THE HALLOWED ONES.

'A Number Written  In Letters' category.

THE HALLOWED ONES by LAURA BICKLE.

SOURCE: A present from Mr T

Katie is on the verge of her Rumspringa, the time in Amish life when teenagers are free to experience non-Amish culture before officially joining the church. But before Rumspringa arrives, Katie's safe world starts to crumble. It begins with a fiery helicopter crash in the cornfields, followed by rumors of massive unrest and the disappearance of huge numbers of people all over the world. Something is out there .... and it is making a killing.

Unsure why they haven't yet been attacked, the Amish Elders make a decree: No one goes outside there community,and no one is allowed in. But when Katie finds a gravely injured young man lying just outside the boundary of their land, she can't leave him to die. She refuses to submit to the Elders' rule and secretly brings the stranger into her community - but what else is she bringing in with him?

.... Outer back cover. As with the 'First Sentence' this may contain what could be considered spoilers, scroll across to view.

FIRST SENTENCE {Chapter 1}: After the end of the Outside world, the Plain folk survived.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 126}: "...... There's no seduction. No passionate luring of the victim to a dark side of velvet. This is just the stinking, rotting underbelly of evil without its makeup. ........"

MY THOUGHTS: The darkness is fast approaching when the Elders take the decision that just as no-one is allowed in nor is anyone allowed out.

To applaud this, the first Young Adult novel by Laura Bickle, simply wouldn't be enough, I want to shout about it from the rooftops. 

Not quite what I was expecting. I had thought the main emphasis of the book would be the supernatural/dystopian instead of which I was delighted to find the story concentrated just as much on the 'Plain' folk, The Hallowed Ones of the title.

A story of vampires, real vampires of the kind that fear daylight and garlic as opposed to the 'cute and cuddly' variety that seem to feature in so many recent books of this genre. A tale of faith, of one young woman's struggle with what she has been taught and what she believes is right, its been a while since I devoured a book of this length (311 pages) in one sitting.

Wonderfully crafted. As well as being set in a Amish community which for me always makes for interesting reading the story has fascinating characters (both main and secondary), a rather sweet romance and just the right amount of suspense (at times I actually found myself holding my breath) and blood and guts (as I said these are real vampires) to make it compelling and not just for those into the whole vampire/apocalyptic thing either.

Part one in a series. I can only imagine where the author intends to go with the sequel (The Outside) but its definitely a book I'll be buying to find out.

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