"Refreshingly original"
State police officer Leo Hawk, once known as Lee Nez, is a
Navaho half vampire who frequently works with FBI agent
Diane Lopez who knows what he is and cares about him
anyway. They are called to a crime scene where three
people are staked and bite marks are on their neck. They
trace the works to a nearby top secret federal facility
where vampire Stewart Tanner, a full fledged vampire was
being held against his will. Experiments were conducted on him that were painful and
could be considered torture. Eventually he went insane and
when he was able to escape he killed his captors and is
now going after federal employees. Dianne and Lee are
assigned to the case and Lee has the best chance of
catching him even though he is only a half vampire and
Tanner is stronger and faster than him. As the body count
mounts, Lee knows he has to work faster to take Tanner
down but it is difficult when he has to hold back his true
nature because he is working with mortals that will use
him to experiment on if they discover he is a half vampire. Navaho culture is woven into the vampire legend and what
results is a fantastic storyline that is creatively
different than most vampire stories. Lee is a good man who
protects mortals from the evil vampires that want to kill
or turn humans. His sense of justice is strong and as a
result he recognizes that there are good vampires in the
world and he has no reason to go after them. PALE DEATH
will appeal to horror and mystery fans as well as those
who love to read tales that are refreshingly original. Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted September 15, 2005
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted January 22, 2007
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A string of mysterious, gruesome deaths in the Shiprock area has attracted the attention of FBI agent Diane Lopez, who is stunned to learn that one of the victims was a childhood friend. To Diane, the killer is unmistakably a vampire--but the only vampire she knows of is Lee Nez, a State Police officer who prefers his blood chilled in the refrigerator, not hot from someone's neck.
Supernatural explanations for the deaths abound--some believe they are the work of the "goatsucker" spirit, others that the killer is an extraterrestrial. Lee Nez, assigned to the case at Diane's request, privately agrees with her that there's a vampire on the loose, but announces that they are looking for a serial killer.
Lee and Diane discover that the victims all worked for a secret government lab that was studying a captured vampire, Stewart Tanner. Half-insane from being experimented on, Tanner broke free and took revenge on the doctors and technicians who had been torturing him.
Desperate to remain free, Tanner threatens to continue killing federal employees unless the US government agrees to leave him alone. In a violent confrontation, Tanner discovers that Lee is a vampire. Believing Lee is colluding with the government, Tanner vows to kill him.
Complicating matters, forensic specialist Dr. Victor Wayne, who began the case as a skeptic--believing Tanner had a rare blood disorder--has begun to believe in vampires. And has turned his attention on Lee . . . .
Trying to turn Dr. Wayne back into a skeptic while protecting federal workers, tracking down Tanner, and staying alive--or at least undead--taxes all of Lee Nez's abilities, natural and supernatural.
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