 "More of a crime novel than a vampire novel." | 2008-06-02 |
| - Reviewed By karissa35 |
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 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.
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 "First in Vampire PI series" | 2007-07-31 |
| - Reviewed By kentish_bookworm |
PN Elrod's "Jack Fleming, Vampire PI" series is a great read with humour and a fantastic setting in 1930s Chicago with film noir aspects. The story begins with Jack Fleming waking up having crawled out of the sea. No sooner has he staggered to the road when a passing driver clips him with his bumper - clearly on purpose. Jack finds himself in discussion with the car driver and discovers that he is supposed to be dead, killed because he wouldn't tell people where an important list was hidden.
Jack realises pretty quickly that he has become a vampire. Fortunately he knows about the vampire life, having had a vampire girlfriend previously, and he prepares his life accordingly (fetching some of his home earth, finding somewhere safe to sleep the day, feeding from the stockyards). Elrod gives her own particular selection of traits to vampires - garlic, crosses and invitations into rooms don't work, disappearing, extra strength and glamour do. What's fun about this story is that we learn about Jack's skills and nature as he does and because he's clearly not evil, just a pleasant and friendly ex-reporter who wants to get to the bottom of his own death.
Chicago is a city of gangsters and other dodgy types in this story and Jack falls foul of several of them. What's great about Jack as a character is that if he were fully human he would have died multiple times as he really isn't quite up to dealing with these characters. However his vampire nature gets him out of a lot of sticky situations and also enables him to have a great time scaring some of the people who were involved in his death. Assisted by the trusty Charles Escot, a brave private agent and sometime actor, the two of them try to find out why Jack was killed and what was on the list. In the course of their investigations Jack meets Bobbi, girlfriend to one of the gangsters and a surprisingly phlegmatic person who seems able to cope with his vampiric nature.
There are a lot of amusing jokes and allusions to various books and films which went over the head of this relatively young English reader but that didn't matter as the story was always enjoyable. The best parts are when Jack is 'haunting' his killers but the fun is interspersed with some serious moments as he slowly begins to remember all that they did to him and to come to terms with his new nature.
This is an excellent first story in the series and Jack is a great new character, both as a vampire and also as a slightly hapless investigator. |
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 "Great Vampire Noir" | 2006-04-03 |
| - Reviewed By User: A34D68F7HDFS0Z |
Since my return to reading, as far as vampire novels are concerned, I've had one hit and one miss: "Pandora's Game" by Christopher Andrews was a big hit, while "Minion" by L. A. Banks was a big miss. I am pleased to say that "Bloodlist" by P. N. Elrod falls closer to the "Pandora's Game" side of the line.
While Andrews gave us a modern day vampire tale with some chapters flashing back to hundreds of years ago, Elrod has given us a vampire tale set against the backdrop of a 1930's noir detective story. Told in first person POV, the main character, Jack Flemming, is technically an out of work reporter, but the mood and plot are handled as though he were Philip Marlow.
Set up as the first in an on going series, "Bloodlist" covers Flemming's rise as a vampire, his exploration of his new found powers, and, with his last few living days missing from his memory, his attempts to solve his own murder. There is a storyline that is part subplot, part back story involving the woman who made him into a vampire, but that gets little attention here.
My only complaint would be in regards to one of the vampire's powers, or limitations. We're shown that crosses, garlic, and bullets do not affect him, while wood, sunlight, and running water do. Now, I've read before about vampires "unable to cross running water" or "being vulnerable to running water." Indeed, in this book, the presence of and proximity to running water is addressed repeatedly (including an unexplained phenomenon where the vampire's presence in a row boat makes it more difficult to row?).
But at the beginning of the book, he awakens having been washed ashore. Wouldn't the large body of moving water, which DOES affect him at other times in the book, have destroyed him even as he was created as a vampire? This element is addressed a LITTLE bit near the end, but for me, it was too little too late by that point, as I had spent too many pages thinking of it as a plot hole.
But otherwise, Elrod handles the story with impressive skill, and I look forward to reading more Jack Flemming books in the future.
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| "Vampires and Mystery, Wonderful!" | 2005-08-22 |
| - Reviewed By User: A5EGWIIJCFLO2 |
| I have read PN Elrod's 'The Vampire Files' many, many times. The series is a wonderful and lively one that hooked me becasue I like vampires, and snagged me into loving mystery stories. I wish these sold in hardcover, or better yet, a movie! |
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| "Entertaining Vampire Adventure" | 2004-07-01 |
| - Reviewed By cbaker8887 |
| Book Review by C. Douglas Baker If you like comic book quality action/adventure with a bit of the supernatural thrown in you will like Bloodlist, Book One of The Vampire Files. Bloodlist cannot really be considered part of the horror genre because, really, it isn't that scary. That is unless an inept vampire getting riddled with bullet holes and blundering into trouble constantly constitutes "horror". Set in a gangster ridden Chicago, circa late 1930's, Jack Fleming, an unemployed reporter, is murdered. Jack comes back as a vampire as a result of an extended affair with a vampire, Maureen. He likens vampirism to a disease that is not contagious and is hard to catch or "we would be up to our armpits in vampires". The mysterious Maureen has inexplicably disappeared, leaving an obvious opening for the next book in the series. But I digress. Jack has been murdered by gangsters but his post-transformation amnesia leaves him with few clues as to why he was murdered; so he snoops around. Along the way he runs into a personable private eye, Charles Escott. Together they try to unravel the mystery, rather clumsily if the truth be known. Both are rather worse for the wear by the end of the adventure. And the mystery is really solved by....well, lets not spoil it. Bloodlist certainly is not great literature but it is rather fun. Characterization is surprisingly well done and while the plot is not exceptional it does keep the reader's interest. If you want a relaxing read where little mental energy has to be expended and the story is both humorous and fast paced, then check out Bloodlist. On the other hand, if you are still searching for the next coming of Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles steer well clear. |
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| "Vampire vs the Chicago mobsters" | 2003-06-18 |
| - Reviewed By johnweber1 |
| Bloodlist is the first in a series of Jack Flemming, a reporter/writer turned Vampire in the midst of the post prohibition times of Chicago. Although Capone is in prision, mobsters still rule the streets, run the illegal gambling halls and have the cities polititions in their back pockets. Turf wars continue, revenge is a household word, and the various gangs are still as greedy for money and power as ever. They kill when they have to and know how to work the system. The one thing they've never come across is a real live Vampire. Jack Flemming, only one day in Chicago has his life totally turned around and due to incidents in his past history turns into one of the undead. Jack's Vampire powers are somewhat different than those you will find in most of the other books featuring Vampires, and it is these very powers that make this book as entertaining as it is. P.N. Elrod provides a nice blend of gangsters, mystery, violence, comedy, and the supernatural powers of a Vampire. The book moves along quickly and is action packed starting from the first paragraph. This is an easy series to get hooked on. |
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