Finalist at the 2013 National Indie Excellence Book Awards.
MURDER, MUTILATION, CARRION... IN PARADISE?
"There shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate." – ISAIAH 34:15
Professional
ballroom dancers Terri and Rick Hamilton aspire to be world champions.
Unfortunately, Terri's recurring back and health problems place that
goal well out of reach.
They travel to Terri's birthplace,
Florianópolis, on the scenic island of Santa Catarina off the coast of
Brazil to vacation and visit their best friends and mentors.
Along the picturesque beaches, dead penguins and eviscerated bodies
wash up on the shores of paradise, and Antarctic blasts play
counterpoint to the tropical storms that rock the island. The scenic
wonder is home not only to urubús, a unique sub-species of the black
vulture, but also to a clique of mysterious women who offer Terri
perfect health and the promise of fame – at a terrible price.
Rick fears Terri is being drawn into a cult and that his own life may
be in danger. Will it be too late when he discovers something even more
terrifying lives beneath the tranquil, tropical veneer of the island?
Idyllic one moment and nightmarish the next, you never know what you'll
encounter in the city of Florianópolis – murder, mutilations, carrion,
or the lure of eternal youth.
"Discovering a truly
different sort of horror novel is a rare pleasure... and cause for much
rejoicing. Donald Michael Platt's A Gathering of Vultures provides a
glimpse of singular evil. Even the exotic Brazilian locale and the
backstory – involving competitive ballroom dancing – may be unique within
the genre. This is the darkest of dark fantasies. Through fevered
imaginings of the first rank, coupled to macabre yet erudite prose,
Platt crafts an unusual and involving nightmare." – Robert Dunbar,
author of THE PINES and THE SHORE
