Aleksei, a soldier turned vampire, is running from a fallen Russia with the threat of an eternity alone after his beloved is killed. All of this we find out in the first couple of pages, and because of that I was intrigued. Things get interesting when he makes it to Alaska, in an area known as Turnagain Arm, and searches for a man named Vasyl Dzubenko.

Julie Flanders is a talented writer. The dialogue of the characters and the sentences that make up each perspective easily planted me into 1917. Her well-crafted descriptions of cold Alaska made me shiver...in Florida.

I love how Flanders blended the rail road and the history of that with the supernatural (vampires and witches). I’ve been a fan of the show Hell on Wheels so this new take on the subject was fun. She created a fascinating vampire that I liked, even when he was killing. Vasyl was also a well thought-out character with a past and secret of his own.

There are pleasant surprises that twist the plot, and the end was unexpected. Overall, this is an enjoyable read and a great prequel.