My experience with C.J. Tudor as an author has been minimal so far, limited to a rather excellent short story collection A Sliver of Darkness that I read last year. I went into The Gathering with curiosity as to how Tudor's writing would translate from the short story to the novel, and the result for me was a rather mixed bag. The Gathering has an interesting premise involving a murder mystery set in a world where humans coexist with colonies of vampyrs who are a shunned and hated minority group protected from prejudiced hunters by law. When a colony returns to settle near a small town and a boy is killed, old hurts resurface and a jaded investigator must prevent a cull on the colony by finding the responsible party.

While the premise held promise, my main point of contention throughout the novel was that I never felt that it was focused on what it was looking to be. It's not a traditional vampire story as there's very little vampire action involved, it skirted but never really went into the horror genre, and the mystery aspects were often a bit too beguiling due to the amount of minor character and flashbacks. In the end it's a mix of small town drama and whodunnit that ended up not holding my interest as much as I would have liked.

**I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Netgalley and Random House**

Ok does anyone remember that movie 30 days and 30 nights it was about a group of vampires that attack a village when its basically snowed in for a month. Obviously its different from the movie but it gave me snowed in vamp vibes and I loved it. The death of the boy was sad of course but then the characters and the story development was so good. I love books and movies with vampires I think its my favorite creature feature in the genre.

"Soon, we may live in a world where they are nothing more than a legend."

The Gathering is a chilling murder mystery set against the stark backdrop of small-town Alaska, where the murder of a teenager sets off a chain reaction of violence and prejudice against vampires.

Barbara, a vampire anthropologist (what a cool job title), heads to Deadhart, Alaska, to investigate the murder of a teenager. Her findings will determine if the human members of Deadhart can enact a cull on the vampire inhabitants. The town’s human inhabitants are itching for revenge, tensions are high, and a longstanding conflict is on the verge of imploding. Tension escalates, and longstanding animosities threaten to erupt as the narrative explores themes of hatred, racism, and the fear of the unknown.

If I had read the blurb for this book, I probably wouldn’t have read it. Vampires are not my thing, but this isn’t really a book about vampires rather, it is a commentary on hatred, racism, and difference. There is a political divide between those who believe vampires should be killed and those who believe that minorities should be protected.

Baraba is the primary narrator, but also shared are the POVs of Tucker, the former Sheriff; Beau, a vengeful human; and a mysterious girl being held in captivity. Barbara is a likable lead who, unlike many of our heroines, is out of shape, overweight, and not particularly beautiful. She is intelligent, open-minded, and has a compelling voice.

This was an enjoyable read, but the Britishisms coming from American characters took me out of the narrative. In addition, some of the characters were underdeveloped. These are minimal flaws, as the characters and plot kept me riveted. The tone is dark, and the plot delves into darkness. Thankfully, there is minimal gore involved in the human vs. vampire war. In the end, amidst the twists, turns, and deceit, the frigid cold setting of the novel intensifies the suspense as the conflict between humans and vampires reaches an unexpected resolution.

TW: sexual assault

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

I am so excited that CJ Tudor has entered the urban fantasy thriller world! We've needed a solid adult thriller in this genre for quite some time and this book really scratched the itch.

I did not want to hang out with small minded, small town people any more since I personally evacuated the small town I grew up in... but CJ nailed the personality tropes perfectly and you can't help but loathe and suspect just about everyone in town! As someone who can usually predict the big reveal, I was genuinely guessing until the end, and I find myself still thinking about the characters and what is going to come next. And, I must say, for it's length and slower burn, there really is quite a lot of action!!

I really want to shout out the choice for lead character - Detective Atkins is not young, slim or sexy, she's raw and real and endearing. She feels like the gay aunt next door, and I want to spend more time with her IRL. This is easily a 4 star read for me, pacing being the only issue as we were jumping between a lot of different characters every chapter and I felt overwhelmed sometimes.

Book Title: The Gathering
Author: C.J Tudor
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine Books
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: April 9. 2024
My Rating: 3.4 Stars
Pages: 352


Story is based in Deadhart, Alaska.
A 15-year-old boy is found with a ripped throat and drained of blood.
Okay sounds like a vampire to me.
It is suspected there is a connection between this murder and the resurgence of a vampire Colony—led by Athelinda, a vampire disguised as a nine year-old girl.
Detective Barbara Atkins is a vampire anthropologist.


This is my seventh[author, C.J. Tudor novel. The "The Chalk Man" was my first and is still my favorite. I call myself a fan and wanted to read this without knowing anything about it except that I like the author. Story is a murder mystery including racism with vampires!

