The Wild Hunt by Emma Seckel

The remote island off the coast of Scotland has kept the island's secrets safe while exacting a hefty toll from the families who live there. Every October the sluagh return and death and destruction follow. These Celtic birds resemble their Hitchcock cousins, black as night ravens who attack livestock, pets and people supposedly guiding them to the land of the dead. Leigh made it off the island once but had to return to take care of the family farm now that her father is dead. It seems that all the charms and ceremony won't keep the sluagh from her door and the ghosts out of her head. In the heat of the moment one of the islanders takes the life of one of the sluagh and they will have their revenge causing havoc on the island. A mesmerizing blend of longing for answers, myth and tradition as they try to heal wounds suffered by loss and war. Emma Seckel paints the rugged coast in your head so well that you feel the icy sea spray, the cold seeping into your bones and the feel of the sluagh's feet tangle in your hair - both a terrifying and deeply poetic debut.  4 stars