fantasy | areadersreviewblog

Vampire Wake is a brilliant book. With Keira back at Havensfield she is trying to come to terms with what happened at The Ragged Cove and get her life back on track. However, this is not as simple as it sounds! To begin with, there are not many people who believe her story and, therefore, her mind is occupied with trying to find any information she can on the whereabouts of her beloved mother and her Vampyrus friends: Luke, Murphy and Potter.

She is then asked to ‘babysit’ Lady Hunt’s sixteen year old daughter, Kayla, which Keira is reluctant to do at first but her thirst for work exceeds this reluctancy. Hence, life has not completely returned to normal for Keira but has provided her with something different to occcupy her time with.

Keira’s character is very alert and she is able to piece a puzzle/mystery together with her ability to ‘see’ details and process them very quickly. And it is this, coupled with her drive, determination and curiosity that makes Keira a really likeable character.

I have to say, after reading the first two novels of this series, that the character Potter is possibly my favourite. I love that his dark, impolite side can swiftly turn into cheekiness and that there is something more about him underneath his harshness. Although it is well hidden for the most part, he does appear to have a soft side.

I do feel that Vampire Wake is largely the set-up for book three, Vampire Hunt. There are more revelations in this second novel but after the build up and some brilliant action scenes the reader is left desperate to begin the third book, knowing that plenty more adventure and action scenes are on the way.

Again, there is a great connection to the readers’ reality as Tim O’Rourke writes with great imagination and knowledge of modern day Britain. For example, with current music being played on Keira’s iPod this aids the reader to connect with the characters of the book. It allows the story to have a hint of realism and therefore, makes it more believable.

I have begun reading Vampire Hunt, book three, and it does not disappoint!

Reviewed by Caroline Barker

Vampire Shift is a fascinating read. Set in a small, remote town in England with the main buildings being an inn, a police station and a church. It is surrounded by fields, cliffs and the sea. For some reason when visualising the fields and the inn I imagined the setting to be similar of that in ‘An American Werewolf in London’. The only difference being is that this novel is about vampires.

Keira was an interesting character from the beginning, having become a police officer so young and with high ambitions. When she decided to take on the murder cases and those of missing people in the Ragged Cove one of the first places for her to visit was, of course, the police station. With a very limited workforce and the sergeant sitting smoking a pipe and wearing slippers in this remote town, I couldn’t help but imagine ‘Heartbeat’ and ‘Hamish Macbeth’.

As the story unfolds it covers many readers favourite genres. For me, it began as a drama, turning into a thriller, horror, part romance and throughout is quite adventurous with a few action scenes in there too. It is an exciting read at a nice pace. There is always something interesting happening.

Tim O’Rourke’s love of modern music really shows as he mentions some songs and artists, including Adele. This gives the story a more current feel to it. However, with phone lines down, population low, and the remote setting it also feels quite eerie, with an older feel to the story too. The difference between the setting feeling older, but with modern characters and music is exciting.

Initially, I would have rated this novel four stars but towards the end something happened that I didn’t expect and I thought that it was slightly too much for the story. This may be ignorant on my part as there are more stories in this series and it could be that what I am referring to will pick up in the next book. Maybe I have been harsh and should have given this novel four stars as was intended.

I will be reading the sequel, ‘Vampire Wake’, next.

Reviewed by Caroline Barker