This is one of those books I started off getting only a few pages into and laughing manically at from the get go. It's not bad, it's just over the top and feeling like a bit of a try hard. What my mind went to off the bat was this reads a lot how Will Smith's I Am Legend plays. You see a good book that had a deep plot and a lot to it become a bad ass show with absolutely nothing to it besides an actor who sells and a lot of violence and empty charm. Blood and Bullets however, is a book you can buy for a DOLLAR at the dollar store, if you expect more than some bad ass try hard tough as uncooked grits bull with zombies thrown in, I think the problem is you, not the book. In one paragraph the book tells us what we're going to get and we either put it down or pick it up. It offers nothing but hilarious scenes, comedy gold, and moments I'm sure I'm supposed to take serious.

If I ever finish the book (have to keep taking breaks due to laughing so hard) I will list my favorite parts and so on, but as it stands, you buy this book expecting everything a typical movie like I Am Legend, Crank, Crank: High Voltage, or any other western has to offer.

From cover to back you should know what's being handed to you and buckle up your seat belts, throw out believably, and get some tissues because this is dang funny! ( )

Let's get one thing straight, right off the bat. I am not a girlish person. I love bad-ass heroes and heroines who risk their necks to save the day. Blood and gore don't phase me in the slightest. In fact, if a vicious baddie happens to die in a particularly gruesome way, I might actually applaud! That is the type of reader I am. I appreciate it all, especially if it's telling me one hell of a story.

That being said, Blood and Bullets definitely sated my need for a good, old fashioned, violent romp through some baddies. Deacon Chalk is the type of character who kicks butt now, and asks questions later. Much later. James R. Tuck weaves a story that pits Deacon against vampires of all shapes and sizes. I absolutely loved the twist that he put on the final villain. Bullets fly, blood is spilled, redemption is had. This is a book that unabashedly grabs you by the shoulders, straps you into a chair, and keeps you there until the final page is read. It's fast. It's furious. It's pretty damn awesome.

However my gripe over everything else? Deacon himself. The story line was fantastic, and ran at a breakneck pace. It kept me reading. Still I would have liked it so much more if it wasn't for Deacon's character. I'd describe him as a man's man. Again I state I'm not against men like this normally, but Deacon is a bit over the top. He fights to the death, he cusses up a storm, he loves his guns like they were his children. On top of all of that he is extremely vain at times, and manages to be so repetitive in certain areas that it drove me mad. Overall? He broke the book for me.

As a reader who is very big on character development, I just felt like there wasn't any saving grace to Deacon's character. I saw that James R. Tuck tried to give him a family background and make me, as the reader, empathize with him. I appreciated that but it didn't help my relationship with him. It's probably just my opinion and I admit that! In fact, I gave this book to a male friend of mine who is devouring it as we speak and loving each and every minute of it. Hey, Deacon is a man's man! I don't doubt there are plenty of people out there who will love him.

At the end of the day, Blood and Bullets is an entertaining read with some fantastic twists and turns. I see that James R. Tuck is an amazing writer and I look forward to more books by him. I'm just not sure I'll be visiting Deacon's world again. Still, give this a shot! It's a great example of what good Urban Fantasy really is. Prepare yourself, you're in for a ride. ( )

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: Blood and Bullets Series: Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter Author: James Tuck Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Paranormal Pages: 350 Synopsis: Deacon Chalk is a haunted man. Vampires killed his family years ago and that set him on the path of so many other Hunters. Deacon rescued an angel and died because of it. Now he has angel essence to help him in his fight. Today, somebody ambushed Deacon, with 50 vampires. Deacon doesn't know of anybody, or anything, strong enough to do that! My Thoughts: This was really a 4 star read for me, except for the following two items. 1) The F-word was dropped way more liberally than I was really comfortable with 2) The "almost" sex scenes. I don't need sex thrown in to make a book interesting. Tell me a good adventure story instead. If more paranormal was written like this, I'd probably be reading more of it. I really liked the intro where Deacon name drops a bunch of other fictional vampire hunters. I only got about 1/2 of them, but that was a fun tidbit. Non-stop, adrenalin pumping action. Ambush, rescue and finally, Destruction! Deacon talks a lot and I could see that getting on peoples' nerves, but besides two instances of almost word for word repeat of info [one about guns and the other tattoos], I found it quite bearable. The whole "my wife and kids are dead" angst thing was done just enough but not too much. I didn't feel like rolling my eyes at it, which means it was done right. I did like the twist about the Wandering Jew and his connection to vampires. The so-called theology was thrown in to explain some stuff but it was so empty that I couldn't even find the "harrumph" to lambast the shallow triteness of it. And the smoking, drinking, womanizing, super killer/exorcist priest is old hat. EVERY vampire hunter knows one of those! Overall, enjoyable with some edges I didn't care for and would cause me to not out right recommend this series. I will be, however, reading the next 2 books in the series. Guess I'll be finding out if this is a trilogy or a series. Oh, and that series name. It is way to long. Just call it Deacon Chalk, kind of like I did *wink* " ( )

4.5/5
Narcissistic and overly repetitive with descriptions. However, the core of this book - high octane action, some sly humour and almost comic book-like characters is undeniably entertaining.

I would say Deacon Chalk is some sort of a mix reminiscent of early Anita Blake, Sin City and Split Second. Deacon is a Southern gentleman through and through, very gentle with women, covered in tattoos and looking very bad-ass. His admission of being irresistible to a certain type of ladies, and a very scary vampire lusting after him frankly made me giggle. A lot of cheese in this book made me giggle.

There are also cheeky passages like this...

Vampires seem to inspire the most monster fighting in this world, probably because of all the books and movies about them. I have taken out my fair share of vamps, but it is not the only thing I do. There are few proclaimed vampire slayers and they range all kinds. Anita out in St. Louis, but she has a lot of stuff going on, not just vampire executions. Cat and Bones run their crew killing vampires and do a fine job of it. I hear whispers about the Blue Woman now and again, but it’s hard to pull the fact from the fiction on that one. There’s some folks in California. L.A. and a small town east of it, who do mostly vampire slaying, but I haven’t met them yet. The black guy and old man combo who roam around do nothing but vampires, but from what I hear they have a personal stake in it, so to speak. Sam and Dean will tussle with a vampire, but usually they are chasing down daemons.

Admit it, that was pretty funny. Unfortunately the humour is toned down in the book and is more prominent in the short story. I would have loved to have more of things like that...

“What if it is a pterodactyl?” I started walking again, throwing back my best Roy Scheider impression. “Then we’re gonna need a bigger gun.”

The sidekicks are fun, the villains are very villanous. Deacon himself owns a stripclub which supplements his monster hunting, and all the girls there have their personal guns and always ready to rock-n-roll. The hatred towards all vampires is very refreshing, and the cavalier attitude reminds me of Joss Whedon.

Give it more humour, less repetition, and the series will shine. I'm certainly interested in reading more about Deacon and Co. mis/adventures. ( )

So damnable and damned good! Deacon is just one hell of a badass! I wonder if we'll get his back story? Am re-reading all five stories and prepping myself for more alpha male goodness with the next full length novel coming in March.

This was a great intro to the Deacon hotness who is filled with just enough angel badassery to keep things that go bump...and thump...and some who go chomp in the night at bay! Wow on action! ( )