Blood Covenant

by Alan Baxter

What should have been a breeze of a bank heist for James Glenn and his crew goes violently wrong, forcing them to flee, blood-stained and angry. They stumble onto a remote lodge that doesn’t open for another month—a perfect place to lie low until the heat’s off.
Except it’s occupied.
The Moore family, just arrived to prepare for the season, are taken hostage by the criminals, but not without bloodshed. And when blood gets spilled, something ancient notices. Something malevolent. Something ravenous.
Their only hope is the youngest Moore, teenager Rueben, outside and unseen when James and his gang arrive. It’s up to Rueben to get help and save his family, but the influence of the ancient evil is taking a toll on him as well…





"Nail-biting suspense" – Publishers Weekly

“Baxter effortlessly jukes and feints between crime fiction and supernatural horror, taking this story to darker, stranger places. I am foolishly late to the party on Alan Baxter, but BLOOD COVENANT makes it clear I need to catch the hell up.” – Chuck Wendig, NYT Best selling author of Aftermath

“Alan Baxter never fails to outdo himself, his unique brand of Aussie horror running the full gamut of King’s hierarchy of scares, from creeping unease to all-out terror, and always underpinned with razor-sharp social commentary. By all means, turn the page. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” – Lee Murray, five-time Bram Stoker Award®-winning author of Monster Stories

“Baxter’s stories are brutally horrific but earnest. They embrace the supernatural but are also seeped in the reality of fear and humanity—they attack the reader with the savage shriek of a chainsaw digging straight for your heart. I’m a fan.” – Philip Fracassi, author of Boys in the Valley

Genres: Horror, Thriller

286 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 24, 2024

About the author

My book rating system:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Brilliant, I bloody loved it!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Really good, highly recommended.
⭐⭐⭐ - Enjoyable, well worth a read.

I don't talk about ⭐⭐ and ⭐ reads because I only talking up the good stuff. That's why my Goodreads rarely has anything under a ⭐⭐⭐.

Bio: Alan Baxter is a British-Australian multi-award-winning author of horror, supernatural thrillers, dark fantasy, and crime. He’s also a martial arts expert, a whisky-soaked swear monkey, and dog lover. He creates dark, weird stories among the valleys of southern Tasmania.

Fond him online at www.alanbaxter.com.au

Reviews

[thevampireslibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shining meets Reservoir Dogs with a lil sprinkle of 1408 in this anxiety inducing genre mashup from Alan Baxter,  usually multiple tropes in one book can make it feel disjointed but Baxter executes it expertly giving us both a violent heart pumping thriller, gritty crime fiction and supernatural horror all with a heavy dose of psychological turmoil, two storylines are intertwined but at the beating heart of both is the theme of family, which in my opinion is the driving force behind the whole book, how far are you willing to go for family? Human nature steeped in the supernatural is my favourite and this didn't disappoint! Many thanks to @cemeterydancepub for the early copy @alan_weird_baxter

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set against a “wintery” (says the Canadian sarcastically) Australian background, this blood filled story goes from 0 to 60 right off the bat.

A bank robbery gone wrong leads to a group of fugitives looking to lay low. This sets them on a violent collision course with a wholesome family who run an extremely remote wilderness hotel. Little do all the characters know that something evil and ancient has been waiting for an opportunity like this: to consume and rise again!

This home invasion horror mixed with supernatural elements is not something I’ve seen before. I loved how the thrills and tension were continuously amped up as the plot escalated. I would’ve loved more background on the entity they encounter- is it something the aboriginal people knew about and had encountered?

Also, I won’t lie- Reuben was one of the most annoying kid characters I’ve seen in a while. He was so useless to help anyone. It also drove me crazy when he was getting called “child” everytime his grandma spoke to him. It started to just seem like a skit piece, even in the darkest scenes I had to laugh when she called him that for the millionth time!

