Bloodlist

I was reading My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon, and was entertained enough by the short story Her Mother's Daughter, to check out the series it was based on. Jack Fleming wakes up after being killed with no memory of who did it. There is plenty of action, danger, and a little humor as he tries to figure out how to deal with finding out he's a vampire, and who 'killed' him. I liked his friendship with Charles Escott, a British Private agent, too.

I’ve been meaning to get to this for years, and I’m glad I took it for a spin. The reader, Barrett Whitener, was quite good, with the exception of the English accent he did for Escott. I didn’t have to speed it up much to get the flow I wanted.

This is a fun take on vampires, and I’m up for reading another. I love the buddy cop vibe Fleming has with Escott, the tough guy talk from the 30’s setting, and the neat powers Fleming has. For a vampire, he’s a pretty good egg.

Wry, noir tone in 1930s Chicago setting but with an unusual character - Newsman Jack Fleming wakes up dead and immortal. But he's still a down-to-earth guy who wants justice for his murder, accompanied by a vivid group of friends he makes along the way as he deals with the case and his new status as undead.

(Amy) Hallowe'en was coming up when I grabbed this off the shelf, so I figured it was time for some vampire fiction. Actually, that was just an excuse - from time to time, I'm just in the mood for vampires. I'd blame Buffy, but really, it predates my watching of that show by quite a bit. I think it's part of the same thing that makes me enjoy re-told fairy tales - I like seeing what various authors do with the assorted vampire legends out there, taking the bits and pieces they like and discarding the rest.

This one is a little less exploratory than some I've read. Crosses and garlic are out, but pretty much the gamut of Other Vampire Schtick is in. Which was actually kind of nice - it's been a long time since I've read about a vampire show more with the running-water aversion and ability to discorporate. Kind of quaint.

But enough meta-talk. The basic plot here is that our protagonist wakes up dead one evening, with no memory of how he got that way, and a driving need to hunt down his killer and return the favor. Which is a neat twist, really. It's mostly a detective story with a vampire in it, which I suppose I expected, given the PI hat the guy on the cover is wearing (the fact that it's set in 1930s Chicago is a bit of a tip, too). I'm not, by and large, a fan of detective stories, but I suspect I'll pick up the next one of these at some future point, at least until I run out of the ones I already own (six of them, Librarything tells me, though I can't be bothered at the moment to find out if they're consecutive). We shall see at that point if I'm hooked enough to keep going.
( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/zenos-library/2007/11/bloodlist-pn-elrod.html ) show less

Bloodlist by P.N. Elrod is the first book in the Vampire Files series. The story is set in a gangster-dominated Chicago of the 30s, and revolves around Jack Fleming, a vampire. In Vampire Files #1, Jack wakes up and realizes that he is dead, and a vampire. He has to work out what happened, and why, and learn the new rules that govern a vampire's life. The tone is wry, the story is interesting, the premise is intriguing, and the supporting cast of characters add to the fun. This is a good twist on a couple of old themes - noir fiction & vampire tale -- and they work well together.

Jack says it best of all:

"I've always had a weak spot for strange ladies. One very beautiful girl had even warned me that she was, get this, a vampire. But show more did I listen? No.

Before you know it, I'm being chased by an ugly thug with a gun, and a bullet blasts its way through my back, and, believe it or not, nothing happened. I survived! How? You guessed it. I, Jack Fleming, ace reporter, have been transformed into a vampire, which has its advantages. You never die, you never grow old, you sleep all day, and, best of all, you can hunt down your own murderer." show less

Fun paranormal noir mystery set in Chicago during the Depression. None of the characters is particularly original -- down on his luck reporter, private investigator, crime lords and thugs of various descriptions, femme fatale -- but the author combines them in creative ways.The narration style is deadpan, which works OK for the protagonist's voice, but doesn't work very well for some of the other characters' voices, especially the PI, who is supposed to have an English accent and, well, doesn't.

Bloodlist is the first book on the Vampire Files series by P.N. Elrod. They all feature newly turned vampire Jack Flemming. This book was okay. A bit different from what I was expecting based on the few short stories I've read featuring Jack Flemming. I listened to this on audio book; and the audio book was very well done.

Jack Flemming wakes up dead on a beach, or should I say undead. Someone has murdered him and, because of his association with a female vampire in his past, instead of dying Jack has turned into a vampire. With the help of the ever-curious private investigator Charles Escott; Jack and Charles try to track down Jack's history to find out who murdered Jack and why. This whole book takes place in Chicago in the 1930's and show more deals a lot with the gangs that were big during that time and with the Depression.

This book is written in a horror/mystery style. The book itself is very much a mystery/crime story. The writing is gory and fairly dark. There was a lot of action in the story; which was fun to read. Although I found Jack's vampiric powers to be pretty basic, traditional, and uninteresting. Although Jack makes good use of his powers some of the time, there are many times though where he doesn't use his powers and this lack of use doesn't really make sense. I didn't really like Jack much as a character. In the short story I read about Jack, Jack was much lighter and funnier than in this book. Charles is a hoot though and I really liked him.

I was waiting for some twists in the story or *something* to surprise me. Nothing really did though. This is a solid crime novel involving a vampire with slightly special powers. There is a lot of violence and dealing with gangsters. If that's your thing you would really like this book. Unfortunately I was looking for something a little more fantasy/sci fi and this book was surprisingly mundane in that area. The writing is fine, nothing special but nothing horrible either. I do not know if I will read any more books in this series or not. It will depend on what else I have to read. show less