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BLOOD GAMES
by Lee Killough
Meisha Merlin Publicaitons, May 2001
460 pages
$16.00
ISBN: 189206541X


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Garreth Mikaelian, the Irish-American vampire police detective, formerly from San Francisco, has finally resurfaced in the third book in the series. First introduced, and vampirized, in Blood Hunt, it is now 15 years later. Garreth has stayed in Baumen, Kansas, where he met and killed the woman who made him a vampire. He has a quiet life with his job and his lover, fellow police officer, Maggie Lebekov.

Grandma Doyle dies in San Francisco, and Garreth goes West to the wake. From the moment of his death, Grandma Doyle knew his secret, and she was the only family member Garreth could be himself with. Now she is gone, and he has to fend off questions from his son, who is now 22. An old vampire, whom Grandma has befriended, warns Garreth that he would have to move on soon. His youthful appearance would start to raise questions in Baumen.

He returns to Kansas. Maggie asks him to drive her to an appointment to have a biopsy. Her mother died of breast cancer when she was no older than Maggie is now, and she doesn't want to go through the procedure alone. Even though it's in daylight, and Garreth prefers the night, he agrees because he loves her. On their return, they are run off the road by an albino, accompanied by 2 girls, in a pickup truck. Garreth dreams they are licking his blood. He wakes up in hospital. Maggie is also there, but she is dying. He is torn. Should he make her a vampire without her consent, or is that rape? He allows her to die naturally, while he recovers extremely quickly.

He searches for the killer who may be a vampire or who may be faking it, but if he has drunk Garreth's blood, then he will become a vampire when he dies, unless his nervous system is destroyed. Garreth wants to get him, and the girls, before that stage is reached. He allies himself, unofficially, with various police departments so he can follow the chase.

In both Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series, and Tanya Huff's Vicky Nelson series, and even in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the old vampire legends are accepted at face value. Killough has turned the vampire legend on its side with this series. In the first two books in the series, Blood Hunt and Bloodlinks recently reprinted in an omnibus edition entitled BloodWalk, we learn how Garreth became a vampire and what being a vampire entails. He can go out in the daytime and he can go into a church, but he must drink blood and he prefers the dark. He has retained much of his humanity, but he will live forever and he must learn how to cope with that. I raced through all three books in this series and hope that more will magically appear soon. For someone who dislikes and distrusts fantasy for the most part, that's a very strong statement.

Note: This review originally appeared on about.com

Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, July 2001

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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