The Tombs

by Deborah Schaumberg

[Beth C.]

Avery lives in a tenement and works with the other undesirable kids as a welder. Her mother is gone, taken away to The Tombs as a mental patient years earlier, and her father has struggled ever since. While he used to make amazing clocks, he no longer does that, preferring to tinker on other things instead. When Avery starts to believe she may have the same mental issues as her mother, and defies her father to learn more, they find themselves making a great enemy—one that will stop at nothing to see Avery in The Tombs alongside her mother.

The setting is New York, late 1800s. It’s after the Civil War, though I always felt that this particular New York had more than a bit of a steampunk feeling to it—particularly when discussing the balloons used to transport troops, etc. However, this is more hinted at than actually thrown in the reader’s face, so it could easily have gone either way. If you’re not a fan of steampunk, don’t let that put you off here; it really is very subtle...(For more, click through to http://vampirebookclub.net/review-the-tombs-by-deborah-schaumberg/ )