Voracious

This horror novel is about a young woman named Madeline who has the psychic power to tap into people's thoughts when she comes in contact with something they have touched. Because of this ability, everyone in the small Montana town where she grew up socially ostracizes her, even her parents. Fortunately, she has met a friend in the form of a new resident, George, and equally fortunate is her future as a college student far away. Tired of alienation and rejection, she takes a trip to Glacial National Park, where she encounters a monster far more horrible than social stigma. When Madeline was fourteen years old, a serial killer who knew about her psychic abilities killed her best friend in front of her, and Madeline believed that if the killer hadn't known about her powers, he would have left her friend alone. Ever since then, Madeline has considered her "gift" a curse and has vowed not to ever use it to help detect murders, because she doesn't want to absorb so many evil memories and thoughts and thus experience similar trauma. However, now that a monster is hunting her and killing others in Glacial National Park, she must use her psychic powers or the monster will continue killing. Voracious is a gripping and terrifying novel that is character-driven and with a particularly strong female protagonist. It reminds me of Frankenstein, due to the monster chasing Madeline, the threat of others' deaths, and above all Madeline's conversations with the monster, which is intelligent and capable of human speech. Full of vivid description, fast-paced action, and suspense, I highly recommend this book.

Fast-paced, action packed and an interesting storyline. The one thing the book was missing was a full-out sex scene. Nothing more frustrating than taking you right to the brink and then pulling back. Not once but twice! I'm not asking for anything Laurell Hamilton-esque, but a few paragraphs to finish things up would have been nice. Unless she's planning to make a sequel???

A co-worker gave me a copy of the book after telling me how it had given her nightmares. So of course I had to read it! I did enjoy the book, although I'm still wondering what exactly "Stepfan" was. Well written and easy to follow, I think I'll keep a watch out for future books by Ms Henderson, and add her to my must read list.

This is a very good book. I read it in one day, which is unusual for me. I'm not a big fan of reading. If you are into strange sci-fi type books, you will enjoy this one.

My copy of Voracious came yesterday morning and I can say that Alice Henderson is a welcome fresh face to the dark fantasy genre. Voracious moves along at a blistering pace. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. I'm a huge fan of dark fantasy and to be honest I've been finding good dark fantasy harder to find of late. In Voracious, however, the author drew me into the world. I found the action and suspense gripping and the characters to be very engaging. For instance, you can feel Madeline's grief over how her "gift" has made her different. I don't want to give anything away, but I will say this about the predator that is hunting the main character; WOW! What an awesome character. It's not the typical vampire or werewolf found in many dark fantasy novels; rather it is something entirely new. If you enjoy horror and dark fantasy get this book. After reading Voracious, I'm definitely keeping an eye out for the next book by Alice Henderson.