The Gates of Evangeline

“The Gates of Evangeline,” by debut novelist Hester Young, is an entertaining, suspense-filled paranormal Southern Gothic mystery; it also has a delightful romance at the core. What I liked most was the very sympathetic and multi-dimensional female main character, Charlotte (Charlie) Gate. I couldn’t help but believe in her, even though she sees and interacts with the ghosts of young children. That I was able to believe in this character just goes to prove how successful the author was in being able to manipulate me, through the craft of fiction, and help me to escape into another reality.

Besides the empathetic and authentic main character, the book is just a good, suspenseful, slightly eerie, and very sentimental story. It was show more the type of story specifically designed, in every detail, to appeal to the emotional lives of women. And that’s what I am, a woman. Frankly, I couldn’t resist. The author hooked me in and I read it quickly and with pleasure over the next three days. It’s the type of book that seems tailor-made to please the summer women’s fiction marketplace.

Like most women’s fiction, this book is filled with a lot of heart, humanity, romance, and sentiment. It tells the story of four months in the life of Charlie Gates, a cosmopolitan, thirty-eight-year-old New York crime and fashion magazine journalist, who is assigned to write a book about a cold-case child disappearance that took place in the bayous of Louisiana thirty years ago. The case concerns a two-year-old boy named Gabriel Deveau who disappeared from his wealthy family’s estate, Evangeline. There was a ransom note and many possible leads, but no body was ever found and nobody was every arrested. At the time, the case garnered nationwide attention. Now, the boy’s two sisters want to capitalize on the notoriety of the case by publishing a book about it. Charlie is the journalist assigned to the job.

Charlie agrees to take the job after having a dream during which she believes she saw and spoke with the ghost of the disappeared boy. Up until this point in her life, she had never had a vision and didn’t believe in ghosts or psychics. At first, she’s incredulous. But then she talks to her grandmother and finds out that the women in her family have often been blessed with the ability to see visions of the past and future. In Charlie’s case, her visions began shortly after the trauma of losing her own very young child, Keegan, to a brain aneurysm.

While she gathers material to write the book, Charlie is invited to live on the Evangeline estate. As she soon discovers, “Gabriel Deveau is just another name in more than a hundred and sixty years of pain and sadness at Evangeline.” There she meets all the surviving eccentric Deveau family members, as well as the large number of staff members employed to run the estate. There seem to be suspects and hidden danger everywhere. There is also a terrific romance just waiting in the sidelines and it, too, is surrounded by mystery and danger.

Read the book for the pure pleasure of escaping inside a good suspense-laden romantic mystery. It’s summer. Take a vacation through reading. Treat yourself to getting lost in another reality. show less

THE GATES OF EVANGELINE is a dark Southern Gothic/mystery that I enjoyed very much, even though I got tears in my eyes several times while reading it. Soon after the death of her young son, main character Charlie Cates starts having dreams of children coming to her for help. One such dream leads her to the swamps of Louisiana, where she gets entangled in a decades-old cold case of a missing child from a wealthy and powerful family.

This book is the perfect blend of mystery, suspense, and romance, with a touch of the paranormal. Charlie is a sympathetic character as a grieving mother determined to do right by her son and help others. My heart broke for her. The mystery was so intriguing – hard to put down, for sure. I will say that I show more was able to figure out some parts of this multi-layered mystery, but others were quite a surprise. Lots of dark & twisty goodness here. Maybe not everything that happened was plausible, but overall this book was a darn good read.

I’ve heard that this book is the start of a trilogy, which makes me a little nervous considering THE GATES OF EVANGELINE is perfect as a stand-alone novel. On the other hand, I’d love to revisit Charlie Cates and see what the future holds for her. show less

After the sudden death of her young son, Charlie Cates begins to have vivid dreams involving children. But she soon realizes that these are not dreams - they are messages sent to her so she can help those who need it. One of these children is a little boy in a boat. This takes her from Connecticut to Louisiana where she has an invitation to stay at Evangeline - the sprawling estate belonging to the Deveau's. Thirty years ago Gabriel Deveau went missing in the middle of the night never to be found. Charlie believes the boy in her vision is Gabriel and while trying to find him, she uncovers many long-buried secrets within the Deveau famiy.

This book has been on my tbr list for years. I'm sorry I waited so long because this book was great! show more It was well-written, the whole story flowed smoothly and the characters were three-dimensional. I especially liked Keegan, Charlie's son who passed away. I enjoyed the mystery and secrets surrounding a family who has been in Louisiana for hundreds of years. Just when I thought I had everything figured out the author would add in another detail or make me think back to something I read earlier that I thought wasn't important. There was never a dull moment. I absolutely loved it! show less

Here's a really enjoyable, traditional Southern gothic mystery. Evangeline is a grand historic home and Charlotte "Charlie" is a writer recovering from a brutal family loss. She also has the gift of having some of her dreams turn into events in the waking world.

