The Devil's Gate [Kindle Edition]

Anna Haspura was orphaned as a very young child and sent to her distant relative Tavas Haspura, to be raised at his ranch, The Devil's Gate. Anna had grown up loving the wilderness and the mystic about the ranch and the people that raised her. Tavas was a demanding man, but a fair man and she loved him dearly. So when she found out that Tavas didn't have long to live, she dropped everything and raced home with mixed feelings. She was anxious to see Tavas and spend time with him and hopefully brighten his remaining days, but yet dread filled her at having to see Ivan, Tavas's nephew, once again. He was the reason she had left The Devil's Gate to begin with. Rumors of the Cult of Akerra performing their evil rituals on the ranch are surfacing and it is not helping that some of their cattle are being killed in a sacrificial way. But Anna doesn't believe that the cult is behind this and that someone is doing this to gain control over the ranch. Little does Tavas know that when he passed away and left the ranch to Anna in his will, he put her life in extreme danger. Who can Anna trust? Every time Anna thinks she knows who she can trust something else happens. But one this is for certain, someone is trying to kill her.

The book is fast paced, action packed and full of thrills and chills that will keep you on the edge of your seat and hanging in anticipation until the end. Vickie Britton has captured the magic of the remote rustic wilderness and the mystical heritage of the Basque people and their traditions then mixed it beautifully to support the events and characters.

Have you ever read a book and kept saying, 'Don't open that door' but the heroine does anyway. Well, this is the way I felt when I read this book. Anna came home because her adopted uncle was dying. She had no way of knowing that he'd leave The Devil's Gate, his ranch to her. Now it seems as if everyone wants to get rid of Anna. Who should she trust? This book is a must read!

With the death of her long time friend and male role model, Tavas, looming Anna leaves school and heads back home to the Devil's Gate ranch. Once there she has to face not just her fading friend, but also her childhood crush, Ivan and his textbook nasty wife, while she's still not quite over him. Except that things aren't quite as Anna left them at the Devil's Gate. It's been haunted over the summer by the strange ritualistic killings of the livestock.

After almost revealing a dark family secret Tavas passes, leaving Devil's Gate to Anna. He also leaves her with a mystery to solve, not to mention leaving her to settle her own issue of the heart.

The Devil's Gate mixes many familiar themes; a ranch on the edge of destruction, suspicious and dangerous people afoot, the best friend who loves the girl, the bad boy who never treated her right and many, many secrets that must be discovered before they claim Anna's sanity, or her life.

While it reads similarly to older cozy mysteries, like the Nancy Drew books, and features plenty of events to keep the world expanding and solid writing there's also a slow pace to the story. Anna finds herself undeniably drawn to the dark, broody and married Ivan. Even when best friend-for-life Brad asks for a chance to court her Anna seems to spend all her date time brooding over Ivan. Ivan's wife, Colleen, is pointlessly mean and cruel, but Brad keeps falling for her manipulations, even to the point of letting Colleen force herself into their big date to the fair. No one's to be trusted, of course, especially when Colleen shows up dead and just about everyone is hiding something.

The romance angle is muddled as Ivan is married and potentially dangerous and Brad is unsafely desperate. But in the end the strings come together and the tension skyrockets. The Devil's Gate is more Murder, She Wrote than fast paced car-chase-and-explosions fare. There's no gore or sex, making this a good tale for readers who shy away from horror and erotica. And the western flavor adds a bit of spice that might be missing from romance or cozy suspense diets.