Review: Blood Divine by Greg Howard

Cooper Causey spent a lifetime eluding the demons of his youth and suppressing the destructive power inside him. But a disconcerting voicemail lures Cooper back home to the coast of South Carolina and to Warfield—the deserted plantation where his darkness first awakened. While searching for his missing grandmother, Cooper uncovers the truth about his ancestry and becomes a pawn in an ancient war between two supernatural races. In order to protect the only man he’s ever loved, Cooper must embrace the dark power threatening to consume him and choose sides in a deadly war between the righteous and the fallen.

A paranormal, blood thirsty take on supernatural nasties with gay MC's - it's made of win! 

I found this book gripping from the start, I do have a penchant for books that show an event several years in the post as a prologue as this story does. We start 20 years ago, and see our MC Cooper in a life changing event in his childhood. The boyish dare of seeing the forbidden haunted manor changes Cooper's future - or so it seems to him at the time and for many years to follow. Then we start in the present day, with Cooper returning to his childhood home (a place he tries to avoid) to find his missing grandma. 

This is not a slow to get going story, it is packed with action and emotion from the start. I have to admit this is one of the best paranormal horror stories I have read for a while. Though the battle between forces of evil and good is an old one, this brings a fresh take, the plantation setting worked really well I thought. Forgotten passages and haunted mansions and prisoners; the past affecting the future - it is all here.

The one thing I was less keen on was the length - it felt too short to me. That's not to say it is a short story, it isn't, but I suppose in the tradition of King or Koontz, I do like a horror to be longer. It felt like the events all happened quickly, it's hard to explain, but I think I wanted it to feel slightly more in depth/longer/complicated - this is a me thing though rather than it being badly written. It is what I wanted a bit more of - if that makes any sense at all!!

An author I'll definitely be looking out for again and a book I'd recommend to horror fans. Also - I LOVE the cover!!

A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.

For more information see Goodreads.