A Song in the Dark

The latest Vampire Files novel came out in paperback at the beginning of October, and I finally picked it up last Saturday. Unlike some other vampire series I may have mentioned on this blog, this one keeps getting better and better. P. N. Elrod's style was good to start, and is now awesome. One change it a mite predictable: she realized that her vampire's hypnosis ability was a bit too powerful, and, naturally, it has now come down with a severe limitation. But still, awesome storyline, awesome characterization.

Basically, the vampire files are hardboiled detective stories that happen to have a vampire protagonist. It is possible to read any of them standalone, but you'll miss out on a lot of backstory that way. Anyway, in the 9th book, ol' Jack Fleming got caught up in a gang war, and messed him (and his head) up real bad. He's still got the shakes from it, and in the 10th he's still in charge until the local mob-leader recovers. And, hey, guess what? The New York mafiosos want to know what in the blazes that little snafu was all about and send down one of their own. Meanwhile, someone's going around killing the hired help, slashing Jack's tires, and generally making unlife even more miserable for him. Not that he needs the help. He's doing a pretty good job beating himself up when others don't. I will make one semi-spoiler comment: in a first-person narrative, if there are still fifty or so pages left, you're reasonably certain the narrator is going to survive. ;^D

Oddly, I can sort of relate to how Jack feels in this book. It's similar to the way I started feeling last February. Unfortunately, I didn't have an Escott to bludgeon me back to my senses. *shrugs* Thankfully, my case was much less extreme than Jack's. :^) And I'm quite glad it didn't involve someone trying to skin me alive. Though at times I think that might have been preferable...eh, probably not.