Takers by Ann Swann

This is a sci-fi/fantasy novel (and the first in a series), and due to the violence probably best suited for adults.

Jack is a young teen helping to set up the hall for a school dance. Coincidentally Jack's crush is there too. When he is sent to the basement to fetch the last of the decorations, he doesn't realise that this act will save his life. An alarming broadcast by a TV scientist on a laptop left by a friend in the basement, tells of Purgatory existing in the world next to Jack's and threatening to push through. As the broadcast is about to end a deafening crack brings the planet to its knees as rips appear in the sky and beings rush through. Jack hurries back upstairs to find that he is the only one that has survived. These beings that have words pulsating under their skins are busy feeding off any living human; as though trying to suck the souls out of them. Jack has landed up in a nightmare that is now his reality. He needs to find other survivors and somehow get rid of these "takers". And can someone please explain the musical lyrics constantly pumping through his head?

This was definitely a different take on the apocalyptic aspect. To imagine the takers fleeing from Purgatory to eat souls and finding that something else follows them from Purgatory to kill them was a very interesting idea. For a youngster Jack is very mature and able to cope with so much. The religious angle and the clever correlation with the music was interspersed in a thoughtful way. I liked the twist that wasn't a twist and the violence, though graphic, had my imagination working overtime. One or two tiny editing mistakes but nothing troubling. Great novel, well written and a good beginning to a series.

Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to review the book.