The Taker by Alma Katsu
Series: The Taker Trilogy #1
Publisher: Saga Press, Paperback, 436 pages
Dr. Luke Findlay is back home in Maine, where nothing ever really happens. Certainly not strange things in the middle of the night. However, when the police bring Lanore McIlvrae into the emergency room in the dead of night, Luke is going to find out just how strange the world he lives in can be.
The Taker was an interesting reading experience for a couple of reasons. First, while it is catalogued as horror this is not a traditional jump scare horror story. Instead, it’s all in the atmosphere and vibes. It gets almost unsettling at times, but it made for a very immersive reading and listening experience.
Second, I didn’t actually like any of the characters. Luke grew on me a little bit eventually, but I spent the majority of this book actively disliking the characters. My dislike though did not translate to disinterest – instead it was the opposite. I was invested in their lives, their histories, and I was compelled to keep reading. I find that this is due to the fact that I really enjoyed Lanore’s voice as a narrator, even if I didn’t like her, but also how it was written. The way that Katsu wrote this book and the language used grabbed my attention in a way I wasn’t expecting.
As a whole, I think this book really came together in some unique ways. I, as someone who generally needs to be connected to a character to keep reading a book, ate this up even though I did not like the characters. The book follows a couple of different timelines, but it did it in a very meandering way. The book took its time and it almost made it about the individual stories themselves as opposed to the collective whole. I haven’t read anything quite like it before. I also need to shout out the audiobook. I jumped back and forth between reading this book physically and listening to the audiobook and I found the audiobook to be very well done. It definitely suited the story.
All in all, I really enjoyed the experience of reading this book. There were definitely some uncomfortable moments throughout, but I thought a lot of it was handled well. I found it to be unique and while I’m not sure how two more books will play out, I do know that I will read on. 4/5 stars.
The Taker Trilogy:
1. The Taker
2. The Reckoning
3. The Descent
Among Stories 
I have ‘The Hunger’ by Katsu (unread naturally) about the Donner party in 1846 that I’ve been itching to read. I’m not a huge fan of horror but this looks more creepy than gory which I prefer. Maybe next year if my review backlog keeps gaining fat….
The Hunger sounds great, I’ve got that on the ol’ TBR too. There were times when The Taker was graphic, but for the most part it was very much about the atmosphere and the story. I imagine The Hunger would be similar. Worth checking out either way!