REVIEWED BY:
SCORE:
Author name: Elisabeth Drake
Publisher: Cobblestone Press
ISBN: 978-1-60088-073-5
REVIEW:
Arielle Thompson works for the FBI, just not in the division you’d imagine. She’s a witch and her speciality is in the Paranormal Investigations subdivision: Shadowguard. She hunts down creatures the general public would lose their lunch over should they see them. She’s got to be one tough woman to deal with such investigations, and right from the start I see that she is.
Firstly, noting the 1st person POV, I smiled and settled down deeper in my seat. I prefer reading 1st person. Second, a few lines down from the start, I read the first of many great lines:
My face went cold and goose bumps shivered over my skin as I saw picture after picture of dead men and women, raised bite marks prominent on their skin.
There you go, Wilga is hooked. Hooks are a major factor in stories for me. If one isn’t present on the first page, if nothing grabs my attention, then I’m a tad bit disappointed. So, two good things going for this book on the first page was a major bonus here.
Arielle has been called in to find and destroy either one or more vampires that are killing people. Too many people. Chief Anders, head of police in charge of the case, isn’t too happy to have Arielle arrive to ‘take over’. Anders blames the Gothic kids of the town. Arielle thinks the culprit is someone else entirely.
2nd great line, and I’m only on page 8:
He tried to stare me down, but when you’ve grown up around cats, you can out-stare just about anything.
A startling image flew into my mind with 3rd great line at the bottom of page 8, beginning of page nine, in the morgue scene. The description of the bite marks on the cadaver’s neck were simple, yet startling. The whole morgue scene is so well done, I found myself gripped by the visuals. This is still chapter one. So much information in one chapter, chock full of action and images. Excellent.
While in the morgue doing a mind search on a corpse, clever forces conspire to reach into Arielle’s mind. Overwhelmed, she blacks out and wakes up elsewhere… Listening to the conversation of her captors, she realises she must try and escape them. A hand closes over hers and she is painfully yanked through a portal, where the force of her arrival causes her to again black out. This time she wakes in sunlight (I must just mention here, before I forget, that Ms. Drake uses very original and witty metaphors and similies). A man, Jackson, takes her through another portal to safety, as the Nasties (my term) that invaded Arielle’s mind in the morgue would be trying to find her very soon.
Jackson is involved somehow. He knows who is committing the murders. He explains the realm he is from, and how the vampire killer, Eliro, managed to travel to earth. Jackson has been sent to find out how many people Eliro has brought with him and take him back to face the Council.
Laugh out loud lines in this scene:
Now I turned spanked-bottom red.
What next? A strip-teasing unicorn?
The next scene is very gripping. Jackson takes Arielle to a room where a bound and gagged woman is. Not wanting to spoil this story, I shall refrain from going through this scene, but yet another funny struck me with one simple word on page 28: Oops. And on the same page: How lovely. You’ll have to read this book to find out why this is so funny. Ms. Drake, after creating tension and making my eyes widen with Jackson’s swift change of personality, was able to swing me right back the other way, causing me to laugh out loud.
Pause in the review to say:
Have I said yet that I have caught White Russian’s ‘Fan Attack’ affliction? No? Well I have. I feel one coming on… Ms. Drake is a very clever writer. Why isn’t she on the NY best sellers list? Is she querying agents? If not, she should be. With talent like this, she deserves the biggest publishing deal she can wangle. The voice in this story—and believe me, I’ve read many and I know what I am talking about—is absolutely superb. I don’t say this lightly.
Resume review…
Quote: Tabasco sauce with lube—seriously can’t stop laughing.
Arielle and Jackson encounter a crowd of fledgling vampires, created by Eliro. A very cool chapter that shows their meeting and an unfortunate occurrence at the end of the scene.
Called back to the police department by Chief Anders, Arielle and Jackson find out that the bodies in the morgue aren’t keeping still anymore…
Following Eliro’s trace, Arielle and Jackson locate the killer. A confrontation takes place, one I won’t go into details over. I enjoyed this scene as great visuals came into play when Arielle searches for ‘something’. A nicely drawn scene.
In the same chapter I’m taken from one kind of action to another. The love scene between Jackson and Arielle was very well done. With well-placed hints of humour, they couple, and by the end of this chapter I am in tears. What a lovely, lovely, just damn lovely scene.
Epilogue—again, expertly done, I’ve gone from being terribly upset, crying, lump in the throat, snot a-dangling from my nose at the end of the last chapter, to heart beating, smile widening, stupid-ass tears of happiness in the epilogue.
WOW.
What an utterly fantastic read. I haven’t read a book that has affected me in this way for a while.
1.Will I search out Elisabeth Drake’s other titles?
Damn right I will.
2.Should you buy this book?
If you enjoy tales of vampires, of fast action, swirling emotions and being taken on an emotional rollercoaster—yes you should.
3.Have I stopped snotting all over my keyboard yet?
Only just. This is one of those books that, if you bring the sad scene back into your head at any time in the future, you’ll cry all over again at the memory of it.
I think you will have gathered that I loved this book. I can’t say any more than this:
BUY IT.
NOW.
