Duncan Ralston

This is one of those books where the title alone already decides whether you want to read the book or not. I definitely was lured into taking a closer look, and reading the author's name and the short description sealed the deal for me.
The first hundred pages or so strongly reminded me of 'Blood Cruise', but that changed soon. While I did not care for some lengthy discussions that did not really push the story forward I eagerly rushed through the pages that were filled with action and the highly expected and expertly delivered bloodbath. Some minor characters felt stereotypical and their exaggerated way of speaking made me cringe, but the elaborate plot definitely made up for that. Ancient vampire lore and the modern world went very well together, and each of the main characters had his or her own fascinating detailed history, giving the story depth and making it more than just your average gore feast.
If you don't shy away from with trigger warnings - and this book almost has them all - you are in for a very entertaining time.

While Salvage can be labeled a ghost story (as the title does itself), it is much more than only that. It is also a tale about loss, redemption, revenge and obsession.
Trying to uncover the truth behind his sister's mysterious death, Owen unknowingly returns to his hometown Chapel Lake, awakening long forgotten memories and uncovering the tragedy that had him and his mother leave town when he was only a little child.

Saying that the story lives from its complex characters, Chapel Lake definitely has to be added to that list, with its dramatic history and the old town lying hidden deep down beneath a lake. This setting created a dense and widely varying atmosphere - from a mystical place of almost ethereal beauty to a pitch dark dungeon full of lurking horrors.
The story starts slowly, taking its time to introduce us to the characters and the place, with only short glimpses of something evil hiding in the shadows - biding its time. Therefore, the sudden, though not unexpected eruption of horror hits even harder when it raises its ugly face, and at the time Owen recognizes its familiarity it may be almost too late...

This book took me longer to read than usual, which I blame on its dense writing, where every sentence, every word is well-chosen and full of meaning, making it impossible for me to speed-read through it (however much I would have liked to do that with the growing suspense). A story to devour slowly, with pauses strewn in to savor its beautiful flavors.

This is one of those stories where one moment changes everything and at the end you wonder just what went wrong that it could ever have gotten out of hand on such a large scale.
The plot was definitely original and I appreciated the effort the author took to show to what extreme lengths a mother will go to protect her child, all the while digging her own grave deeper by the minute until there is no way out.

But while the action was fast-paced and surprising, funnily enough I could not really relate to any of the characters, which seemed just too overdrawn. Aside from that, the novella was a an easy and worthwhile read with surprising twists, leading to an impressive but also depressing no-way-out showdown.