Review of The Night is Alive

Synopsis

It's a city of beauty, history...hauntings. And one of the most haunted places in Savannah is a tavern called The Dragonslayer, built in the 1750s. The current owner, Gus Anderson, is a descendant of the original innkeeper and his pirate brother, Blue.

 Gus summons his granddaughter, Abigail, home from Virginia, where she's studying at the FBI Academy. When she arrives, she's devastated to find him dead. Murdered. But Abby soon learns that Gus isn't the only one to meet a brutal and untimely end; there've been at least two other victims. Then Captain Blue Anderson starts making ghostly appearances, and the FBI's paranormal investigation unit, the Krewe of Hunters, sends in Agent Malachi Gordon.

 

Abby and Malachi have a similar ability to connect with the dead...and a similar stubbornness. Sparks immediately begin to fly—sparks of attraction and discord. But as the death toll rises, they have to trust each other or they, too, might find themselves among the dead haunting old Savannah!

 

Review

 

The story follows Abigail Anderson a new graduate from FBI academy as she returns to her historical hometown of Savannah and starts investigating a number of mysterious deaths. Straight off the story is in the grip of ghostly appearances from Blue Anderson, the ghost of an old pirate legend and an ancestor of Abby. When mysterious murders start happening it seems that Blue may be behind it. But he comes across as a friendly spirit and you know there has to be someone or something at the bottom of the mystery. I love trying to guess who might be involved in these kind of stories and often I can pick out the murderer well before the end. But in this case I was clueless until the end. The plot was really well pieced out so that little clues were planted, and I was so focused on trying to put different things together that I didn’t see what was coming.
 

Along the way Abby is partnered up with Malachi, a detective with an intuition for the paranormal. The story was full of intrigue and suspense as well as instant red-hot chemistry between the pair. To start with the suspicion Abby had for Malachi created tension and banter, which soon turned into passionate and steamy trysts.
 

I loved the Savannah setting, an old American coastal town full of history and connections with pirates and civil wars. Everyone in the town knows everyone else, so when the murders start everyone starts looking at each other and wondering whether they can trust the people they know and love. My favourite parts of the town were the Dragonslayer pub and the hidden underground passages, which played a big part in the story and were fabulously creepy.
 

For me the only niggle to the story was that the ending could have been shortened. I understand that being a standalone there needs to be some resolution to plot and characters, but the ending was a little too well rounded and perfect for my tastes. Not everyone would agree with me, and realistically it didn’t affect the main aspects of the plot.
 

Although The Night is Alive is number 10 in the Krewe Hunters series, it isn't the kind of series that follows the same characters throughout. Instead the books can be read as a standalone if you wanted, as each follows a number of different investigators of paranormal activity, most of whom are linked to a secret government team of agents. Even though I hadn't read the other books I didn't feel like I was missing out on any vital information in this book.

 

Try it for yourself! Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon UK

 

Hannah