The Hallowed Ones, by Laura Bickle (Book Review)

Title: The Hallowed Ones
Author: Laura Bickle
Genres: Young Adult, Horror, Amish
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 9/25/2012
Publisher: HMH

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★★★★☆

Katie is on the verge of her Rumspringa, the time in Amish life when teenagers can get a taste of the real world. But the real world comes to her in this dystopian tale with a philosophical bent. Rumors of massive unrest on the "Outside" abound. Something murderous is out there. Amish elders make a rule: No one goes outside, and no outsiders come in. But when Katie finds a gravely injured young man, she can't leave him to die. She smuggles him into her family's barn-at what cost to her community? The suspense of this vividly told, truly horrific thriller will keep the pages turning.

I'm excited to talk to you about my first book of 2017: The Hallowed Ones, by Laura Bickle.

In reviewing this book, I'd like to start at the end because I feel that it's an important point that there is a sequel to this book and the ending of The Hallowed Ones left me wishing that I already had a copy of The Outside already available to read. 

(I don't, and I won't be able to purchase it until the end of January, during which time I plan to squirm until I can get my hands on it!) 

Since without a doubt some of my readers would prefer not to purchase a book that leaves off on a "cliffhanger," I felt that this should be mentioned at the beginning of the review. 

If that's not your thing, you might want to skip this book because the action picks up fast at the end of the novel, leading into an impressive climax and leaving me salivating for more.

So then, let me tell you about this book. I was thrilled to receive this book among my gifts for Christmas last year, and I began to read it Christmas night. This is exactly the sort of book that I love: Something dark and creepy in the night that the protagonist must fight off in order to save the day. I love a book that sends shivers down my spine and if it gives me nightmares, all the better.

The concept of the book was unique. Bickle takes the Amish setting that so many readers have come to love from Christian romance authors and turns Amish fiction on its head by introducing the end of the world. When I first picked the book up, I was expecting zombies, but what I got was more akin to I am Legend, by Richard Matheson.

Bickle managed to make vampires scary again.