This week’s reviews include C. J. Tudor’s vampire mystery “The Gathering” and how small changes can make a big difference in James Clear’s “Atomic Habits.”
The Sunday Books & Culture section is edited by Vanessa Sekinger
THE GATHERING
By C. J. Tudor
Published by Ballantine Books (April 9, 2024)
Hardcover $20.99
Audiobook $15.75
By Ashley Riggleson
Even though C.J. Tudor’s new novel The Gathering was published in April, and it is set in a cold climate, it is the perfect late summer read. This creepy and spine-tingling supernatural thriller promises to delight even seasoned readers of this genre.
The Gathering is set in a world like ours but with one significant change—vampires exist, and Tudor puts her own unique spin on the lore surrounding them. While vampires in this world do have some power, they live in colonies set apart from human society. The story, set in Alaska, starts when a boy is found dead, and signs point to a vampire killing.
The town is in an uproar, and the people call for a cull, or mass killing, of the colony. There are, however, laws in place that prevent the people from acting immediately, and the police send a detective (one of the novel’s narrators) to solve the crime and come to a decision about whether the colony should face retribution.
Our detective, a savvy woman named Barbara, soon finds herself in a close-knit town where she is met with hostility and mistrust. Moreover, her sympathy for the vampires’ plight does nothing to endear her to the townsfolk, who only become angrier as the investigation progresses.
As Barbara works to find out who killed the boy and why, she discovers that this murder is the latest crime in a town with a dark history. The boy’s murder is, in short, the tip of the iceberg, and as the different perspectives in the novel show, there are many characters and many motives involved.
This fantastical, yet somehow believable, supernatural thriller is filled with twists and turns, and readers will be burning the midnight oil to solve this deliciously complex mystery. Tudor’s sense of atmosphere is also spot-on. I guarantee that you can read The Gathering by the pool in the blazing summer sun and still feel the Alaskan chill.
Tudor is also a skilled writer. The lines between good and evil are not always clearly delineated, and the characters are complex and well-rounded. The world is so believable you can almost touch it.
And, although Tudor’s primary purpose is to entertain, she uses this set-up to comment on the oftentimes abhorrent treatment of marginalized groups in our society. Readers will be able to draw easy parallels between the treatment of vampires in The Gathering and the disenfranchisement of disadvantaged populations in the real world.
In fact, if I have one complaint about this novel, it is that, while this context is a unique way to get her point across, Tudor can be a little heavy-handed in her exploration of this theme. Despite this criticism, my experience of The Gathering was positive, and the ending suggests that there is more to come. I cannot wait to follow Barbara again, and I am on tenterhooks waiting for the next installment of this series. The Gathering is a true winner.
Ashley Riggleson is a free-lance book reviewer from Rappahannock County. When she is not reading or writing book reviews, she can usually be found playing with her pets, listening to podcasts, or watching television with friends and family.
ATOMIC HABITS
By James Clear
Published by Avery (October 16, 2018)
Hardcover $13.79
Audiobook $15.75
By Vanessa Sekinger
The point of Atomic Habits is that small changes can make a big difference. This is not a new concept, but Clear offers insights and examples about how to understand habits and what to consider when seeking to change them.
I thought it might be a self-help guide meant to motivate, but that was not the tone or perspective of the book. Instead, Atomic Habits offers a way to think about habits —positive, negative, or neutral — and how they shape our lives. It also reveals a way to deconstruct habits to improve them or change them completely. The approach is informational and clear, and it allows the reader to decide how to proceed with the information.
One of the most helpful parts of the book is how he describes habits. He explains that there are four stages of habits: cue, craving, response, and reward, and gives many examples to show how this theory is applied. For example, when I am sitting down to work on the FXBG Advance Books and Culture page, I have a cup of tea. Working on the page is my cue, I start craving a cup of herbal tea, I respond by making the tea, and my reward is drinking the tea.
This habit is probably neutral, but it shows the steps. I no longer make a conscious choice to make the cup of tea; I just find myself doing it as a way to prepare to work. According to Clear, my brain has automated that function in order to make room for other things.
He proposes taking a look at your current habits, and considering if they are positive, negative or neutral. He theorizes that habits can help you become the person you want to be.
For example, if you want to be a person who speaks a language other than English, then you need a habit to practice the language. If you want to be a musician, then you need a habit to practice the instrument. He calls these identity-based habits, and he encourages small changes that “cast a vote” for the identity you want. Layer onto that the cue, craving, response, and reward structure, and you have a path to making changes to your habits.
Clear also discusses habits in the reverse and how to use the context to make bad habits less attractive and more difficult to achieve. He calls this adding some friction.
Clear’s message is that small habit changes can make a big difference. I appreciated his approach and examples to illustrate this information. This is not my usual choice for reading, but its thoughtful discussion of the topic provided some opportunities for reflection.
Vanessa Sekinger is the editor of the Books and Culture page and loves to read, spend time with family, laugh, and be outside.
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