![]() | Jeanne C. Stein Grade: C- Sensuality: Subtle Another day, another female bounty hunter. Another week, another paranormal heroine. |
Granted, in this instance they are one and the same, but at least what makes the heroines of Armstrong, Harris, Arthur, and Hamilton "unique" is that they are involved in preternatural crime-solving. Anna Strong, Stein's baby vamp, isn't, and her solving the mystery involving the possible off-spring of her long-dead brother and his skanky girlfriend would have made more sense I been watching NBC to see the case unfold due to the efforts of Stabler, Benson, Munch, and Tutuola.
This is the second in a series - in the first Anne Strong was "turned" - and when she's not working on the case, she's learning more about what it means to be a vampire. Often the world-building of paranormal stories can be very interesting, and because Anna is a new vamp, what she learns feel fresh to the reader. But I'm not sure I want to live in a world where vampires don't need to stay out of the sun. It was one thing when Anne Rice took god out of vampirism, but the sun thing, well, that's something else.
There's nothing horribly wrong with Blood Drive, but the lack of a paranormal crime combined with the "haven't we already read this before?" element couldn't make up for the ho-hum nature of the story. Even the glimpses of a parallel "other" world that looks like a telemarketing center to Anna didn't help. Please, publishers, I don't want some more.
TTFN, Laurie Likes Books