Charlie journeys from Connecticut to Louisiana to investigate the thirty year old disappearance of a young child from Evangeline, using the cover of writing the Deveau family's biography. She encounters a very helpful police detective, some friendly help in the big house, some nasty characters in the family, and the fading and confused elderly matriarch. And then there's Noah, a charming landscape architect, with whom Charlie shares an immediate vibrant sexual attraction. Their show more relationship, coming on the heels of recent divorces for both partners, is the most enjoyable and well written aspect of the story.

The plot stays tight and the book is hard to put down. A charming debut novel. show less

Bit disappointing. It was a perfectly competent mystery, but I got it off a list of best southern gothic mysteries. It didn’t have the prevailing feel of dread and the weight of history that you get would a good southern gothic. I was not surprised by the few “twists “ , but that is because the author was fair. Will be willing to try another

Evangeline is an entertaining mystery, set in Louisiana and brimming with a southern Gothic atmosphere suited to that locale. The story follows Charlotte, a single mother still reeling from the sudden death of her toddler son. The novel opens in the midst of her numbed and broken life, as she tries to force herself to care about the things that used to matter to her, such as her job or cleaning her house. But with the loss of the one person who meant everything to her, many of those things seem irrelevant, and she is just barely clinging to her sanity thanks to the interventions of her grandmother and her closest friend, Rae. When Charlie starts to experience strange dreams that feature dead children and seem to predict the future, she show more is rattled, but the visions provide an impetus for her to quit her high-stress business job and take a contract writing assignment concerning the mystery of little Gabriel Deveau's disappearance thirty years ago.

An old friend puts her on the job, which is to create a true crime book about the Deveau family as part of an ongoing series about unsolved mysteries. Not long before the offer, Charlie had had an unsettling dream about a small boy floating down the swamp in a boat, asking for her help. Her previous dream experience leads her to believe that she may have been dreaming about the dead Gabriel Deveau, pleading with her to solve his mystery. Charlie decides to take the job.

Since the Deveau family approached the publishers about making the book, Charlie is welcomed into their plantation home in Chicory, Louisiana, to conduct the necessary research. She soon discovers that her job is far more complicated than she expected. First of all, the Deveaus are more interested in her writing up an account of the fabulous Deveau family, as something of a publicity piece, and much less interested in her focusing on the Gabriel mystery. Also, only some of the family are aware and approve of this plan. Finally, the matriarch of the family, Gabriel's mother, Hettie Deveau, is frail and sick, and has no idea that Charlie is there to research her missing youngest child. While navigating these difficult family obstacles, Charlie digs in her heels and begins to rifle through the past. While she works, she develops a romantic entanglement with the landscaper Noah Palmer, who seems especially close to Hettie, and gets to know the sheriff. Her connection to local law enforcement provides her some leads, as do her conversations with the house staff and rifling through various old records in the Deveau house and the library. Eventually, Charlie puts the pieces together, and solves two mysteries concerning young children in Louisiana.

While I did like this mystery read, there were definitely elements I wanted increased, such as Charlie's supernatural dreams about dead children, which can be either omens of the future or revelations of things already done. This might have some of the "I see dead people" cliche about it, but it was quite creepy and well done. However, it wasn't utilized much, and since this is the start of a new series, I do hope the writer amps up the disturbing dream element in the future. The mystery, while well-constructed and complete with a few red herrings and twists, was not as complex as my more typical cozy mystery choice. I appreciated that the character did some sleuthing, and didn't fortuitously stumble upon all the answers, though. This may seem contradictory, given that I want more supernatural clues, but then, Charlie's dreams could continue to work as distractions, or shed a half light on things that she needs to research to fully understand, and mainly can be used to intensify the suspense of the story. I liked Charlie's character and thought her role of grieving mother was well-developed; I wasn't as thrilled with Noah's characterization. He seemed mainly a prop for romance for a main chunk of the story. Hopefully in the second installment he can be fleshed out more, given that his back story came into play in the closing act of the novel. Overall, this was a good mystery and fast read, not an instant favorite, but enticing enough to interest me in reading more by the author. show less

The Gates of Evangeline is an absolutely wonderful book. I love reading books with a setting in the American South, especially with a mystery in the heart of the story, like this one. Charlotte “Charlie” Cates has, after losing her son, started to have vivid dreams about children in danger. And, they seem to come true. So, when a little boy shows up in her dream begging for help as she at the same time is approached about writing a book about a little boy that disappeared around thirty years ago can't she help but feel that the dreams are connected with the mystery. But, when she arrives at the Evangeline estate is she faced with not only people that seem to have things to hide but also real danger...

The Gates of Evangeline is a show more book that was truly engaging and intriguing. I loved that the story of the book took place in Louisiana. It was one thing that really appealed to me since Southern Gotic stories are "my thing". I was intrigued right from the start, and I especially enjoyed the fact that Charlie has psychic visions. Southern Gotic + paranormal vibes. Yeah, I love this book. Unfortunately, there is just one problem with the story, it's a bit predictable. Sure, the ending is good, but the BIG mystery, about the missing boy. It was easy to figure that one out. And, that was a bummer. Otherwise, I quite liked the book. I mean even liked the romantic side story. Now I need to get my hands on the next book in this series. show less