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded to 5. I confess that I had some trouble in the beginning with the premise of this book: a heist gone absolutely sideways and the robbers finding shelter in a hotel where both supernatural and paranormal elements abound. It came across as a bit too much of a good thing - simultaneously a thriller, a ghost story, a home invasion tale, blending psychological suspense and family drama with supernatural forces and people with psychic abilities, in a unconditional take it or leave it way! So it took me some time to start enjoying the plot. Once these reservations got resolved (happily, after the first third of the book), the story took off and it was a matter of striking the right balance between the rising tension and the need to find out how the story would find closure. If you enjoy a multi-layered horror story with several spooky moments and scenes of psychological turmoil, this is the perfect book for you!

[Dion Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book combines a home invasion story with supernatural horror.

This book reminds me a bit of the movie from Dusk Till Dawn, because it shows how you can combine two different story types into one seamless story.

Think of The Shining but with bank robbers on the run after a robbery goes violently wrong. I loved the remote location of the Australian bush (maybe that is because I grew up near a large wildlife reserve) and it gives the story a similar feel to The Ritual by Adam Nevill.

I would have liked to see the final supernatural element come into the story sooner, so I could see more of it.

Overall this was a very suspenseful and bloody read.

If you liked his other books you will like this one.

[Kev Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first Alan Baxter read was Manifest Recall - a supernatural crime novella that backed its gangland violence with a cast of ghosts and other supernatural horrors. Fitting, then, that his latest, and maybe his best that I've read comes around to those two themes.
I've seen this book described as home invasion meets The Shining and that's not a bad way of describing it, but there's no pastiche here, this is all Baxter's own.
The story takes place outside Endon, not far up the road from Baxter's fictional eldritch monster riddled, inescapable dead end town of The Gulp. As a fan of that series, the very name in the text as the bank robbers whose job has spectacularly backfired sent a shiver or seven up my spine.
From the moment the criminal gang arrive at the hotel which houses the majority of the book, the pacing is relentless. That said, as the body count begins to stack up, none of it ever feels superfluous or unearned. You believe every simmering grudge, every violent confrontation and even every shadow moving just beyond your eye line, in the bush.
I ploughed through this in a couple of sessions. Highly recommended.

[Alexis (Lexi.84.02) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must read

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of grief and desperation. Add in an ancient blood thirst evil entity and you have a recipe for disaster. A gory chaos filled ride that did not disappoint.

[Adrian Coombe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big fan of The Gulp and The Fall but this wasn't really my thing. The supernatural element and "the shine" element was a bit clichéd in my opinion. And the bad guys doing wrong were a bit one dimensional.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tapped out at 50%, but I went back and finished it. Should've followed my first instinct and quit. I found the family ghosts hokey, and the rest of it dragged out.

[Terry and dog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blood and death trails from a bank robbery in the city to an isolated hotel in the country. You best be careful who you care for because Alan Baxter isn’t afraid to break your heart.
I found this to be an anxiety and emotion filled crime, drama, thrilling horror book that I read at a frantic pace. The exciting start to the story at the bank and then the history of the hotel add to the feeling of dread of what is to come. I couldn’t put it down. It was everything I was hoping for. I loved it. Clap, clap, clap, clap.

[Rachel Brewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid 3.5 stars. I don’t necessarily have any gripes with this book, but it didn’t have anything special or unique that grabbed my attention either. But it’s worth a read. I was very confused before i realized that it was shining “inspired” because it’s nearly identical in several aspects. I’m not as familiar with reservoir dogs but see that inspiration as well.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Baxter read, and for the most part, I pretty much enjoyed it.

