Full disclosure, I went in to this for the setting and possibly because I was after something like Laura Bickle's The Hallowed Ones. It was naturally different to that but I was not disappointed. This was a good read and the mixture of Amish culture and vampire lore worked really well together.. Enjoyed it.

An unusual and interesting horror story that I found engrossing and entertaining.
The world building is unusual and well done, the characters are fleshed out and the plot flows.
One note the book could have been shorter as it sometimes drags.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I do not often read supernatural novels, but I make an exception when I find a title that seems especially original. I am drawn to stories that attempt to weave supernatural elements into well-established settings because it seems like such a difficult feat. I was blown away by the credibility of Seth Grahame-Smith's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Being a fan of Amish-based mysteries (like the wonderful Kate Burkholder series), I've also been curious to see how authors integrate the supernatural with the rigid social confines of an Amish community. So I didn't hesitate to snatch up Those Who Hunger: An Amish Vampire Thriller by Owen Banner as soon as it became available.


This "horror" story surrounds a series of vicious murders within an Amish community that hides a terrible secret-many of its members are vampires, cursed to hide their hunger for human blood or risk losing everything that matters to them. The Zook family knows this curse all too well. There are more vampires in their family than non-vampires. Haddie Zook is an Amish teenager who realizes she has the mark when a terrifying encounter with a predator initiates her transformation. She struggles with her new identity as she learns to keep her hunger in check. Meanwhile, Jacobo, a detective assigned to the violent murders in the community, is keeping a close eye on the Zook family, suspecting one of them is responsible for the heinous deaths of several innocent people.

It's difficult to go into much more detail than this without risking spoiling parts of the story for potential readers, so I'll jump into my review. This book was WAY TOO LONG. I've read plenty of 500+ page novels and I never shy away from a big book, but there's nothing more annoying than wasting precious reading time on something that could have easily been condensed into 300 pages. I felt like I was slogging through this and was horribly dismayed when I saw I was only 32% of the way through the story. The suspense and excitement did pick up once I got to about 80%, but I read for hours and felt like I was getting nowhere because the author spent so much time detailing random tangents that ended up having nothing to do with the main plot. (If someone else reads this, please come back and tell me what the purpose of the drug dealer scene was because I'm still annoyed by that.)

This story could have been easily streamlined if the author cut down on the number of narrators. I counted no less than a dozen different POVs within the first third of the book, some of which we only heard from the one time. This made things confusing for the reader and just added information that could have been more efficiently shared in other ways. In my opinion, the only people we needed to hear from would have mainly been the Zook family members: Haddie, Esther, Nehemiah, and maybe Roy for an outsider's perspective. Jacobo's random detective excursions were pointless and Mel's experiences, while tragic, really didn't need to be included.

While this novel is listed as part of the "horror" genre, I would argue that it's more of a coming-of-age supernatural mystery with some gratuitous gore thrown in every now and then. Even the violent vampire attacks felt like they were over-the-top and more for shock and awe than anything else. Potential readers should also note that there are sex scenes and a few instances of animal abuse in the novel as well.

I struggled with how to rate this book. At times, I was thinking about one-star and others, I got up to a 3.5, so I'm settling on 2 because of pacing issues and how far-fetched I felt the ending was. There were too many questions left unanswered for me to be comfortable with the culprit(s) that were finally revealed. On the other hand, the writing was good and the story was detailed, even if excessively so. Fans of Amish characters and vampires will enjoy the mash-up of the two very different subjects. However, if you'd like to read about the worlds of vampires and the Amish colliding and don't want to devote your time wading through so many unnecessary pages, I'd recommend you try The Hallowed Ones series by Laura Bickle. I read these back in 2014 and remember liking them quite a bit more than Those Who Hunger.

My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

*Thanks to the author and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The author did a commendable job of mashing Vampire lore with the Amish culture, though with the long history of both perhaps it wasn’t all that hard. A curse is passed to some children of the Amish, they are ‘marked’, a raised crescent shape on their body marks them as one who hungers. The story is told from multiple perspectives, though I didn’t not find it difficult to keep track of the characters. Hadassah (Haddie) and her Amish family, father, mother, two sisters and two brothers try to live a plain and simple life. Haddie is attacked late one evening after going out to get medicine for her young sister, the attacker is intent on ravishing her (Haddie is described as very attractive). Haddie discovers that she has a gift (not sure if that would be the appropriate word) and she is able to defend herself. The story diverges to follow Haddie and a few other Amish kids of a similar age as they head off for their Rumspringa, Haddie has been asked to try to talk her older brother, Nate, into returning to the plain life. The other part of the story follows the police who are investigating a few deaths that have taken place around the Amish community. The two threads join back up when Haddie returns to her family. There is a lot going on in this novel, though long, it kept my attention for the most part. I found some parts towards the middle dragged a bit. There is a lot of grisly deaths as well and it wasn’t until the very end before I figured out that it wasn’t Haddie or her family (her mom and sister are marked as well) were responsible for them. I would say if you like Vampire type stories, this book would interest you. The Amish culture is mentioned but not in great detail. Overall a good book, thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book was so refreshing! I was intrigued right away by it being an Amish book, and about vampires?! count me in! And I was not disappointed. The boom follows Haddie, a young Amish girl in a community with a secret, as she travels through her maturity. I felt like I learned a lot about Amish communities and lifestyles in this book too, which was really interesting to me given how little I knew going I to it.
The vampires in this book are of a new breed, no sparkles and no sexy, suave neck biting. I appreciated the originality and the book really was a horror at some points with the gore and subject matter.
I really recommend this book to anyone looking for a fresh take on the vampire trope and a genuinely awesome book to keep you up late into the night reading and wondering what will happen next!