Although this was not my favorite, I kept at it and when it ends with a tease for more Barbara –

Yep! We Barbara's have a bond, you can count on me for The Gathering #2!

Want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine Books for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for April 9, 2024.

I have become a super fan of author, CJ Tudor. “The Gathering” was an interesting read, mixing murder and vampires. CJ Tudor is a solid author/writer and while this was not my favorite of her stories, it was still a solid read, drew you into the tale, and well written read. 😊

Early on in the book, I wondered if the author was trying to equate vampyrs with trans people as being misunderstood and abused. By the end, there were so many stereotypes and caricatures that I lost interest in the book entirely.

A fun and thrilling vampire story that will have you on the edge of your seat! I really enjoyed getting to know Detective Barbara Atkins and the citizens of Deadhart - the small Alaskan town she's been sent to for work. There's been a murder and the town wants to perform a culling (kill the vampyr Colony). The only thing, Barbara's not so sure it was a vampyr who committed the crime. Talk about an exciting read! I really enjoyed this book and definitely look forward to reading more by Tudor - such a great mystery/thriller writer!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy. The gathering is the first book that I have read by C.J. Tudor, and I enjoyed it. It takes place in Deadhart, Alaska, a colony town. There is conflict between the citizens of Deadhart and the Vampyr Colony members. The story switches between a few different points of few, but mostly follows Barbara, who is in town to solve a murder that looks like a colony killing. As Barbra finds out more, there are many twists and turns. I recommend this book to people who like a murder mystery with a hint of supernatural.

I should have paid closer attention to the earliest reviews that pinged this as a procedural mystery, which I don't particularly enjoy, and not a thriller with a central detective (which is already not my favorite sub-genre, but I can make an exception for CJ Tudor doing overt horror thrillers). I did not enjoy this, and I wanted the focus to be very, very different from what we got. I think it's time for me to part ways with Tudor, unfortunately.

Listen. Stop everything you are doing and BUY THIS BOOK! It’s amazing! I loved The Chalk Man so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one. This is 30 Days of Nights once people realize vampires are real and have figured out how to “tame the beast”. Not that I agreed with their methods, but that’s my closest comparison. It was a fantastic read and I had such a hard time putting it down. The characters, the pacing, the twists and turns, fantastic. I only had one small complaint, and it was just two words out of the whole book. “Tattoo gun”. Please, for the love of all that’s holy people, stop calling tattoo machines tattoo guns! Literally no professional tattooer calls their machine a gun! I own a tattoo studio, all it does is make tattooers cringe! But seriously though, that was the only problem I had with it. Am I giving it a lower rating because of two words? @&#$ no! I’d give it ten stars if I could! Please people, go buy this book. It’s one of the best I’ve read in months. Even better, it’s absolutely set up to be a sequel! CJ Tudor, I will be there with bells on when it comes out!

Huge thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

This book was pretty good, I would definitely recommend

~This was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine for allowing me to read an early copy of The Gathering by CJ Tudor in exchange for my honest review.


A teenager is found dead of what looks like a vampire attack. The townspeople feel that a cull of the nearby vampire colony is needed to help keep the town safe. Detective Barbara Atkins is trying to determine if the murder was caused by the colony or someone else. She doesn’t want to authorize a cull if the colony is innocent. Barbara is racing to discover who murdered the boy while trying to keep the town from enacting a cull on their own accord.


This is the first book I’ve read by CJ Tudor and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In this novel, vampires are another group of people who live near but separated from humans. Similar to racial conflict in humans, there are prejudices against vampires.


This book was such an interesting read. It is not a scary book, but it is still exciting. I thought I knew how it would end before it even really got going but I was very wrong. There is a lot of depth to the story and it gives the reader lots to think about. There are a lot of threads going that are woven into this story.


My main negative to this novel is that it relied heavily on the small-town, religious/bigot trope. Some of the characters were cliche about this. The trope is somewhat unavoidable, but it was a bit heavy handed.


Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a new take on a police procedural with a vampire twist.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of The Gathering. I do really enjoy books written by C. J. Tudor, and this book was written well. I think my only issue with it was that turns out I’m not a huge vampyr fan. The setting was well done, there was good action and keeping the reader on their toes as to what is going to happen next and who the killer(s) is. Overall, well done but I enjoyed The Drift more.

