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BLOODSHOT
by Cherie Priest
Bantam, January 2011
359 pages
$15.00
ISBN: 0345520602


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Raylene Pendle was turned (into a vampire) back in the 1920's when she was in her early twenties; now that she's "post-viable," she's doesn't look any older, which tends to make people and other vamps underestimate her. She knows a lot about how to survive, since she's still here. She doesn't hang around with other vamps; she's quite independent, even for a vampire. Raylene makes her living stealing things, an occupation for which vampires are well suited, given their unique skills and abilities.

Her current assignment is to steal some government documents having to do with secret experiments on vampires. Apparently the client wants to find a way to regain his sight, a sense he still had when he was turned but not when the government was through with him. This, of course, goes against one of the basic rules of being a vampire: vamps heal very quickly. The client needs to know more about what happened so perhaps he can get his sight back.

Raylene encounters many problems with this job. Some of them she sees coming, others not so much. She acquires a little posse of her own, and keeps trying to satisfy the client. As she learns more and more about all kinds of things, the job takes on a different perspective and becomes a bit more personal than most.

Priest has created a formidable character in Raylene. She isn't always sure that her choices are morally or ethically correct, although she tries for that goal. She doesn't take a lot of crap from anyone and she can dish it out with the best of them. As can Sister Rose, her drag queen buddy.

The plot is certainly as believable as any government conspiracy theory plot tends to be, especially once the giant leap to accepting vampires as real is taken. It's easy to believe that a government would want to know as much as possible about vampires. All in all, for fans of this burgeoning sub-genre (urban fantasy/vampires), Priest is a writer to watch. She is going places.

§ P.J. Coldren lives in northern lower Michigan where she reads and reviews widely across the mystery genre when she isn't working in her local hospital pharmacy.

Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, February 2011

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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