Lifeblood

I described Elrod's BLOODLIST, Book One of The Vampire Files as "comic book quality action/adventure with a bit of the supernatural thrown in". LIFEBLOOD, Book Two of The Vampire Files, is more of the same. LIFEBLOOD continues the saga of Jack Fleming, former reporter, part-time private detective, full-time vampire.

LIFEBLOOD brings back all the key characters from the previous novel and the story pretty much picks up where BLOODLIST left off. We find Fleming still searching for the elusive Maureen, his lost love. We also discover more of Maureen's past and why she fled from Fleming in New York. Jack meets Maureen's sister, now a gnarled and bitter old woman, after she responds to his advertisement in the personal column. This meeting marks the beginning of a life and death struggle for Jack. He is chased by two comical and inept vampire hunters who Fleming, not always so swift himself, easily dupes. But he also runs into a more diabolical and intelligent foe who nearly kills him.

LIFEBLOOD is actually better than the first novel because it is much funnier and the plot is less thin. Escott plays a key role in his investigation of Maureen's past and once again has to save Fleming's vampiric hide (which I guess is kind of a spoiler but you knew he would pull through, right?). Elrod again does a nice job of providing humor and creating entertaining characters. And Fleming continues to have an unfortunate proclivity for getting shot in the head or otherwise severely mangled. It all makes for good if not clean (blood stains) fun.

"Lifeblood" ups the ante a bit from the first book in "The Vampire Files." Elrod has a much better feel for the bad guys (and gals) this time around that she did with the gangsters. The practical side of being a vampire has been pretty much worked out in terms of what parts of what everybody knows about vampires, courtesy of Bram Stoker's "Dracula," are actually true. But what I like is that the practical realities of being a vampire are central to the story Elrod is telling. There is also a harder edge to this story, with the more gruesome elements balancing the comic confrontations a bit more than in the previous volume. It is clear that we are in the beginning of a lengthy tale to be told and I appreciate a writer who wants to take their time in telling their tale well.

In "Bloodlist", the first book of the Vampire Files series, Jack was in the unique position of being able to track down his own murderers while gaining experience in his new "life" (I use the term loosely, here). In the first book he teamed up with an actor-turned-P.I. named Charles, and the two formed a mutually beneficial relationship: Jack's strength, heightened senses and ability to disappear aided Charles's investigations, while Charles had the helpful ability to move freely about in daylight. The pair are back again in the second in the series, "Lifeblood".

This time around Jack is getting more comfortable with his new condition, but is trying to find his lost lover, Maureen, who mysteriously disappeared 5 years ago. The search for her is suddenly complicated by Maureen's estranged (and possibly dangerous) sister and two bumbling-yet-dangerous vampire hunters who think Jack is some hideous creature of the night. Nothing could be farther from the truth as Jack is an extremely likeable character. He does not feed on humans, preferring cattle at the stockyards with occasional horse blood for treat, he has a girlfriend, and he even sends money home to his parents. Jack is the sort of supernatural creature you would actually LIKE to have as a friend.

Set in Chicago towards the end of the Depression when Capone is in jail but crime lords still rule the city, The Vampire Files is a truly wonderful new genre: hardboiled vampire detective fiction. In the style of great detective stories like "Maltese Falcon", there are a lot verbal jabs and wisecracks in addition to sudden plot twists that keep you guessing. The characters are sometimes a little stylized, like film-noir-- Jack's girlfriend is a nightclub singer who used to perform in a gig called The Nightcrawler, and there's of course the big bruiser of a hitman with nerves like taught piano wire-- but this adds to the drama and flavor of the book and makes it more period and believable.

The writing is excellent and the plot clips along at a fast pace that immediately draws in the reader. The story is fun and unusual with a vampire-cum-investigator as its main character, so even if you're not into vamp novels, you are easily drawn in. This is a series of books, and it's best to begin with #1, "Bloodlist" and work your way through the books. You COULD start here with #2, "Lifeblood", but you'd be missing out on a lot of history, characters and insight into Jack himself. Ms. Elrod doesn't spend much time rehashing what has happened before, so someone new to the series picking it up halfway through won't get all the subtle references.

All in all, I really enjoy this series and highly recommend it!!

P.N. Elrod's series about Jack Fleming is in the hard-boiled detective genre. Fleming is a good guy (although with worries about his own ethics). Fleming is a former journalist (before he died), now working as a sidekick to a private investigator. The series takes place in the Chicago of the '30s, after Al Capone is locked up, but before the Depression ends. Criminal gangs are still a big force in Chicago. Besides Jack and his boss, various criminal mobs, and police both honest and corrupt, are recurring characters in the series. So is Jack's girlfriend, Bobbi, a nightclub singer. Jack drinks blood, but it doesn't have to be human- he uses cows at the Stockyards usually, and likes horses as a treat. He does, however, also drink a little from his girlfriend during sex. Sex is discreet and not too frequent in the series- no explicit details; this is a detective series, not a romance. Jack has a few supernatural powers associated with being a vampire: the usual ones of being stronger and faster than humans, and he also can turn invisible and float through walls. He must sleep during the day, on his native earth - but garlic and crosses don't bother him. There aren't any other kinds of supernatural characters in the series. As befits the detective genre, there is a certain amount of wisecracking in the dialogue; Jack can be a smart-ass sometimes, and the criminals can be inadvertently funny. Overall, the series is a well-done version of the genre, each book being easy to read and most of the characters being well-described and thought out.

The second book in the series gives us more information about Jack's first love, Maureen, who turned him into a vampire, and who has been missing for several years. We also learn more about Jack's own family. One caution for new readers: if you haven't read the first book in the series, go back and read it - this series pretty much has to be read in order. Unlike many series, the action in each book here is not separated by some unwritten-about period; the action in each book picks up quite soon after the previous book, often as early as the next day - or night. This book has more than one plot going on; besides the search for Maureen, and meeting with an unusual member of her family, there are also a couple of vampire-hunters after Jack. The vampire hunters are a bit two-dimensional, stereotyped characters - a simple minded young bumpkin following an older religious fanatic. Jack is disgusted with how many people seem to buy every word that Bram Stoker wrote. Hey, Jack's a nice guy, not a villain- he calls his mother regularly, sends money home to help his parents out, and does his best to live as normal a life as one of the undead can! When he kills someone in this book, he is worried, because even though the guy deserved killing, and had tried to kill Jack (ha!), Jack doesn't want to become a killer himself. His worries about the ethics of his condition are interesting to follow.