There is a cool mix of genres going on here, and although its far from being the most original (starts off crime then morphs into The Shining) i thought it worked well enough. The Wilderness and the Australian bush setting also added a lot here.
3 1/2 bumped up to 4 stars

[Emily Haynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blood

A family taken hostage by a crew of bank robbers. Something is waiting for the blood that is spilled. It is very hungry. Will the family escape? Intense

[Don Anelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun and enjoyable read. The fact that we get two involved, detailed storylines at play here is a great stroke, managing to bring together the robbers trying to get themselves out of their increasingly desperate situation with not just a failed robbery involving the death of several individuals but the fear and panic of trying to keep their wounded friend alive keeps this moving along at a fine pace. The other fine storyline, about the family trying to work their best to get the hotel up and running for the season, sets them up quite nicely to then crash into each other at a generally unexpected time as the escape route puts them in contact with the family and take them hostage.

At this point, the book goes for a secondary dual-pronged storyline where it keeps alternating between one member of the merged group being the lead in the situation, either one of the robbers leading the hostages through their paces helping their wounded friend or the family trying to placate the robbers in their midst. This format of dedicating a specific amount of time to each individual in the situation keeps us in mind of who they are throughout here as the situation unfolds, getting the backstory on each of the characters to understand their motivations, their reasoning for being in the whole affair and sowing the seeds of what's to come with glances, quips, or just plain simplistic actions that make sure everything between the two parties remains smooth.

This forces the growing realization of the true threat within the hotel quite nicely as the hints dropped subtly over the first half take more prominence on the leader the more they stay trapped within the building's confines. As the series of encounters give way to the creeping dread of what's going on with the leader and his unhinged nature, the creature feature action that emerges when the influence over his behavior is revealed leading to a thrilling, high-energy finale where its encounters are used to build to a thrilling finish involving the survivors trying to bring their knowledge of what's happened before to a bloodsoaked conclusion.

This setup does run into two slight factors. The fact that so much of it is devoted to brief snippets during the encounter as a whole has a way of rendering the thrills to incidental spurts of terror where the supernatural being within the house is woken up only incidentally with the majority of the terror here reserved for the robbery leader's violent outbursts and antics that keep the family in danger. The flashbacks that occur telling of the hauntings that took place at the hotel give an exciting indication of what could occur when the being responsible is released, but it happens slowly enough that it takes an unnatural realization as to how those incidents are often ignored in favor of keeping the tension going between the various parties.

Moreover, the book makes such a big deal about the powers the youngest son has, which is given an integral part of the storyline based on the multiple family members that claim to have it, seems to disappear quite readily from the book at points. Due to the parallel storylines taking place around him, the majority of the film is a hostage drama about the robbers holding the family against their will and the occasional glimpse of something dreadful happening on the outskirts of the story with the mysterious entity draining blood from bodies. This leaves the supernatural forces at play within the hotel to be a presence more at the end than anything which is underwhelming. Still, there's not much else to be had holding this one back from being a thoroughly solid read.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I want a book that gives me a nuanced and layered exploration of Big Issues, weaving a rich narrative tapestry spanning generations of multifaceted characters.

And sometimes I want a book that just jabs the lizard part of my brain with a hypodermic needle containing equal parts adrenaline and dopamine.

Say hello to Blood Covenant by Alan Baxter.

A grimy, blood-spattered, supernatural riff on the home invasion genre, Blood Covenant operates with ruthless efficiency. It starts with a botched bank robbery. People are dead. One of the robbers, Rick, is bleeding out in the backseat of a car driven by James, a loose cannon whose mood swings promise violence. His brother Paul and girlfriend Deanna, accomplices in the robbery, are passengers. They need a place to hide from the police and tend to Rick’s injuries.

Cut to another car. Grant, his wife Leigh, and his 13-year-old son Rueben are heading for their family-run hotel in the Australian bush. They’re accompanied by Grant’s father Clay, Leigh’s brother Simon, and his husband Marcus. Boasting a reputation as the most remote hotel in New South Wales, the family is making the trip to open it up and get it ready for tourist season.

Guess where the robbers end up?

The collision of the two groups results in gunfire, murder, and a hostage situation in an isolated location.

It’s a classic setup that probably sounds familiar. You might even assume I’ve just given you a huge spoiler.

But you’re wrong.