I could not get into this one. I picked it up a few times and I was just not meshing well with the writing or the story. I'm pretty sad about it since the synopsis sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately it wasn't for me.

Haddie Zook is a teenage Amish girl who is satisfied with the life she lives. Whilst dealing with a distant mother, three younger siblings, an older sibling who is shunned and on the cusp of being 'of age' herself she finds herself in a horrifying situation when returning from a pharmacy one night which sparks a series of events which are entirely unexpected. The book follows Haddie and her family through the events which subsequently unfold, delving deeply into the secrets of her community and wider as she embarks on Rumspringa.

The relationships within this book are paramount to the story, they are interlinked in multiple threads and as they expand they deliver an elaborate and extremely gripping narrative. The characters in this book are complicated and each dealing their own struggles throughout which adds fantastic layers as it develops.

I quickly found that if I was not reading this book in every spare second I had that I was thinking about it, which is absolutely a testament to this extremely well written story. The book is gory, dealing with vampires after all, but this does not detract or overcast the characters themselves. The winding storylines all came together in the end to provide a solid and satisfying conclusion.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a vampire story, this is a new take on a genre I have read a lot of previously and provided an entirely new universe to immerse myself in.

10/10.

DNF'd @ 15%

Given how much I enjoyed The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle I was really looking forward to giving Those Who Hunger by Owen Banner a try. Unfortunately it didn't end up working for me. It's a long book and it started dragging pretty early on for me, at least anyway, and I wasn't interested in any of the cast. It had me at Amish Vampire Thriller but it didn't manage to make me want to keep going with the novel.

Those Who Hunger: An Amish Vampire Thriller by Owen Banner -- 5 Stars
Publisher: Owen Banner
ISBN: 9781589470346

Those Who Hunger is a unique variation of the vampire legend. These vampires are not like Bram Stoker’s Dracula. They do thirst for blood, but an attack is more than a bite on the neck. Vampires, the Amish, the FBI and a bunch of nasty bikers make up an interesting mix that works together to form a great plot. The characters are well constructed and believable. Haddie, an Amish teen, is the central character. I felt her struggle to control her bloody urges while staying true to her religion and family. This is a fairly long book that held my interest throughout. It was fun to read a horror novel that was different from the rest.

Reviewer: Nancy

(Thank you to Netgalley and the author Owen Banner for giving me the opportunity to read an e-arc in exchange for an honest review).

This is not a vampire story like any other I've encountered before. Owen Banner does an amazing job of bringing back the love for vampires with his creative and fresh take on what it means to thirst for blood and the frightful consequences of giving in to the hunger.

The story mainly centers on the Zook family who live in a quaint, quiet Amish community where life seems plain and simple. In a tight-knit community, where everyone looks after each other and their families, it is hard to imagine anything going wrong. When a series of gruesome, mutilated bodies appear in and around the Amish community, it becomes clear there is a merciless killer on the loose and it could be someone they know. The trust that binds this community together begins to unravel as fear and anger take over, forcing them to see the people they've grown up with in a different light. Finding the killer won't be easy when everyone has their secrets and reasons to lie.

"Those Who Hunger" was a wild ride from start to finish with beautiful characters who are so well-formed it's hard to believe they are fictional. It's easy to care and admire each one as they are faced with hardships and difficulties that are apart of life, testing their self-restraint and ability to love and care for each other. Banner combines a coming of age story with vampirism, shedding a light on how monsters aren't the only ones with a little bit of darkness within them.

As well as a coming of age story, Banner gives us a chilling murder-mystery that creates a high tension, action-packed read that is easy to dive into. This aspect of the story is everything a vampire story should be: gruesome, bloody, merciless, and highly suspenseful.

What a brilliant, thrilling novel with a fresh take on vampires, murder-mystery, and coming of age. "Those Who Hunger" by Owen Banner is a story no one should miss out on.

This was a wonderful, novel telling of an unusual vampire story. Engaging from the start. Certainly lived up to the buzz. A great departure from much of what is available. Looking forward to reading more from Owen Banner.

“This is the story of our forefather, Cain, the progenitor. His curse is our curse and all of our like. ‘He had shed blood, and blood would forever call to him. He couldn’t escape the hunger he had for it …”

Those Who Hunger by Owen Banner was an absolutely marvelous surprise! Although I live in an area with a strong Amish presence, I’ve never read any Amish fiction, glad I made the leap on this one. This book had all the elements I look for in a thriller, horror, suspense story. It’s carried along in superb fashion with a strong character driven plot and strong emotive characters that had such an amazing sense of reality to them. It was easy to become emotionally invested in not only the outcome of the story but the characters themselves.

