Bloodwalker

YA horror novelist Cain (Soul Cutter) steps right up to the center ring in this captivating shocker of children disappearing after the circus comes to town. While touring present-day Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania, Rurik, the lightning-scarred security chief and former strongman of the Zorka Cyrka circus, investigates the disappearances and mediates conflict when the insular Skomori folk hold a wedding at the circus. One of the brides, Sylvie, plagued by misfortune (including an arranged marriage to a man whose abusive and philandering ways are condoned by Skomori culture) and forbidden to use her skills as a bloodwalker (one who prepares corpses for burial), uncovers the remains of a child in a circus trailer and becomes a target for the killer. Using their unusual talents, first separately and then together, Sylvie and Rurik uncover the circus’s horrifying secret and put to rest the curse that haunts both their peoples. Cain immerses the reader in the working life of a struggling circus and in the daily chores of a fascinating, albeit fictional, Slavic folkway. A series of rising threats overextends the climax, but the likability of the protagonists is enough to keep readers going. (Oct.)