Because Baxter introduces a grisly, genuinely unsettling supernatural element to the proceedings that immediately ramps up the tension for both parties. In this way it reminds me of the way Gabino Iglesias so deftly melds crime and horror in The Devil Takes You Home or House of Bone and Rain. This hybrid rarely works well. Either the crime isn’t suspenseful or the horror isn’t scary.

But Baxter, like Iglesias, has effectively blended a bare-knuckle, hard-boiled crime story with a supernatural horror tale that ends in a cacophony of gore.

Not to shift gears too abruptly, but one thing I’ve always loved about author Michael Chabon is that even though he’s a Pulitzer Prize-winner, he’s always been a champion of genre fiction. He wants, he says, books that “will take me places language hasn’t taken me before.” Genre fiction – science fiction, mystery, horror, romance, etc. – has always been seen by serious literary types as being good at the act of transportation Chabon mentions but is still somehow viewed as less serious, more frivolous, than so-called literary fiction. But Chabon argues that the best genre fiction can both transport AND be great literature.

And that brings me to what really elevates Blood Covenant: the way Baxter suffuses the whole thing with melancholy. Because this is also a book about grief and regret. I won’t give you the hows or whys – spoilers, natch – but the last thing I expected was to find myself suddenly getting choked up toward the end. And that’s very much down to the way Baxter treats his characters, grounding them in ways that feel both complex and believable. In this way, Blood Covenant is subtly and slyly about more than it lets on. And that means – in a classic case of Misdirection by Rob – it actually accomplishes BOTH feats in my opening paragraph. (Ta-da!)

Make no mistake: Blood Covenant is a pedal-to-the-floor horror novel, thrumming with dread and brutality. But what makes it so horrifying is the way the stakes feel real for characters we very much care about.

[Chris Heinicke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a wild and horrific ride

Whenever Alan Baxter (Australia’s own Stephen King) releases a new book, I know it will soon be on my ‘To Be Read,’ list. But on this occasion, I ensured I was ready to dive into it on release day. Needless to say, the book hooked me straight away, and if it wasn’t for life getting in the way, I would have finished reading it much sooner.
While Blood Covenant falls into the horror genre, this book is so much more than straight horror, and what really makes this story shine is its characters. On one side, we have the bank robbers, or should I say would-be bank robbers. After it goes horribly wrong, they soon find themselves on the run. Which brings us the other side, the loving Moore family, who run a seasonal hotel. Having decided to get there early ready to get their hotel up and running, their paths soon cross with the bad guys.
But, there’s more going on. Clay, whose son and daughter-in-law took over the running of the hotel from him, has a paranormal ‘gift,’ as did his recently deceased wife. And the land the hotel is on once contained an evil force, drawn to blood. Has this evil re-emerged? And if so, what will happen to the Moore family, as well as the bank robbers? Even until the end, I kept asking myself the same.
As a fan of Alan’s work, I can say this is my new favourite, and I’ll be on board with whatever he writes next. An easy 5 out of 5 star read.

[Ian Gielen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic and dark meld of home invasion and the supernatural, this is one unique experience you don't want to miss out on.

The book starts off with a bang quite literally, following a group of bank robbers and their heist gone wrong and switches to a family that is innocently returning to reopen their hotel for the upcoming tourist season.
The two parties meet when the bank robbers happen upon the hotel, having seen a sign that indicated it might be empty but the family had just arrived. What follows is a home invasion style takeover with a twist.

The hotel has had a dark past and it soon comes to play in the present in a supernatural twist that is as disturbing and creepy. The horror ramps up as the situation in the hotel and the mental instability of the leader of the gang heist deteriorate.

This story is not for the faint of heart, you grow to care about the characters, making the events that happen hit that little bit harder.
Chapters often follow a particular character and their perspective on what is happening as the story progresses and is done well.

The writing is excellent, the pace relentless and the tone creepy as hell. Give it a go and you won't be disappointed.

