“WELCOME TO DEADHART. ALASKA. POPULATION 673. LIVING.

A boy is found with his throat ripped out,
the blood drained from his body. It’s not the first such killing, and the town knows who to blame:
the vampyr colony in the mountains.

But out-of-state detective Barbara Atkins think the evidence doesn’t stack up. People are lying.
And Deadhart has a history of dark secrets.

The snow keeps falling, but so do the victims.
Time is running out for Barbara.
Is she hunting a cold-blooded murderer,
or a bloodthirsty monster?

And which does she fear most?“

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of The Gathering by C.J Tudor. The Gathering was published by Penguin Books on 26th September 2024 and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio and digital formats.

Before I go any further with this review there’s something I need to tell you. If you’ve been visiting the blog over the last couple of months you will be aware that I’ve been on a bit of an unplanned, six-month hiatus following surgery. Unplanned because all of a sudden my blogging mojo hit the floor. I was reading lots of brilliant books, I just wasn’t reviewing anything. And then, after a while, my reading mojo took a hit too. So this book, The Gathering, I actually read in May 2024. I do remember the book well and I did take notes but this review, and many others you’ll see over the next few months, will be A LOT shorter than my usual, going-on-for-days (🤭), reviews! A short review is better than no review at all, am I right?!

The OTHER thing I need to tell you about this book is that it was a library loan. I am a huge fan of C.J. Tudor and have read and reviewed everything she has written here on damppebbles. Normally, when I borrow books from the library, I don’t tend to review them. Reason being, I’m so far behind with writing reviews at the moment that should I need to check or reference something in the book, it’s no longer on my shelf. So I tend to read library books just for the fun of it. However, having reviewed everything Caz has published, I wanted to keep that momentum going. Plus, it’s a cracker of a book. One of her best. It would be such a shame to not feature it here on damppebbles.

In Deadhart, Alaska, the small community feel very much on the edge. ‘On the edge’ because in the mountains next to the town live a colony of Vampyrs. Despite an ever present threat, there are very strict rules in place which prevent either race from harming the other. That is until a teenager is found with his throat ripped out and the blame falls on the colony’s shoulders. Enter Detective Barbara Atkins. Her job is to discover how and why the teenager died and whether a cull of the colony is required to maintain peace in the town. But Barbara doesn’t know the half of Deadhart’s terrible secrets. Fighting with the townsfolk who are calling for an immediate cull. Fighting the Vampyr community whose long-held hatred of the towns people shows no abatement. Can Barbara solve the murder before Deadhart and its two furious, warring communities destroy each other…

There is so much to love about The Gathering. Detective Barbara Atkins is such a well-drawn, memorable character. I found I was completely on her side from the get-go. She’s stuck in an impossible situation with two polar opposite sides out for the destruction of the other. The plot moves at a good pace and keeps the reader engaged from start to finish. I was keen to find out what was going to happen next, reading late into the night, knowing I had things to do the next day but unable to tear myself away from the thoroughly engaging storyline. I’m a huge fan of Caz’s books and this one in particular ranks near the top of the list. You really can’t go wrong with a C.J. Tudor novel. Full of menace, extremely atmospheric and with a creeping sense of palpable dread, I loved The Gathering. Highly recommended.

The Gathering by C.J. Tudor was published in the UK by Penguin Books on 26th September 2024 and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

C. J. Tudor was born in Salisbury and grew up in Nottingham, where she still lives with her partner and young daughter.

She left school at sixteen and has had a variety of jobs over the years, including trainee reporter, radio scriptwriter, shop assistant, ad agency copywriter and voiceover.

While writing the Chalk Man she ran a dog-walking business, walking over twenty dogs a week as well as looking after her little girl.

She’s been writing since she was a child but only knuckled down to it properly in her thirties. Her English teacher once told her that if she ‘did not become Prime Minister or a best-selling author’ he would be ‘very disappointed.’