Alex Gordon's debut novel opens in 1836 when the resident witches of Gideon, Ill., governed by their Master and Mistress, have the task of guarding the border between this world and the next, protecting all from the demons that roam on the other side of the boundary. To ward off evil, they perform a ritual killing, burning Nicholas Blaine at the stake, but fail to realize the full implications of his death by fire.
More than 100 years later, in 2015, a former resident of Gideon dies, leaving a mysterious book for his daughter, Lauren. After reading the book, she questions who--and what--her father really was, so she travels to Gideon in search of her father's true identity. What Lauren uncovers as she enters the bleak town where crows refuse to roost and cellphone service is nonexistent stretches the margins of everything she's ever known and believed. She must confront otherworldly beings, the strange townspeople and her own self-doubts if she hopes to survive.
Gideon is filled with supernatural entities that rise from the dead and witches who cast spells on a daily basis, in a place where this world collides with another and even time is in flux. The hierarchy of the characters and the actions they take to protect the Master and Mistress of Gideon bring to mind Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." Fast paced and filled with lively details, Gordon's prose propels readers into a fantastical world that is haunting to the very end. --Lee E. Cart, freelance writer and book reviewer