By Jeanne C. Stein.
Anna Strong is a 30-year-old bounty hunter who gets raped and turned into a vampire by one of the skips she's tracing. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the doctor on shift when she comes in is also a vampire, and recognizes the signs of what's happening. And Dr. Avery offers to mentor her... in alllll the ways, if you know what I mean, hubba hubba. Anna is warned that (a) she really should kill her maker, Donaldson, because he's a rogue killer and makes them all look bad, and (b) a group known as the Revengers are out to kill all vamps and will suspect her of being one specifically. Soon enough Anna's being chased, her house is burned down, and her business partner gets kidnapped-- but why? Anna is left to figure it out before her partner gets killed.
Overall, my thoughts:
Anna is a pretty good character. At least, she doesn't deserve the "cross between Queen Betsy and Anita Blake" reference on the back cover of this book, because she doesn't have anything in common with the former and isn't nearly hitting the levels of power-ups and whoriness of Anita-- yet, at least. She is tough and smart. And while the case itself is kind of a weak one-- let's just say there's not a whole lot of suspects here to choose from-- Anna is smart enough to figure it out and how to handle the situation.
The nature of vampirism: I dunno. Some of it is awfully convenient-- like San Diego vampires can wander about in the sun without any problem-- and other things seem like they'd be hard to cover up, like a lack of reflection. Oh yeah, and vamps only need to feed monthly (from a live person, but they'll get whopping orgasmic pleasure from it), so that's nice.
The menfolks: This series is trying to set up a Love Triangle, but frankly, neither side is very good. Dr. Avery pretty much gave me the heebie-jeebies from the getgo so I was never into him or rooting for him, and Anna's supposed boyfriend of two years, Max, is BARELY in the book because he's undercover DEA. Anna claims to love him and be faithful to him, but uh... well, there's a reason someone thought of Anita Blake when reading this book. And given how rarely the two see each other and for how long, it sounds like they are more fuckbuddies than anything else, so big whoop. I don't know enough of him to care about him. So as a romance, if it's supposed to be one, the book fizzles.
I'll give it three stars. I've read better, but it's not too bad.
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