[Alisha Galvan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four criminals are on the run after a bank heist goes terribly wrong. They find themselves at the Eagle Hotel, where the Moore family has just arrived to set up for the upcoming season. The criminals are desperate to stay hidden until the heat dies down, so they trap the Moore family, and a supernatural evil is reawakened, secrets revealed, and who, if anyone, will survive?

I enjoyed some of the imagery while reading this book; the graphic scenes were fleshed out well. At times, I felt disconnected from the characters and story. It was very repetitive, and some of the characters made silly decisions.

The ending left it open for a possible sequel but not on a cliffhanger. Also, this book is graphic, so check trigger warnings if needed.

Overall, it's not a bad book, and some scenes will probably stick with me.

Thank you Cemetery Dance Publications, and the author, for sending me this arc copy!

[Alison Faichney · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up to four. I’ve been wanting to read Alan Baxter after hearing the hubbub about Sallow Bend so I was pretty excited to grab a copy of this one.

I generally don’t like it when horror uses multiple tropes. In the case it was supernatural horror mixed in with some terrible human horror. This book does a decent job at blending the two together, but I still struggled with certain parts. The benevolent supernatural aspect came off a bit corny and convenient at times. I guess I can understand the need for balance, but it felt like an easy way out at times.

The characters were well fleshed out. The dad and son blended together a bit, but overall I felt they were well done. The writing was great and I flew through this one. I also loved the setting.

Definitely recommend to those looking with home invasion horror with some major supernatural vibes.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good story - a family who runs a hotel in a remote area, with a dubious past, arrives to set up for holiday season. Also, a group of four who recently botched a bank robbery and are on the run from police decided to hide out in the remote hotel not knowing the family is there. They get there and hold the family hostage with exception of 13 year old Reuben who is outside of hotel and now needs to find way to save his family. While all of this is going on - an ancient evil has been awakened. I'd probably give this 3.5 stars as it was entertaining story and not formulaic like some books in genre. There just was not a lot of suspense and at times the story seemed to drag on a little bit. As well, the ending felt a little unresolved as we never really found out the totality of what the evil entity was.

[D.F. Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Home invasion horror. Survival horror. Supernatural / demonic beast horror. It’s got it all.
Unlike many attempts to blend multiple sub-genres, which often result in a disjointed narrative, this book absolutely smashed it.
I was hooked the entire way through and found myself wanted to read even just a page or two at time when I had a spare few minutes.
The frequent POV changes, which can sometimes be confusing or distracting, we’re executed brilliantly. A risky choice but it really paid off to help the story development and maintain its momentum.

For fans of horror looking for a book that delivers on all fronts, Blood Covenant is a must-read. Don't miss out on this one, I can’t recommend it enough.

[amycw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast-paced supernatural horror novel. A group of violent bank robbers flee a botched heist and attempt to hide out at a remote hotel that they believe is abandoned for the winter season. When they arrive to find the owners on site, they take the family hostage, spilling blood and awakening a blood-thirsty supernatural entity that has lain dormant for fifty years.

The pacing was good, but it did get a little slow in the middle. It relied heavily on ghosts helping the characters, which made certain situations seem a little too convenient. Some of the characters were frustratingly inept. However, my biggest criticism was that the supernatural entity was never explained. What was it? Why was it there? Where had it come from? This was a huge missed opportunity.

[Christopher Dahman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book wasn’t on my radar, but I recently won a beautiful signed hardback in a giveaway so I made a point to read it ASAP.

I was nervous at first because the author introduced a lot of characters very quickly in the beginning. I also knew that each chapter was a POV from a different character. The nervousness faded quickly as the author did an outstanding job to differentiate the characters and keep them all relevant. I enjoyed the changing POV for this book and it helped intensify the story.

Multiple tropes going on simultaneously in this book and the author was able to bring them together for a satisfying ending. Paranormal/supernatural elements coupled with a real-life horror/thriller storyline will keep the pages turning.

