A librarian and self-defined geek girl starts rebuilding her life after escaping from a bad relationship. But the people around her are dying like flies and the murders look to be the work of vampires. When her new boyfriend is added to the list of victims she decides to do whatever it takes to unmask the killers and put an end to the deaths.
What it takes is teaming up with an awkward and shy ‘new’ vampire, a friendship that has her debating whether or not the price of immortality is worth the cost and deciding if she is willing to pay that price.
This story had a lot going for it. The idea of unrelieved ennui of immortality, the mental limitations of the undead and poor fashion sense were all new twists on the old vampire theme. And the moral dilemma of whether or not to become a vampire was presented and addressed well.
But it also let itself down on two main points. One, the complicated and dysfunctional family relationships. These were at first a vital and well integrated part of the story, showing us why the heroine was who she was and setting up plot elements. But the emphasis on her troubled childhood and her ongoing family issues got old very quickly. I’ve never had a lot of sympathy for people whose main complaint in life is that Mummy and Daddy didn’t love me enough and, for all the loss of her siblings, that’s what her major life issue is. It reached the point where I wanted to slap her and say throw your parents out of your life and get some therapy, you’re an adult now.
And two, the setting. This story is set in Melbourne and the fact is rammed down our throats. It is one thing to add in details for a bit of local colour but there’s a fine line between grounding the story in space/time and a geography lesson and this book crosses that line one too many times for me. For example rather than just say the character was heading to the unfashionable end of Chapel St the author goes on about the history of the Astor theatre and the decommissioned church that is now a gym across the road. As far as I know her facts are correct but since neither of these places play a role in the story it seemed superfluous to mention them in such detail. Either readers will know where she means and so have no need of this level of detail or they won’t know the area in which case all the detail in the world isn’t going to help them place it. Sometimes less is more. This should have been one of those times.
This isn’t a bad story. The twist is hidden almost until it is revealed and it contains some new and unusual variations on the vampire legend. Unfortunately the positives never really outbalanced the negatives for me. Sorry if you liked this one Alex but I’ll not be bothering with Narelle Harris again.-Lynn
For Alex's review, click here
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