VAMPIRE PLAGUES (Book 1) by Sebastian Rook **REVIEW**

(I bought this book.)

Blurb:

A thrilling new suspense trilogy with a twist. For a thousand years, an ancient and all-powerful vampire god has lain dormant in the Mayan jungle. In 1850, he awakes -- and sets out for Europe...

London, 1850. An enormous ship has just reached port. From its hull, a flock of bats ascends and disappears into the streets. Jack Harkett intends to board the ship, in search of food or money. Instead, he encounters a boy his own age -- running for his life! The boy recounts horrific tales about a vampire plague that's killed the entire crew.

With no one to turn to but each other, the two boys vow to stop these horrors from continuing. Their pledge will take them on dangerous adventures from London to Paris and finally to Mexico, to confront the beast who started all this destruction....

Review:
There are 6 books in this series written under the pseudonym Sebastian Rook, although I could only find pictures of the first 3.  Published by Scholastic, I bought this for myself (um, I mean my son) through his school's Scholastic book order form (remember those?  LOVE!).
Anyway, he read this and really enjoyed it and I can see why.  It's a well-written classic adventure, with three 12 year old heroes who are trying to defeat a powerful Mayan vampire god who is running amok in London.  The writing is never simplistic, bad things happen, and the kids have to use every bit of intelligence, cunning, street smarts, and courage to defeat true evil.  Along the way they discover the true value of friendship (it will save you from a vampire minion's clutches), and that doing the right thing is never easy.
The setting is 1850 London, and Vampire Plagues depicts the city in all its dual horrible glory.  Jack is a street child who makes his home near the port, and his life is miserable and dangerous. Ben and Emily are children of the wealthy class, living in a luxurious home with servants who follow their instructions.  Yet the three of them find common ground in their courage, fear, friendship, and willingness to do what must be done.  By then end of the story they have formed a new version of a family, suffering great loss and great triumph.  Very well done!


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BITTEN (Lauren Westlake Mysteries) by Dan O'Brien **REVIEW**

(I downloaded this for free.)

Blurb:
A predator stalks a cold northern Minnesotan town. There is talk of wolves walking on two legs and attacking people in the deep woods. Lauren Westlake, resourceful and determined F.B.I Agent, has found a connection between the strange murders in the north and a case file almost a hundred years old. Traveling to the cold north, she begins an investigation that spirals deep into the darkness of mythology and nightmares. Filled with creatures of the night and an ancient romance, the revelation of who hunts beneath the moon is more grisly than anyone could have imagined.

Review:
This was an interesting and fresh horror/mystery hybrid.  The setting is a small town in Minnestoa during the deep dark cold of mid-winter, and the result is a creepy and almost claustrophobic atmosphere, perfect for reading in a warm bed on a winter's night.  Lauren Westlake arrives in a great, poignant opening scene that establishes her as a tough federal agent.  This persona is soon at odds with her behavior in the local bar, where the alcohol loosens her tongue, her professionalism, and her grip on her dignity.   I think the intent was to show the two sides of Lauren but it's a little heavy-handed here and throughout the book.
But the story itself kept me reading and was really entertaining.  The violent murders that seem to have been committed by a monster, the overwhelmed local police department, a mysterious stranger in town, and Lauren's reason for arriving in Locke are all part of a well-developed, intriguing twist on the werewolf legend.  The thin line between human and monster is explored a bit against the backdrop of murder, mystery and horror.  There's even a visit from Hecate to add a little fun to the mix.
My only real complaint is the very formal language, sometimes awkward phrasing, and the lack of contractions.  As a result the dialogue feels stilted and slow - mentally I kept adding the contractions as I read to keep the pace moving along at a more natural speed.
Overall, a very enjoyable and atmospheric read.


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The Graveyard Speaks by Hunter Shea

(I downloaded this book during a free offer.)

Blurb:

Some secrets can’t stay buried.

Deep in a dark, snow-covered cemetery, a terrifying, moaning apparition rises from the same grave night after night. Even the most hardened caretakers won’t go near the Spooner gravestone on their midnight rounds. Only one ghost hunter has the will to face the unknown, but at what price? In the chilling blackness, only Jessica Backman is prepared to answer the spectral cry from beyond when the graveyard speaks

Review:
I downloaded this little 52 page gem for free, and am so pleased I did.  Hunter Shea is a horror writer, and according to his bio he was raised on The Night Stalker, The Twilight Zone and In Search Of.   Any fan of Kolchak is going to be cool.  I still have a fond spot in my heart for Darren McGavin.  But anyway.....The Graveyard Speaks is a great little spooky story about a college student and ghost-hunter (except she calls them EBs) named Jessica.  Jessica is following in the footsteps of her deceased father, and she also seems to have the ability to send ghosts......somewhere, simply by naming them and ordering them to leave.  She has no idea why she can do such a thing.  Jessica is asked to investigate a haunting in Woodlawn Cemetery by one of the night watchmen, and she quickly learns that something is definitely going on at the grave of one Meredith Spooner.  But is the black mass and screaming woman's voice that of Meredith?

As much as I love the novella format (kids, work, pets, yadda-yadd-yadda, you get the idea), it's really hard for an author to develop a believable, detailed world of compelling characters and a tight plot in just a few pages.  But Shea nails it in this atmospheric story.