[liz ⚰️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part heist/hostage-thriller, part Shining-esque paranormal horror story set at a remote hotel in the Australian wilderness, this book was a fun ride from start to finish. As a seasoned thriller reader, I liked the thriller-to-horror ratio that is struck in this book. The bank heist scene was an excellent, fast-paced way to start the story, and the home invasion and hostage portions of the book made for a unique setting for the supernatural elements. This author was not afraid to kill off characters, and some of the kill scenes were pretty brutal, which I always have to respect in books that are supposed to be horrifying. I liked the idea behind the paranormal horror, but I honestly thought that the backstory of the hotel and the original murders that happened there sometimes seemed more interesting than the plot at hand. I would gladly read a prequel from the perspective of the first family that lived there - the description of the crime scene that was found after their murders was probably the most memorable image of this entire book. I did actually appreciate Rueben’s character, despite being frustrated at times with the fate of all these people being in a preteen boy’s hands, he ended up gaining so much courage by the end and I felt myself rooting for him wholeheartedly.The slow but steady ramping up of both the supernatural being at the hotel and the frustration and rage of the criminals holding the family hostage was well-paced, but when you have so much buildup, it’s tough to stick the landing. While I found the ending perfectly satisfying, I did kind of want one final gut-punch at the end.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this could have been a bit more concise and compact than it was. It hit hard with the violence and emotion but I feel as though the constant slowing down and overly written character thoughts made the story drag at random times. For me, this especially took away from the action in the last third of the book. I believe I had the same complaints with Sallow Bend.
That said, this was still an interesting, violent, supernatural story. I think it leaned a bit more on the thriller side and could have used more of the supernatural horror.
I enjoyed the read overall and will certainly pick up Alan Baxter's next book.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first read by Alan Baxter, and now I question why. Blood Covenant starts with a bang and doesn’t let up with the tension. Several times throughout the book I could physically feel my anxiety escalating as I tried to read faster just to see what happened next. My frustration with the actions of some of the characters was real as I anticipated the horrific results. And while some of those results were exactly what I thought would happen, there were also some surprising moments. This book was dark, sometimes bloody, and through it all was the ultimate will of a family fighting for survival against monsters both human and otherwise.

[Coca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was decent.

There are 2 main story lines here.

James and his small group of bank robbers on the run after their heist goes horribly wrong stumbles across a family who is in the process of getting their seasonal hotel ready to open at the end of winter.

As James' crew takes Clay's (hotel owner) family prisoner, this is start spiraling out of control and an ancient, eldritch, horror senses an opportunity to feed.

It was really strange, but it was well written. I honestly struggled to grasp the different plot threads as they were being pulled together, but when things started to be explained, it all worked surprisingly well.

Decent pacing and story.

[Dr. Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read. I applaud the author that he went with so many characters and was able to make it work. Usually, when i see a multiple POV i run.... and fast. This one was on point. It didn't bounce all over the place and I didn't throw the book across the room in frustration. I read for entertainment these days; not headaches. The only thing i would have liked more was a bit of the "scary thing" to be more described earlier on. Not just the elements of control-- but the what it appeared as... because it was good and creepy!

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blood Covenant by Alan Baxter is a stunning and creepy tale of a family and their efforts to survive a home invasion by a desperate group of bank robbers. There is much more to this story, however, including well defined characters, both evil, deranged and heroic. The grandfather’s thoughts and bodily complaints were spot on; the author must have spent time listening to his elders, because Clay, the granddad, was completely believable, as were all the other characters in this absorbing saga of a family challenged to stay alive. This was one of my favorite reads of 2024.

[Leighah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love when a book causes me to yell at characters and boy oh boy did Rueben get yelled at. At first I was thinking "hang on this isn't horror" but after just a few pages I was hooked. I really loved how this author describes the Australian bush and how it can be beautiful and deadly at the same time. The Decent into madness was so well written that I genuinely felt for Deanna. Will be reading more works from this author to be sure.