Blood Pact (1993)

This was an enjoyable read as were all of the "blood" books from Ms. Huff.

Vickie Nelson is a former Toronto detective, forced to quit when her eyes begin to fail due to a degenerative disease.

Mike was her police partner and on again-off again lover. When tempers flared between these two, all was right with the world, usually.

Henry Fitzroy is the bastard son of King Henry VIII, and a vampire. He's also, in a real sense, one of Vickie's lovers. (Mike being the other)

After fighting demons, mummies, and more in the first three books, Tanya Huff takes us through a nightmare all it's own.
Vickie receives the fateful call every child dreads, regardless of age. Her mother is dead of an apparent heart attack. Of course, this would be the end for most books, but for Blood Pact, it becomes the beginning as Vickie, Mike, and Henry team up to find out who or what killed Vickie's Mother.

You see, at the funeral, it is discovered that the body of the late Mrs. Nelson has disappeared. Henry, with his other-worldly sense of smell can tell that it involves something to do with death, other than Vickie's mother. There is something dark and afoot in Kensington, ON, Canada where Vickie's mother lived and died.

What I found interesting about this thriller/mystery is that it was almost believable to me in many ways. Perhaps not the vampire, but the crux of the story itself with seeming sane scientist, bizarre experiments and such. I found myself cheering the demise of several characters, and teary eyed at others.

This is an enjoyable book to read, but I recommend not reading it right before bed if you have nightmares easily.
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In Huff’s fantasy novel, private investigator Vicki Nelson receives the call no daughter ever wants to get, the call reporting her mother’s death. Cause of death is a heart attack and Mrs. Nelson’s coworker stands by while Vicki plans the funeral. What started out as a painful personal tragedy quickly turns into the most terrifying case of Vicki’s paranormal career. When Marjory Nelson’s body mysteriously disappears from the funeral home, Vicki, vampire friend Henry Fitzroy, and Detective Mike Celluci realize there was something unnatural about her mother’s death. Swearing she’ll find the culprit, Vicki is determined to lay her mother to rest. What Vicki hadn’t banked on was that someone at Queen’s University, her mother’s place of employment, was determined to keep Mrs. Nelson on the job—eternally.

A suspenseful story that deals with a lot of emotional content, and concludes with a real surprise for fans of the series. ( )

This is the fourth and strongest of Huff's series. This isn't the last, there's one more, Blood Debt, but this feels like the series conclusion with the last an afterthought. Like many works of urban fantasy, this involves a tough heroine who moves in a supernatural world. However, unlike characters such as LK Hamilton's Anita Blake or Harris' Sookie Stackhouse, the central character of this series, Vicki Nelson not only isn't superpowered--she's handicapped--losing her sight, forcing her to leave the police force. She makes a living now as a private investigator--helped by Mike Celluci, who is still on the Toronto police force. Oh, and Henry Fitzroy, who happens to be a 450 year old vampire--and based on a real historical figure, Henry VIII's illegitimate son.

Otherwise Henry is along fairly traditional vampire lines. Super-strong, nearly unaging, needs to feed on human blood, sleeps during the day. No sparkle, no animal to call or mysterious sexual powers, but one of the good guys rather than a monster. And he's solitary because of a vampiric territorial imperative, so there's no vampire society to play off of. So the appeal of the series is more the relationship and romantic triangle as Mike and Henry vie for Vicki's affections and their various adventures dealing with the supernatural. The first book involved demons, the second werewolves, the third mummies--and now in this book it's zombies--with a Frankenstein twist. The personal stakes in this one are high for Vicki. Towards the beginning of the book Vicki learns her mother died. And when a friend of her mother wants one last look and they open the casket at the viewing, they find someone has stolen the body.

I felt tremendous sympathy for Vicki in this book. She can come across as abrasive, and she's so stubbornly independent it nears recklessness at times. In the book before this one I was finding myself not liking her much. She gains a lot of ground back in this book, not only because we learn things about her that make her more understandable, but Huff portrays the whole process of grief and loss so well I found myself very much identifying with her and her loss. Of all the blood books, this was the one that was the most moving.

Although I agree with those reviewers who devoutly wished that Vicki would get her glasses better fitted and that someone would cut off Mike's curl before we have to hear about it one more time... ( )

awesome ebook/audiobook ( )

Easy reading or listening. ( )