Centered around the Zooks, an Amish family in a quiet Amish community, the author gives a detailed look in to the simple life that I found fascinating. When a series of heinous and grisly murders occur, this quiet community reveals a secret to the reader and thus the suspense and horror begins! Brilliantly combining the Amish community with vampire horror made this a compelling read and difficult to put down.

I thoroughly enjoyed Those Who Hunger and if Mr. Banner should write another in this series, I’ll be the first in line to read it. Big thanks to Owen Banner, Xpresso Book Tours and NetGalley for providing me a DRC in exchange for my honest review.

Overall, an engaging and fresh take on vampire fiction recommended for fans of monster horror.

With a book like this that doesn't rely on familiar tropes, it is difficult to describe the plot in a way that doesn't detract from the experience of discovering things via reading. In sum: vampirism, in this case, is a recessive disease in which the vampire has a "hunger" for blood and violence and is stronger, faster, and more long-lived than a typical person. And they are still persons -- husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters -- who must struggle against this nature to live a good life. To control their baser instincts, they cloister away in different insular people groups -- including the Amish.

The protagonist, Haddie, is a respectable young Amish woman in her late teens who lives in one such community, where a small handful of citizens harbor dark urges they keep at bay through a regimented lifestyle of hard work, religious rites, and avoiding temptation. When a young adult is baptized into the community, they learn about this reality and which of their neighbors struggle with this other nature, but their neighbors treat them the same as everyone else. However, when a series of brutal vampire-style murders begins, that peace frays.

What I know about the Amish could fit on a single fortune cookie paper, so I can't attest to whether or not the author fairly portrays what an Amish community would look like when faced with a series of gruesome vampire attacks, or how an Amish community would behave when it knows that many of its upright citizens struggle with an urge to kill and chase their dinner with a shot of deer blood. But I did identify well with Haddie, the main character, and her parents and siblings, and especially found the dynamic between her parents interesting.

The mystery was intriguing, and I found myself wanting to know more about the world that was built inside this story, and wanting to know more about the side characters. I read it in a single day in two sittings.

There were a few issues I had with the plot, but I'm not sure they could have been tied up without making the book even longer. (It's already pretty long -- I'm a speed reader and it took me about six hours.) For one, a few fascinating characters are introduced, then sort of disappear after a while. Also, the resolution to the murders sort of pops up suddenly and is quickly sorted out.

However, the lore of this world is well explained, and the characters are well-rounded and developed, especially for a novel with so many of them.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this, and would happily read another.

Those Who Hunger was a really fun read! The vampire lore was new to me & I loved reading a new twist on such a heavily visited genre. The characters were compelling, and the parts of it spent in the day to day life of the Amish community were really lovely despite being a horror novel. I went with 4 stars vs 5, because it felt like it concluded too perfectly- which is totally a personal preference thing.

This book was an incredibly enjoyable departure from most of my recent vampire reads.

What I Liked :

- despite supernatural underpinnings the main conflict of this story centers on the testing of family and community bonds. ( this has been a theme with most of my recent 4 star reads)

- the psychological impact of trauma was given a great amount of weight in the story as a whole.

- wonderfully diverse personalities in our main character set.

What I Disliked

- The word Gypsy came up a lot in some sections of the storyline ( apologies to those hurt by seeing it in this review but I didn’t want any doubt about what word I am talking about)

* This word is seen as a slur by many I’m the community to who it refers. If this word were to be replaced in the final physical copy it would easily become a 5 star read for me.

- there is an attempted assault on a female character early in the book that is highly important to the plot . ( I do enjoy the fate of the attempted rapist)

- There is a character involved in the murder investigation that breaks police protocol frequently with enough force to jolt me from the story.

Who would I recommend it for ?

This book may be a good fit for those who enjoyed vampire craze a few years back but would like to revisit vampires with a more mature and complex plot.

I dont typically read "Amish based" literature and honestly wasn't sure I would enjoy this book. But it honestly blew me away and exceeded all expectations.

When I read the synopsis I thought thats such an odd combination : Vampires and Amish. Surprisingly though it worked. And really when you think about it they have alot in common, especially considering both are outsiders. It is known that the Amish are very spiritual people who often keep to themselves. But why?This book offered one explanation. What if the Amish are cursed? What if vampires are just those who bare the Mark Of Cain? Maybe the Amish keep to themselves in order to contain the Mark?

Unfortunately murders have brought outsiders into the fold. There are secrets hidden within the Big valley. One young Amish girl has the answers but she won't tell. Will these secrets protect her family or will they tear it apart?

This is not your run of the mill vampire novel. The concept of villain is blurred. The struggles of good and evil within the protagonist is consistently presented, this is easily just as much a coming of age novel as it is horror.

Those who hunger has varying plots that weave together beautifully to form one intricate story. This book literally has it all... The Amish, Vampires, biker gangs, romance, gore, The FBI and so much more. This is definitely a book worth sinking your teeth into!

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.