View source for The Gates of Evangeline (Charlie Cates Mystery 1) by Hester Young

{{infobox1
|title=The Gates of Evangeline (Charlie Cates Mystery 1)
|sort=Gates of Evangeline (Charlie Cates Mystery 1)
|author= Hester Young
|reviewer= Lauren Campbell
|genre= Crime
|summary= Charlotte Cates is a recently bereaved mother, trying and failing to carry on with 'normal' life. That is, until, she begins to have prophetic dreams where young children seem to visit her, asking for help. After a visit in her dreams from the supposed Gabriel Deveau, Charlotte takes on the story of the Deveau kidnapping which took place some 30 years ago. 
|rating=4
|buy=YES
|borrow= YES
|pages=416
|publisher=Arrow
|date=January 2016
|isbn=978-1784750299
|website=http://www.hesteryoung.com/
|cover=1784750298
|aznuk=1784750298
|aznus=1784750298
}}

Charlotte Cates is a recently bereaved mother, trying and failing to carry on with 'normal' life. That is until, she begins to have prophetic dreams where young children seem to visit her, asking for help. After a visit in her dreams from the supposed Gabriel Deveau, Charlotte takes on the story of the Deveau kidnapping which took place some 30 years ago. 

With nothing to stay behind for Charlotte or 'Charlie' takes on the case from a journalistic approach, working for an old boss to try and uncover some of the Deveau secrets and find out what happened to poor Gabriel in the deep south of Louisiana. Along the way, a well-timed love interest seems to pull Charlie out of her reverie and we meet some of the more unsavoury characters that make up the Deveau household. With time running out to help Gabriel, how can Charlie recover the truth when everyone around her seems to have something to hide?

This was an interesting book, part crime thriller, part romance and part paranormal, it had a lot going on. However, Hester Young created very believable characters and if you are looking to dip a toe into the crime/thriller scene without being too frightened, this is the one for you! I have high hopes for the rest of the Charlie Cates mysteries. I thoroughly enjoyed guessing who may have kidnapped Gabriel, Hester manages to keep us guessing right up until the very end and cleverly it seems that most of the characters could have had a motive to do so. When the truth came out, I got more of a shock than I had bargained for.  

Asides from the plot, Young created a very vivid world, having never been to Louisiana myself his detail of the surrounding lands, the towns and even the accents of the characters were so well written I felt I could have been there myself and it made for an immersive read. 

My only criticism is I found the end very predictable and a little boring, once we reached the 'who done it' part, the book tailed off slightly into a romantic novel, not entirely in keeping with the rest of the story. There's also a particular 'paranormal' scene towards the end which I felt to be a little unbelievable, but I appreciate it's a tough subject to get right, especially on paper.

Despite that, this book really did have me hooked from the first page. I think it took me a little over two days to finish and I couldn't put it down, the phrase 'just one more chapter' cropped up a lot! It's a testament to Hester Young that this was one of my first Crime/Thriller novels and I am eager to get stuck into some more, and I can give no higher praise than that.

If you liked this book, I would recommend [[The House of Eyes (Wesley Peterson) by Kate Ellis]] or if you'd prefer to go down the paranormal route try [[Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey]].

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[[Category:Paranormal]]