The Taker - Alma Katsu

I literally had heard nothing (or probably more accurately remembered nothing) about this book or this author until Kathy (Bermudaonion) mentioned that we would have an opportunity to talk with Alma Katsu at SIBA in September.  I jerked to attention.  I can't meet her and not read her book!  While I was scrambling around trying to figure out how to get my hands on a copy (it releases today, September 6th), Heather (Raging Bibliomania) requested an ARC for me.  Isn't it great when you have blogger friends?  From my words to her ears. 

A couple of weeks later, Heather delivered the book to me over a lunch date.  She'd already read the book, and she summarized the book as follows:

Synopsis:  In a small town in Maine, a bedraggled young woman is found at the side of the highway, covered in blood.  She confesses to a murder, and indicates where the police can find the body.  While the local doctor examines her for injuries and mental status, she grabs a scalpel and inflicts a mortal wound upon herself, then miraculously heals in a matter of minutes.  Having gotten the doctor's attention, she begs him to help her escape.  Intrigued with WHAT she is, he sneaks her out of the hospital and to freedom.  On the way, she tells her story that dates back to the early 1800's.

My thoughts:  That is what Heather told me, and that is as much as the plot as I am going to tell you.  Armed with very little knowledge, I plunged into this book blind, and with the turn of each page I become more and more confuzzled and at the same time invigorated.  What on earth is going on here???  It is bizarre, exotic and disturbing.  It is the story of enduring love, and the ends to which one will travel for that love.  It is about the search for youth, beauty and eternal life, and the evil that accompanies these goals.

I've seen the book described as a romance.  My response would be...like hell it is.  If this is a romance, then we are all in trouble.  It is much more dark, sinister and demented than that.   

This is not a vampire story.  It is something quite different than anything else I've ever read.

Want everything wrapped up in a big red bow?  Then don't bother.  There are threads left unchecked that have the potential to keep me up at night.  The beauty is...(you know what is coming, wait for it)...yes, that's right.  It is a trilogy.  Born solely to drive us all mad.

In closing, while I thoroughly enjoyed this adventure, I can imagine that some wouldn't.  There is too much darkness and ugly personalities to make everyone happy.  For a slightly different opinion on the matter, why not hop on over to my literary sister Jill at Rhapsody in Books to see what she had to say?

4.5 out of 5 stars