I actually think this might be better than most of the old Point Horror I read as a teen. Sure Reggie/Regina is a little too perfect, but characterisation is often one of the things missing in books for younger people. She's a cross between Cinderella in the fairy tale and Nancy from A Nightmare on Elm Street. She kicks ass and comes back for second helpings. It's tense, exciting and frequently scary. Great stuff. I will be checking out more by Simon Holt.

Another Indies Introduce selection, 'The Devouring Gray' is Christine Lynn Herman's first novel and she has created an atmospheric and addicting new series. Four Paths definitely has more in store for readers.

Violet Saunders is still reeling from the loss of her best friend and sister Rosie when their mother decides to move back to her home town of Four Paths. Set back in a remote area of upstate New  York, the town is more a part of the surrounding forest than not, and has some strange customs. Clay bells hang over every doorway and people look at her funny, especially when they hear her name. Certain kids at school are treated with respect that's borderline worship.

Something is trapped in the forest of around Four Paths, or, rather, something is trapped in The Gray that exists on another side of existence. Four families were responsible for its capture and protecting the town with their special abilities. As a Saunders, it turns out that Violet is a member of one of those families. Things are starting to go wrong in Four Paths, however. The beast is claiming more victims and Violet is losing time. If she doesn't find her gift and master it, she may be next. This will require working with the other Founding Families and there is some bad blood and dark secrets to work through before that's possible.

I loved this book. I came into this expecting some cheap YA thrills and a well-plotted scare or two. Herman moves from Violet's perspective to scions of other founding families. Their characters are well-developed, and if I can't sympathize with all of them (looking at you Justin), they are integral pieces of the story. Isaac was great to discover. Why didn't he get more back-cover copy love!? As an aside - book is a lot queerer than it looks, yay!

This book kept up a fast pace and sketched out the history of the town without it feeling labored or that there was nothing further to learn. I want more books like 'The Devouring Gray'. This is getting a lot of comparisons to 'Stranger Things' and 'Raven Boys', so I may have to catch up on the latter.

Four Paths:

Next: 'The Deck of Omens'

Sometimes a book niggles at you at every turn, causing you to do the Pick me Up Put me Down game- begging to be read in spurts...

Sometimes it snags and scratches at your patience- repeatedly begging to be thrown across the room at high velocity...

Sometimes it firmly grasps your attention with lyrically verbose writing and promises of better things yet to come...

AND

Sometimes it sticks to you like an industrial strength glue that seems impossible to break free from until the very last word is read and the spell is broken...

This book definitely falls squarely within the latter group. It was a creepy, mysterious ride. It wasn't elegant prose, gut-punches in the feels, high octane action or epic battles (although the faceoff at the end was pretty cool) that had me hooked. What had me happily stuck was the ever pressing need to know more... constantly asking "what the heck is going on?" and "What will happen next?".

Christine Lynn Herman sprinkled breadcrumb clues throughout, feeding my greed...my need to know ever more. It was suspenseful, slightly disturbing and the pacing was great. The world building and character development were solid. There were juicy town secrets and Power Plays by both Suped up Humans and Creature alike. Speaking of the dastardly creature... it actually made me second guess who I thought the true monster was at one point BUT in the end it was VERY apparent. There was a modicum of melodrama and the ever popular who did what to whom Blame Game. There was also a lot of "It wasn't me, I'm too righteous for such actions" and finger pointing all around. Reading this little town's deep dark secrets felt illicit. This is definitely how I picture town life in a tiny, non diverse, exceedingly eccentric, homogeneous, Tradition-centric town.

Overall: Was this book Epic? No. Was it deep and poetic?? Also no BUT it was satisfying through and through and I liked it, I really did!

*** I was given a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***