Tuesday 27 April 2010

Kiss of Death by Rachel Caine



"Claire Danvers has a few things on her mind. First of all there is the laundry, which is now an unfortunate shade of pink. Then there is her boyfriend, Shane, who is never far from her thoughts. Finally, there is her best friend Eve's relationship problems. As if life as a student wasn't complicated enough, Claire just happens to be studying in Morganville. A town run by vampires.
Trouble seems to follow Claire and her friends like a shadow and tonight is no exception to the rule. They must find the most difficult documents for a vampire to acquire; people passes that will allow 'bad ass' Morley and his friends to leave Morganville. But it's proving incredibly problematic, and with the odds seemingly stacked against them, the biggest question of all is...

Will they survive?"

This is the 8th book in the Morganville Vampires series. It's been a series that's been hit or miss for me, I've often read them and felt there was something missing. The previous book, Fade Out, I didn't much like at all, but I have a hard time dropping a series, even if I'm not much liking it any more. I'm glad I didn't, because this is one of my favourite Morganville books.

It starts out a little slow, with a couple things happening that seem unconnected to anything else in the book, and a little too much Eve/Michael and Shane/Claire. But by the 1/3 mark it picked up, and just got better. This book is really different because for the first time, the gang are outside of Morganville. They may not like it much, but they're used to Morganville rules, even Claire who only moved there a year or so ago. Living in Morganville changes you, and it's something these guys have to learn to deal with. But just because they're out of Morganville for a little while, doesn't mean the trouble stops following them. In no time at all, they're back in trouble, way over their heads. But whats new there?

Once it got going, I really did enjoy this book. It flowed well with a strong plot, and there were a couple things I really didn't see coming. I really liked Claire in this one, she really showed how strong she is and how much she's grown from the girl she was in Glass Houses when she was just arriving in Morganville. It was a tense ride towards the end, with some interesting character development and some surprising outcomes. Overall, definitely one of the best Morganville books to date. I'm now looking forward to the next one, Ghost Town, in November.

Rating: 8/10

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