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It’s September 23, 1954. Glasgow, Scotland. Hundreds of kids, age 4 to 14, start patrolling the city’s necropolis, armed with sharpened sticks and knives. The kids claim they are hunting a 7-foot tall vampire with iron teeth who has already kidnapped and eaten two boys. Parents become concerned and eventually the police have to be called in to break up the hunt.
This really happened. The kids hunted the vampire for three nights. What inspired me about this story was the idea that it probably came down to one kid. One magnetic kid who told a lie about a vampire in the cemetery and made all the other kids believe him. Fascinating. Why did the kid do it? Where is he now? What kind of person did he grow up to be? Eventually these thoughts formed themselves into a kids-with-stakes, devil-hunting cemetery scene in my book. And the lying kid who started it all? That became the foundation of River.
You stop fearing the Devil when you're holding his hand...
Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White's sleepy, seaside town...until River West comes along. River rents the guesthouse behind Violet's crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet's grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery...who makes you want to kiss back. Violet's already so knee-deep in love, she can't see straight. And that's just how River likes it.
A gothic thriller romance with shades of Stephen King and F. Scott Fitzgerald, set against a creepy summertime backdrop--a must-read for fans of Beautiful Creatures, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, and Anna Dressed in Blood.















