The Devil's Gate [Diskette]

Vickie Britton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2000

"Marry me, Anna. Be my wife---" The words Anna has hoped all her life to hear from her secret love, Ivan, bring suspicion and fear rather than joy and anticipation.

When Tavas Haspura willed the Devil's Gate ranch to Anna instead of his own nephew, Ivan, Anna is thrown into a whirl-wind of trouble. Anna soon discovers the isolated Nevada ranch is in a state of panic. Mysterious cattle mutilations cause rumors of witchcraft, which threaten to plunge the ranch into financial ruin.

Then, Ivan's wife, Collen turns up missing. When her body is found deep in the canyon, her death is immediately blamed upon the Cult of Akerra. But doubts remain in everyone's mind.

If Anna agrees to become Ivan's bride, the Devil's Gate and everything he has ever wanted will be at his fingertips. But if she dares refuse him---what then?

If something should happen to her, Ivan, as next of kin, will inherit the ranch. Would he resort to murder to take back what he thinks should be rightfully his? Just how far will Ivan go to make the Devil's Gate his own?

Editorial Reviews

Review

Four and One Half Mystique Moons. (Excellent )-THE DEVIL'S GATE takes place on an old cattle ranch that's not exactly paradise on earth. The owner's health is failing. There have been unexplained and brutal cattle mutilations, and something called "The cult of Akerra" is running amuck. 

What is this cult? Some say it's only a myth or a legend, used to keep kinds inside at night.  Others claim to have seen Akerra himself. Others think it's a gimmick, used to drive "unwanted folks" off the land.  Regardless, the mere mention of the cult on Devil's Gate land would ruin its ability to function. Ranch hands would leave and no one would come to replace them. Furthermore, with the speed of cattle mutilations happening across the land, there may not be cattle left for anyone to wrangle. A greater question, however, is who will Tavas name as his heir? The ever faithful Brad? The stubborn Ivan and his drunken tramp of a wife? Or will it be the prodigal child, Anna, who came home just in time to be with Tavas in his final days.

Also, it's told from the main's character's Point of View. Very cool. The reader sees what she sees and interprets it equally personally. Some First Person Point of View stories are bulky and difficult to read. This was not. THE DEVIL'S GATE has it all: suspense, mystery, rage, adultery, deceit, evil, and love. It's not to be missed! I'm putting this on my Keep Forever pile and expect to read it many more times.-  Rachel Nail, Reviewer, Mystique Books

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Diskette: 200 pages
• Publisher: New Concepts Publishing; 1 edition (February 2000)
• ISBN-10: 1586080172
• ISBN-13: 978-1586080174
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Devil's Gate, July 29, 2000

By 

"purelyjoy" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil's Gate (Diskette)

Anna Haspura was orphaned as a very young child and sent to her distant relative Tavas Haspura, to be raised at his ranch, The Devil's Gate. Anna had grown up loving the wilderness and the mystic about the ranch and the people that raised her. Tavas was a demanding man, but a fair man and she loved him dearly. So when she found out that Tavas didn't have long to live, she dropped everything and raced home with mixed feelings. She was anxious to see Tavas and spend time with him and hopefully brighten his remaining days, but yet dread filled her at having to see Ivan, Tavas's nephew, once again. He was the reason she had left The Devil's Gate to begin with. Rumors of the Cult of Akerra performing their evil rituals on the ranch are surfacing and it is not helping that some of their cattle are being killed in a sacrificial way. But Anna doesn't believe that the cult is behind this and that someone is doing this to gain control over the ranch. Little does Tavas know that when he passed away and left the ranch to Anna in his will, he put her life in extreme danger. Who can Anna trust? Every time Anna thinks she knows who she can trust something else happens. But one this is for certain, someone is trying to kill her.

The book is fast paced, action packed and full of thrills and chills that will keep you on the edge of your seat and hanging in anticipation until the end. Vickie Britton has captured the magic of the remote rustic wilderness and the mystical heritage of the Basque people and their traditions then mixed it beautifully to support the events and characters.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vickie Britton writes in the old gothic style I love!, April 4, 2000

By 

Kathy Boswell (Beaufort, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil's Gate (Diskette)

Have you ever read a book and kept saying, 'Don't open that door' but the heroine does anyway. Well, this is the way I felt when I read this book. Anna came home because her adopted uncle was dying. She had no way of knowing that he'd leave The Devil's Gate, his ranch to her. Now it seems as if everyone wants to get rid of Anna. Who should she trust? This book is a must read!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Solid "cozy" romantic suspense, December 23, 2008

By 

Michele Lee (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil's Gate (Kindle Edition)

With the death of her long time friend and male role model, Tavas, looming Anna leaves school and heads back home to the Devil's Gate ranch. Once there she has to face not just her fading friend, but also her childhood crush, Ivan and his textbook nasty wife, while she's still not quite over him. Except that things aren't quite as Anna left them at the Devil's Gate. It's been haunted over the summer by the strange ritualistic killings of the livestock.

After almost revealing a dark family secret Tavas passes, leaving Devil's Gate to Anna. He also leaves her with a mystery to solve, not to mention leaving her to settle her own issue of the heart.

The Devil's Gate mixes many familiar themes; a ranch on the edge of destruction, suspicious and dangerous people afoot, the best friend who loves the girl, the bad boy who never treated her right and many, many secrets that must be discovered before they claim Anna's sanity, or her life.

While it reads similarly to older cozy mysteries, like the Nancy Drew books, and features plenty of events to keep the world expanding and solid writing there's also a slow pace to the story. Anna finds herself undeniably drawn to the dark, broody and married Ivan. Even when best friend-for-life Brad asks for a chance to court her Anna seems to spend all her date time brooding over Ivan. Ivan's wife, Colleen, is pointlessly mean and cruel, but Brad keeps falling for her manipulations, even to the point of letting Colleen force herself into their big date to the fair. No one's to be trusted, of course, especially when Colleen shows up dead and just about everyone is hiding something.

The romance angle is muddled as Ivan is married and potentially dangerous and Brad is unsafely desperate. But in the end the strings come together and the tension skyrockets. The Devil's Gate is more Murder, She Wrote than fast paced car-chase-and-explosions fare. There's no gore or sex, making this a good tale for readers who shy away from horror and erotica. And the western flavor adds a bit of spice that might be missing from romance or cozy suspense diets.