HOBBIES OVER COFFEE

In this gothic fantasy, Anneke Van Helsing goes down a path to avenge her fathers death. Though the writing everyone dismissed as madness lead her down a path in where she questions why she was trying to avenge him in the first place.

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Title : The Fox and The Devil
Author : Kiersten White
Genre:  Horror | Fantasy| Queer | Historical Fiction
Pages:  368
Own/Borrowed/ARC:  eARC
Publication Date:  March 10, 2026 
Synopsis : An obsession with a beautiful serial killer entangles a vampire hunter’s daughter in an immortal sapphic romance in this enthralling gothic fantasy from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lucy Undying.

Anneke has a complicated relationship with her father, Abraham Van Helsing—doctor, scientist, and madman devoted to studying vampires—up until the night she comes home to find him murdered, with a surreally beautiful woman looming over his body. A woman who leaves no trace behind, other than the dreams and nightmares that plague Anneke every night.

Spurred by her desire for vengeance and armed with the latest in forensic and investigatory techniques, Anneke puts together a team of detectives to catch her mysterious serial killer. Because her father isn’t the only inexplicably dead body. There’s a trail of victims across Europe and Anneke is certain they’re all connected.

But during the years spent relentlessly hunting the killer, Anneke keeps some crucial evidence to infuriatingly coy letters, addressed only to Anneke, occasionally soaked in blood, and always signed Diavola. Devil. The obsession is mutual, and all the more dangerous for it.

The closer Anneke gets to her devil, though, the less sense the world makes. Maybe her father wasn’t a madman, after all. Diavola might be something much worse than a serial killer . . . and much harder to destroy. Because as Anneke unearths more of Diavola’s tragic past, she suspects there’s still a heart somewhere in that undead body.

A heart that beats for Anneke alone.

We begin in the middle of Anneke consulting on a recent crime scene. A crime scene that marks the beginning of her going down a years long path of hunting down the woman that haunts her. A woman others don’t believe exists, the woman that murdered her father, Abraham Van Helsing. Once she’s off on her way, she enlists the help of her former lover and friend David. From there a group is formed that helps Anneke track the woman down, one that once they study patterns and various crime scenes, they conclude is a serial murderer. Not just in Amsterdam but across Europe.

Following the group, we travel across late 1800’s Europe as they attempt to stop the woman in her murderous spree. Soon though they suffer a loss and have to reconcil what they believe to be true or not in order to continue their search. All of it leading to a showdown of sorts at the Paris World Fair Expo.

The author does well in describing the historical setting. Even capturing the grandness of the World Fair when the team finally gets there. The way that they describe the crime scences I fould well written as well. While dark and gritty, it was not over gratuitous like many other horror / crime novels can be, looking at it from a forensics angle and not from a gore angle. It also shows how the brutality of each scene does to each of the members of this group. How they each approach and what keeps them going to find justice for the people they couldn’t save in time.

While I enjoyed it, there were times where I felt like it dragged. Repetitive and the multiple changes in POV that at times confused me. Some POV’s felt as if they lended nothing to the end goal for me. It just felt like being introduced to throw away characters that were attending the fair. While on the opposite end we didn’t spend any time with the main characters companions, David, Inge or Maher, which I would have enjoyed to learn more about.

The romance between Diavola and Anneke felt more like a yearning over an obsession to me than actual romance. Especially since the two don’t really spend a lot of time together. It’s not until the end of the book that it really comes together as love.

Overall it was a fun ride and would love to see another installment focusing on the other two main characters, Inge and Maher. The book ends in a big revelation about one of them, that if you are paying attention, can see coming, and would love to learn more about them.

Thank you again to Netgalley, Kiersten White and DelRey for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

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