Review: The Taker by Alma Katsu

Publisher: Gallery Books

Genre: Paranormal, Historical Fiction

Page count: 438

Source: BEA 2011

Buy It: U.S|Canada|International

My Review

Luke Findley is just settling in for another boring night, working the midnight shift at the local hospital, when the police bring in a young girl completed covered in blood. If that wasn't interesting enough she's also just confessed to murdering a man only hours before. Luke is shocked. Most of the time all he sees at the hospital are hunting accidents and cases of domestic abuse. For someone that has just murdered another, however, she seems quite calm. In fact she's barely spoken a word since they picked her up.

That all changes once alone in the exam room - she begins to open up. She begs Luke to help her escape, claiming she's not like other people. To prove her point she grabs a scapel and slashes herself right across the chest. To Luke's amazement, instead of bleeding, the wound magically begins to heal itself right in front of his eyes. Luke agrees to help her as long as she tells him who she is and so begins an adventure that has spanned centuries and will show Luke a world that he's never imagined.

The Taker is an interesting cross between a paranormal novel and a historical fiction novel. I often find this can be a dangerous line to walk; it's so easy to cross over into the land of cheesy writing. Thankfully The Taker steers clear. I found it to be engaging and exciting. Due to the nature of the myserious girl's...condition...the reader isn't limited to only one time period. The story sweeps you from place to place and you just get lost in the stories and the settings. I loved the variety of historical settings and how well each of them were represented.

I have read a number of reviews and articles about this book that mention it being a vampire story (I even read this is Shelf Awareness). I would like to set the record straight and say there are no vampires in this book. There is no biting, or blood drinking and everyone functions during both day and night. I can't go into too much detail of what actually happens without getting into spoiler territory but there is definitely some unique and interesting paranormal twists going on in this novel and though I do like my vampire stories I found this a refreshing change.

I really enjoyed the detail of The Taker, It really did feel like I was being swept away to the different places. The characters were interesting and I could feel myself hanging onto every word, unable to stop reading. This is a great book for fall. Perfect to read outside, once it gets a little cooler and the leaves begin to turn.

About the Author

Alma Katsu has a BA in Writing from Brandeis University (where she studied under John Irving) and an MA from the Johns Hopkins Writing Program. She lives with her husband in Virginia.

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