Another great book by C.J. Tudor!!! This story is about a detective named Barbara who was sent on an assignment to Alaska where a teenage boy was found deceased. Her task is to determine if this death was caused murdered by humans or the “vampyrs.” When she arrives the people from the little town are not so friendly with her. As her investigations continues the truth about the teenage boy comes to light and it’s not what the town was expecting.
What I love about this book is that it has a small-town setting which gives both “cozy” feelings as well as a feeling of environmental horror as you read. The characters in the book are likable and I found myself rooting for the townspeople as well as the colony. The author captures their feelings and the ordeals they’ve been through, so it makes you like them in their own way. The ending was really good too! I strongly recommend this book if you like books with a touch of environmental horror. Thank you Netgalley, Random House Publishing Group and Ballantine Books. All opinions are my own.

The Gathering by CJ Tudor tells the story of Deadhart small town in Alaska where a young man is murdered. Detective Barbara Atkins is sent to investigate. I have not read this author before nor did I realize it was a book about vampyres. The story was good and I liked the characters. It kept me reading and wanting to see what happened. Thank you to NetGallery and Ballentine for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Gathering by C.J. Tudor
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Synopsis: “In a small Alaska town, a boy is found with his throat ripped out and all the blood drained from his body. The inhabitants of Deadhart haven’t seen a killing like this in twenty-five years. But they know who’s responsible: a member of the Colony, an ostracized community of vampyrs living in an old mine settlement deep in the woods.

Detective Barbara Atkins, a specialist in vampyr killings, is called in to officially determine if this is a Colony killing—and authorize a cull. Old suspicions die hard in a town like Deadhart, but Barbara isn’t so sure. Determined to find the truth, she enlists the help of a former Deadhart sheriff, Jenson Tucker, whose investigation into the previous murder almost cost him his life. Since then, Tucker has become a recluse. But he knows the Colony better than almost anyone.

As the pair delve into the town’s history, they uncover secrets darker than they could have imagined. And then another body is found. While the snow thickens and the nights grow longer, a killer stalks Deadhart, and two disparate communities circle each other for blood. Time is running out for Atkins and Tucker to find the truth: Are they hunting a bloodthirsty monster . . . or a twisted psychopath? And which is more dangerous?”

I loved the atmosphere of this book of a small town in Alaska, and I thought the plot was very original. The story kept me gripped to see who was responsible, but the pacing felt a little off. Took me a bit longer to get into the book. Thank you to Net Galley for an advanced copy! Publishes April 9, 2024

I jumped into this one right after reading The Burning Girls. It kept my interested but I prefer the plot of The burning girls as The Gathering gave me to much of a Twilight vibe. One thing that stuck out to me as well was the inconsistency in being able to tell a Colony member vs human just by looking at them. There were characters that were easily pointed out to be Colony and then others that you go through the entire book without anyone noticing which seemed like a bit of a hole in the story if you ask me. Over all I think those who love the author will enjoy the book but I would not suggest this be your first read if you have never read the authors work before.

I will give C.J. Tudor props for this one. I think she was able to take a relatively straightforward police procedural story and flip it on its hand with this twist in concept. Despite the presence of the supernatural, C.J. Tudor's work will feel familiar, approachable and believable.

The Gathering tells the story of Detective Barbara Atkins, who is called in to investigate a recent killing in a small Alaskan town. Is it the result of a Vampyr Colony killing, or did somebody in the town commit the crime. I'll admit, I am not a big police procedural reader, but this one was pretty engaging, and, in typical C.J. Tudor fashion, is a page-turner. I think I got bogged down in the middle with the investigation. The ending, however is jam-packed with twists. I think people are going to really appreciate this one.

Many thanks to Random House Publishing/Ballentine and NetGalley for providing this early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Deadhart is a small town on the edge of civilization in Alaska, the only other settlement nearby being a group of vampyrs who have recently returned to the area after being exiled years ago. A young man is murdered, his throat torn out and his body drained of blood. The town wants revenge but is forced to wait for a noted vampyr expert, Detective Barbara Atkins, to make the final determination of who, or what, took this young man’s life.

This is a story within a story, one of those books that keeps you guessing from the beginning. There is an abundance of characters, some likeable, some not, that play a part in defining the population of Deadhart and their hunger for revenge. Some have been through a scenario like this before and taken things into their own hands. Some are willing to let the vampyr expert conduct her investigation before they act. Tension is running high and the town is snowed in…

I really enjoyed this book, the writing is excellent, the suspension runs high at times, and there is nothing in the story that gives away the ending before you get there. The only thing I could fault, although it could just be me, is the huge cast of characters. I totally lost track and found myself going back to try to figure out how some of the characters fit into the story.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House, and especially C. J. Tudor, for an advance copy of the book. This is my honest review.