this world. The townspeople want to have a cull which is when a gang of humans kills all of the vampires, but Barbara wants to wait until she can investigate. The author does a good job of describing the cold, dark Alaskan town as well as the people who live there. We also meet a couple from the vampire colony, mostly Althlinda who was turned as a child but has now become the leader of the vampire group. There are a lot of characters in this story and it is hard to keep them clear at times; they include a local pastor and her protege, an elderly man who hears voices, a family who own the local bar, a retired sheriff who comes back to help, a local doctor, and several teenagers and their families.

Barbara suspects something more is going on than a vampire killing when another person is found dead and she finds herself on her own as the local sheriff has an accident. Tensions increase as the town becomes increasingly afraid and angry about the colony and a previous murder thought to be by vampire is brought up as their reasons for their hatred of the colony. There is a subtext of religion and racial discrimination in this story and the author takes a decided anti-religious stance. She also uses a number of British words even though this novel is set in the United States and at times it took me out of the story. I did enjoy the overall creepy atmosphere and thought Barbara was a fun character. The ending was exciting and looks to be a possible setup for a sequel.

This book was truly so good and I loved how the author blended real life issues with fiction. It was all written so that it flowed and felt very natural and believable. It was almost as if you could believe there truly were vampires living in Alaska. I ate this book up!

The storyline jumps into high gear with the death of a local teen whose throat appears to have been torn out. This leads the people in this small Alaskan town to call for a cull of the vampire group that has recently come back to their area. After all, the boy's death could have only been at the hands....or "teeth" of a vampire....right? But when the detective, Barbara, is brought in (who is also a vampire anthropologist), she questions the obvious. Because sometimes things are a bit too convenient. It almost seems as if someone wants to implicate vampires for the killing.

This book was interesting because they dealt with something referred to as "vampire racism" but it was an unusual way to look at the way the townspeople viewed the vampires and their impact on the town. The fear they had was obviously legitimate. However, there were so many tokens of vampire killings around the town too that it was obvious the vampires had often been hunted and massacred. It was a fine line between fear of something because it was dangerous and fear because it was different.

Overall, I found this book to be quite fascinating and was mesmerized by the storyline from start to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I chose to read and review it and the opinions included are my own.

This is a mystery thriller set in small town Alaska. Detective Barbara Atkins investigates a grisly murder where a young boy is found with his throat ripped out and his blood drained. The town suspects the Colony, which is a group of vampyrs who live in an old mine settlement nearby. Atkins, is an expert in vampyr killings and she teams up with the former sheriff to help uncover the truth behind the murder. This definitely would appeal to anyone who enjoys reading mystery/suspense with a touch of supernatural elements.

4/5 stars

In a small Alaska town, a boy is found with his throat ripped out and all the blood drained from his body. The inhabitants of Deadhart haven’t seen a killing like this in twenty-five years. But they know who’s responsible: a member of the Colony, an ostracized community of vampyrs living in an old mine settlement deep in the woods. Detective Barbara Atkins, a specialist in vampyr killings, is called in to officially determine if this is a Colony killing—and authorize a cull. Old suspicions die hard in a town like Deadhart, but Barbara isn’t so sure. Determined to find the truth, she enlists the help of a former Deadhart sheriff, Jenson Tucker, whose investigation into the previous murder almost cost him his life. Since then, Tucker has become a recluse. But he knows the Colony better than almost anyone.As the pair delve into the town’s history, they uncover secrets darker than they could have imagined. And then another body is found. While the snow thickens and the nights grow longer, a killer stalks Deadhart, and two disparate communities circle each other for blood. Time is running out for Atkins and Tucker to find the truth: Are they hunting a bloodthirsty monster . . . or a twisted psychopath? And which is more dangerous? I love this author and totally loved this book. This is not your typical vampire story but it is a classic murder mystery/whodunit. Highly recommend!

The Gathering is perfect if you want a detective mystery with a sprinkle of vampires. Right away it reeled me in into wanting more. So I kept reading. However, the beginning is where it ended for me. I was wanting more vampires and less detective. It does bring an interesting tie in of the hate a group gets for being different and the generalization of that hate. However, ultimately it fell short for me.