"Fantastic continuation of the Vampire Babylon Series!"
Our intrepid group of vampire hunters is now in London
after defeating the Underground in Hollywood. Of course,
the dynamics of the group have changed a bit since we left
them. Kiko is still struggling with his addiction to
painkillers; Dawn's mother is human again and aging; Breisi
is one of the friends; Frank—Dawn's father—is now a
vampire, as is Jonah/Costin. Dawn, however, is human again.
Now they don't know if Costin will even be able to leave
Jonah's body when the final showdown comes. Now, though, they're waiting on a contact of Costin's who
might have some knowledge of the London Underground. After
Costin talks with the woman over the phone, he informs the
group he will be offering her a job as a member of the
team. Dawn is aghast at the news. Of course, Dawn's trust
issues are even worse now after the fiasco with the
Hollywood Underground. How can Costin even consider such a
thing? And so Natalia becomes a member of their team. Turns
out, she's got a gift similar to Kiko's. Costin is hoping
the competition will snap Kiko out of his addiction. As it
stands now, Kiko isn't helping the team at all. Natalia has
had a "reading" from a certain area, so the team goes after
dark to check it out. What they find is the decapitated
corpse of a young girl. While they're digging out the body,
Dawn senses someone watching them. Finally, she catches a
glimpse of red eyes and the chase is on. Eventually, the
team ends up with the body of a young man in their morgue.
A very strange young man who has his heart on the right
side of his body instead of the left. At least now they
have a lead—trying to identify both the young man and the
decapitated body. Meanwhile, Dawn's relationship with Costin is just as
complicated as ever, especially with Jonah added into the
mix. Not that Jonah isn't getting tired of being a prisoner
inside his own body and wanting to come out more and more.
Just another complication the team really doesn't need. Will the team be able to find the London Underground? What
type of vampires will the team be dealing with? What of the
relationship between Dawn and Costin? Will it ever progress
beyond sex? A DROP OF RED is an outstanding addition to the VAMPIRE
BABYLON series. Chris Marie Green picks right up from BREAK
OF DAWN with this thrilling adventure. Not a stand-alone
book by any means, this just makes the series even better
to me as we get to watch the characters grow and change and
interact. And now we have a new member of the team,
Natalia, quite a person in her own right. A dark, gritty
tale with non-stop action all the way. This is one of my
favorite series and I just can't wait to see where Chris
Marie Green takes it next. And love the cat!
Reviewed by Chere Gruver
Posted March 6, 2009
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