The Taker by Alma Katsu — 448 pgs

One night in the dead of a rural Maine winter, Dr. Luke Findlay is surprised by an unexpected patient in his quiet ER. Her name is Lanore, and the police have brought her in to be examined after finding her on the side of the road covered in blood, claiming she murdered someone. As Luke finds a quiet place to investigate this strange childlike woman, she begins to spin an unlikely tale about her otherworldly origins. Lanny, it seems, began her life in turn-of-the-century Maine as the oldest daughter of a farmer. From her earliest memories, she’s been in love with Jonathan, the rich only son of the town’s patriarch. But although Jonathan thinks very highly of Lanny, he can’t give her his whole heart as she wishes he could. After Lanny and Jonathan get themselves into a compromising situation, her parents send her off to Boston to shake off the dust of the past. Lanny’s first day in Boston is both frightening and lonely, as she’s not used to city life, and before she knows it, she’s swept up by a group of nefarious socialites and brought to their patron, the larger-than-life Adair. Soon Lanny is in the clutches of the debauched socialites and is prevented from leaving their opulent mansion on the hill. When she falls gravely ill, Adair gives her a mysterious elixir that will change her life forever. Now Lanny is at the mercy of the strange Adair, who has his own tale to tell, and she’s doomed to be caught up in time along with these strange courtiers and their foreign prince. As Lanny shares her mystical and unlikely story with Dr. Findlay during that cold night in the ER, her story will inspire Luke to take an untold risk to protect her. Both engrossing and full of strange unexpected twists, The Taker straddles the past and present to tell the remarkable story of a woman who has learned to capture and harness time in a way that may prove to be a blessing and a curse.

Though this book had a mystical and strange premise, I found myself utterly engrossed in it very early on. It’s written in alternating chapters that mingle the past with the present to great effect. While a part of the book focuses on a timeless love story, it also seamlessly incorporates elements of the paranormal into its foundations and narrative. It was unlike any book I’ve read before, and it was the type of story that keeps you guessing, no matter how many plot points you figure out. There was a great deal of suspense throughout both story lines, and though I much preferred the historical over the contemporary timeline, both were well melded and kept me happily tripping back and forth. Another thing I liked was that the storyline wasn’t overly prim. There were some highly sexualized aspects of the book that, while not being overly raunchy, provided a lot of heat to the natural components of the story.

When Dr. Findlay first discovers the truth about the enigmatic Lanny, he can hardly believe the story she tells. Despite his reluctance, he’s caught up in her spell as she slowly reveals her magical tale. This isn’t the light and frilly magic that you may expect; the tale Lanny tells is one filled with dark power, submission and pain-fraught love. Though Lanny starts off as an innocent girl living deep in the Maine woods, it’s not long after her arrival in Boston that her whole personality begins to morph into a rather self-centered and cantankerous woman. Though she’s left Jonathan behind, it’s not long before she sets off to find him at the behest of Adair, who wants to use Jonathan for his own unwholesome purposes. Lanny may claim to love Jonathan, but her motives in this strange tale soon begin to become suspect. The secret passed down from Adair and his cronies is one that will change and destroy lives, and though Lanny has some indecisive moments, she proves herself to be almost as ruthless as Adiar and the others.

This book was adept in its story, and many different and surprising plot points were expertly marshaled and displayed in a perfect amalgam of suspense, mystery and the supernatural. It was the kind of book that surprises you with its unexpected twists and turns, and it seemed that Katsu always had something up her sleeve to further entrench her readers. If I had to compare it to anything, I’d say it was a lot like the first book of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, but it didn’t deal with vampires and it was much more stylized. For a book of four hundred plus pages, I ripped through it, trying to discover the secrets and nuances of Lanny and her terrible band of acquaintances. The Taker was rife with magic and elegance, betrayal and lust, and in it I found a heroine that defied any label that I could hang upon her. It was a bewitching tale that took several seemingly disparate elements and concocted them into a story of terrible darkness and unyielding hunger.

The only niggle I had with this book was that the ending felt a little slapdash. Everything was moving right along nicely, and then Bam! The End. I felt the ending had been too orchestrated and all the foundations had been laid very early on, leading to an ending that lacked suspense and mystery. It was rather disappointing because the book could have gone in one of several other directions, and it was almost as if Katsu had hinted at them and then left them cold. I was surprised the book ended so abruptly and on such a cool note, because as a reader, I could see many directions that could have been utilized for better effectiveness. When I learned this book was the first of a trilogy, the ending began to make more sense and became less troubling and more satisfying.

While I had some trouble with the conclusion, the rest of the book was simply fascinating and dealt with an area of the paranormal that I found to be unique and provocative. The story flowed with a generous amount of detail and character description, and I was constantly guessing at what would happen next. If you’re a reader who enjoys well constructed and intriguing paranormals, or historical fiction, this might be the book for you. But of you’re the type that gets hung up on the perfect ending, I would regrettably have to tell you to steer clear of this one. A very interesting and thought provoking read.

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This book was provided as a complimentary review copy.