In the first Novel of Secrets, Blood of the Lamb, Sam Cabot upended religious history with hair-raising twists that left readers reeling—and hungry for more. Now his “genre-bending series” (Popcorn Reads) continues as an ancient evil rises in the modern world with each full moon.
It was shocking enough for Father Thomas Kelly to discover the community of vampires known as the Noantri. Even more unsettling: Two colleagues, art historian Livia Pietro and scholar Spencer George, were among them. Now the three of them are working together in New York City, where Livia is attending a conference on Native American art. But when Spencer is attacked in Central Park by a wolf, they’re plunged into a world where Iroquois lore and the doctrines of the Catholic Church have collided, resulting in a catastrophic revelation.
The attack on Spencer was not random, nor was it made by a normal wolf. It was a violent, calculated strike in a quest for power and domination that could destroy millions of lives—because under a full moon in Manhattan, everyone is going to be prey....
What makes us who we are? Is it our heritage, our DNA, or something else? These are questions that mankind has struggled with for centuries - questions that are only more complicated when one is...Other. When an extremely rare Native American artifact goes up for auction, it's big news. Big enough to draw the interest of bidders from around the world - and big enough to draw the interest of one man in particular. He dreams of using this ancient wolf mask to begin a ritual once though dead - a ritual that would allow Natives to become Shifters. In the middle of his private war is his brother Michael, another Shifter, who has been involved with Spencer George. When an employee of the auction house is brutally murdered, and Spencer and Michael have a run-in with a wolf in the middle of Central Park the same night, events begin to spiral out of control.
I had not read the prior book in what appears to be a series, so Sam Cabot's world was new tdn't stop me from getting wrapped up in the story and regretting any need to put it down fo me. While this book would work fine as a stand-alone, I definitely came out of it feeling like there were a few things I had missed and might need to check out. However, that didn't stop me from regretting any time I had to put the story down for other things. The characters are very well-drawn, and the idea of Vampires and Werewolves has been firmly upended - which I greatly enjoyed. I plan to read the first book in the series so that I can catch up on the characters, and then I plan to wait anxiously for the next book in the series. Definitely an author to keep my eye on!
