Kiersten White

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4WS6zXed0XxfwpAN5lYkGY?si=X_3xL_ehQZO7lPhpXYeIYg

About The Fox & The Devil

An obsession with an immortal serial killer entangles a vampire hunter’s daughter in a sapphic romance in this enthralling gothic fantasy from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lucy Undying.

Anneke has a complicated relationship with her father, Abraham Van Helsing—doctor, scientist, and madman devoted to the study of vampires—until the night she comes home to find him murdered, with a surreally beautiful woman looming over his body. A woman who leaves no trace behind, other than the dreams and nightmares that now plague Anneke every night.

Spurred by her desire for vengeance and armed with the latest forensic and investigatory techniques, Anneke puts together a team of detectives to catch this mysterious serial killer. Because her father isn’t the only inexplicable dead body. There’s a trail of victims across Europe, and Anneke is certain they’re all connected.

But during the years spent relentlessly hunting the killer, Anneke keeps crucial evidence to herself: infuriatingly coy letters, addressed only to her, occasionally soaked in blood, and always signed Diavola.

The closer Anneke gets to her devil, though, the less sense the world makes. Maybe her father wasn’t a madman after all. Diavola might be something much worse than a serial killer . . . and much harder to destroy. Yet as Anneke unearths more of Diavola’s tragic past, she suspects there’s still a heart somewhere in that undead body.

A heart that beats for Anneke alone.

The Fox and the Devil

The Fox and the Devil is a whirlwind. White uses Dracula as inspiration to tell a wildly different story! Anneke is a young woman who is trying to solve the murder of her father. Well, she doesn’t need to solve it, she just needs to find…her. A woman in white with bare feet that is somehow connected to his murder, maybe even the murderer herself. As Anneke is searching for this woman she assists detectives through out Europe solve cases in a very Sherlockian manner. These detectives don’t appreciate the help of a woman though. But when the murders they need help with all have a startling similarity, the victims seeming killing themselves, they call her in regardless of gender.

This begins the tale of Diavola and Anneke, an unlikely (and unhealthy) romance between a monster and hunter. The story is interspersed with scenes from the 1900 Paris World’s Fair. These are startling scenes of brutality among a place of wonder.

This breaking up of the primary story helped ground me in the fact that things would not turn out okay. This realization is also helped by the section of letters that Diavola leaves for Anneke. Letters of obsession, stalking, and warning. Anneke is just as enthralled with Diavola though. She keeps these letters secret.

The Fox and the Devil has such wonderful story telling. The pacing never feels hurried, even though we are bouncing around in time. The characters make decisions that TO THEM make sense.

If you like horror, suspense, or emotionally complex narratives, go grab The Fox and the Devil.