Check it out!




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Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

(I purchased this book.)


Blurb: 

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

Yet she spares Cas's life.

Review:
This was a delightfully creepy and intense teen horror novel that grabbed me from the beginning.  Cas is the narrator, a seventeen year old boy who has been killing dangerous ghosts for years, a skill he inherited from his murdered father along with a power-infused athame (ritual knife).  Cas and his mother move every few months as they hunt and kill ghosts who are killing humans.  They have a convenient and secretive extensive network of friends who know of their abilities, and many of their ghost tips come from referrals from previous exterminations.  Apparently Cas' father was part of some arcane college group providing Cas and his mother with support, and research when necessary.
Cas is a really interesting character.  Raised in the lifestyle of his roving ghost-killing father and witch-mother, he's never known another way of living, and his goal in life has been to kill the ghost that murdered his father.  For the most part, Cas doesn't act or think like a typical teenager, and going to school is just a necessary exercise in fitting in and making contacts to extract local ghost stories.  But when he moves to Thunder Bay to investigate a local ghost called Anna Dressed In Blood, his habits begin to change.  He actually makes a couple of friends, in spite of his arrogance and condescending attitude.  He observes his fellow students in a patronizing and superior manner, much like an observer from another species.  And in a way, Cas IS from another species.  He's not normal, his family's not normal, and his destiny and abilities set him apart from others.  But the world of the living is starting to reach out to Cas, just as Anna will reach out to him in a most unexpected manner.
I know this book has been out for two years, but to describe any more plot details would really be more of a spoiler.  So I'll focus on the writing.
Kendare Blake is a hypnotic writer.  The prose moves along in a rhythmic cadence that bespells the reader, cocooning them in a magical bubble that is the world of Anna Dressed In Blood.
Here is an example early in the story, shortly after Cas has arrived in Thunder Bay and is searching for Anna's house.

"I can feel her there, mingled into the mud of a hundred other ghosts, some shuffling and harmless, others full of rage.  I can't imagine what it is to be dead; it's a strange idea to me, having known so many ghosts.  It's still a mystery.  I don't quite understand why some people stay and others don't.  I wonder where those who leave have gone.  I wonder if the ones I kill go to the same place."

The near-hypnotic quality is enhanced by the author's use of the present tense, placing the reader in the story as it's happening and creating a sense of urgency.  I could not put this book down.

Is this a perfect book?  Nope, if there even is such a thing - books are too personal.  But the discrepancies and plot shortcuts (Cas gets letters everywhere he moves about ghost tips, but he lives a secret nomadic life? A mysterious mentor of his father's who gives out tidbits of info at critical times. How come Cas and his mother talk about their cat being able to see ghosts, but ignore the poor feline when he is FREAKING OUT about their new attic?) are happily overlooked by the magical world of Anna Dressed In Blood.
Read it!




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Voracious by Alice Henderson

(I bought this book.)

Back of the Book Blurb:
Madeline Keye’s gift—to touch someone and see flashes of the past—has set her apart from family and friends. She finds sanctuary in the wilderness, until a backcountry hike in Glacier National Park turns into a hunt—with her as the prey. Because something that’s not human is out there. And it’s hungry. 
(Published 2009.)


Review: 
This was one intense book!  Although published by Jove under their Horror imprint, this book would better be labelled as paranormal thriller with a touch of romance.
Madeline is hiking in Glacier National Park, enjoying the solitude and peace of the wilderness, when she senses she is being watched.  Right afterward she is caught in a flash flood and nearly drowns. She is pulled from the flood by a handsome man named Noah.  Shortly after Madeline sees a strange, sleek humanoid shape crawling on the rocks by the riverbank, and Noah tells her it is a deadly predator he has been hunting for a long time.  Noah is more than he appears to be, and he tries to protect Madeline by sending her down the mountain to the ranger station while fighting off the creature.  And from this point on it's a deadly game of cat and mouse, inhuman predator and human prey, and I could not put the book down.  It was intense and spooky, and the author did a great job of maintaining a consistent level of suspense and action.  Madeline is smart and resourceful and terrified, but she realizes that she is now hunted, and she agrees to use her psychic gift to help Noah hunt the creature.
I really liked Madeline - she has been isolated, a pariah, shunned by her family and community her entire life because of her ability.  She was hoping to start a new, anonymous life in a big city when she caught the attention of a millenia-old predator.  She is torn between doing the right thing and having the life she has dreamed of, and her inner turmoil is compounded by her increasing attraction and affection for Noah.
Noah and the creature are also really well developed.  Their histories are intriguing and detailed.  The glimpses into the creature's history are tantalizing as we learn he is thousands of years old, and may or may not have been human at the beginning.
The plot is tightly woven, the pacing fast, the characters interesting and believable, and the action relentless.

**SPOILER ALERT**
My only quibble is that at the very end, the final fight scene between Madeline and the creature felt wrong, like this superfast, superstrong creature was just laying there to allow her to triumph.  But the action is so intense and the pace so fast I was quickly past this point, so it didn't really take me out of the story.

I really hope to see more novels from Alice Henderson - this was a great, original read!






Check out the author's website at:  Alice Henderson