Although I think the idea behind this book holds a great deal of promise, the execution wasn't to my personal tastes. Not a horrible book, like some I've had the misfortune of reading, but not one of my top picks either.

-PT

This book held such promise....interesting twists on the tired vampire field, promising characters, good pace.
I was tempted to stop reading about 2/3 the way through. The dialogue was just terrible. (Should 'cliche cleansing' be a part of editing???)
The plot was just unbelievable - the town's response to vampires, the 'conspiracy', the conclusion, etc.
Save your time and money.... ( )

I could not finish this book. The basic idea for the story has promise, and some of the issues I had with this book probably were due to it being an ARC.

However, I just couldn't stand the main characters. The villains were creepy, but in an "ick" kind of way, instead of a scary one. There were plot holes you could drive a truck through, that I don't think would be cleared up by a final edit. Plus the overall tone came off as a military ad a lot of the time. ( )

Story, good. Action, good. Plot, decent. I enjoyed the story and could see it turned into a movie very easily. Good plot, the bringing back of three ancient (and turned to ash vampires) by making sacrifices to their ashes, using a drug to turn it's users into minions (basically)...not bad. However, I really didn't care about one single character in the whole book. I wasn't too concerned with whether they lived or died, killed or got killed. I liked the story, just didn't feel really invested in it... ( )

I received this book as part of the LT early reviewer program.

I love a good vampire novel. Not sparkling romantic vampires but the rip your throat out and drink your blood variety, so it comes as no surprise that I would enjoy this book. I found the plot to be inventive and at the same time grounded it solid vampire lore. When a wayward drug dealer distibutes a new drug to his goth clientel, he unwittingly kills them all, just to have them rise the next night as vampires. The only thing standing in the vampires way is a band of unusual allies, a disgraced soldier, the journalist who ruined him, a bookish academic and the drug dealer himself.

This band of characters was entertaining, and their individual links to the vampires were well thought out. I liked the backstory and villains that created the newly undead, and the settings from ancient Babylon and WWI to Basra and modern day London were smoothly transitioned. I felt the syntax was occasionally redundant and if I had to read about one more "cold heavy bladder" I think I would lose it, but when taken as a quick vampire tale it achieved it's goal. Lots of blood and very little romance! ( )