Bloodshot: 1 (Cheshire Red Reports 1) [Paperback]

I'm getting a little burned out on vampire fiction. Thanks to the horrendous Twilight series, it feels like every well-known author is squirting out at least one vampire book -- and most of them are pretty mediocre.

So I pinned my hopes on Cherie Priest (who has already mastered Southern gothic and steampunk) to inject some new blood into the genre that wouldn't bore me silly. "Bloodshot" is the kind of book I call "anti-Twilight" -- a sleek, sexy, gritty thriller with plenty of action, written in a kicky vibrant style. Oh yeah, this is what I want.

Professional vampire thief Raylene is hired by the urbane Ian Stott. Years ago, Ian was kidnapped by the government and experimented on, which caused him to go blind -- and now he needs the files from Project Bloodshot if he has any chance of reversing the condition. But when Raylene accepts the job, she immediately attracts some unwanted attention.

Her search for the files takes her on a cross-country trip, from classified government warehouses to drag queen nightclubs, with men in black following her wherever she goes. With Adrian deJesus (an ex-Navy SEAL drag queen), she sets out to destroy the secret operation once and for all... only to find that someone else is lurking in the shadows.

"Bloodshot" is not your average vampire book -- no Interview with the Vampire-style flashbacks, no wangsting about the woes of immortality, not much in the way of undead politics. By avoiding all the cliches that plague the urban fantasy genre, Cherie Priest ends up producing a sleek, shadowy little thriller that just happens to star a vampire.

Priest's writing glides along smoothly, with just the right amount of gritty realism, tightly-written action scenes, and a vibrant style (one of Raylene's cars is "painted over with a dark green that looked like pond slime at midnight"). Her dialogue is snappy and sharp, and Raylene displays just the right mix of arch wit and down-to-earth sensibility to make her fun to read about. The one downside: it's finished in a satisfactory manner, but a bunch of plot threads are left hanging for the inevitable sequel.

In fact, Raylene is a pretty fun character, period -- she's smart, experienced, ingenious, and has nerves of steel. She's a sort of technologically-adept Arsene Lupin, on a Robert Ludlum mission. And Priest rounds off the cast with two intriguing male leads -- there's the grumpy, feisty drag queen Adrian (aka "Sister Rose), and the elegant, intelligent Ian. Both of them better be in the next book!

"Bloodshot" is a refreshingly gritty, sleek thriller that just so happens to have a vampire, and Cherie Priest left me panting for whatever is next for Raylene.

I've just finished reading this book and must admit one thing: I WANT MORE! :)

The ride started off good, the pace was fast and fast enough to keep me glued and interested what will come next (?) somewhere around half way the pace goes high wire very fast until the end, and even as it finished I still want more, can't wait to grab Cherie Priest's other books.

To the story, shall we? The story is about a Vampire female name Raylene. Mind me I usually dislike female main characters but this one took me by surprise, Raylene is wild, almost nothing girly about her, and that's how I loved it, I don't think I would stand another standard vampire love story.

Raylene is a famous thief for rent, she is not sociable (I wouldn't call it anti-social because it's a bit different). One day she is employed by other vamp, which is rare, to steal some papers for him and here the story begins.

I don't want to spoil anything, so go on and read it and I am sure you won't be disappointed.

Bloodshot was a break from the kind of work I've previously read by Cherie Priest.
I've read the Clockwork Century books before and got my Steampunk groove on, but this....this book is different.

Good different.

If someone told me I'd be reading (and enjoying) a story that included a female vampire who also happened to be a very accomplished thief for hire and a twisted tale including an ex-Navy Seal who's now a drag queen then I probably would have told them something not very nice. However, that is exactly what I have just done. The writing style is written in a punchy, modern, first person tale telling perspective and it really works. I'm not wanting to give away too much, but you certainly get a taste of some interesting issues. Luckily, the sequel, Hellbent, is already on my Amazon Wishlist ;-)

Read this if you'd like to read a tale of an adventurous tale of modern vampirism in the US. Read this if you think Cherie Priest writes good stuff and you want more ;-)