Book Review: Blood Oath by Christopher Fransworth

Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth
Putnam
390 Pages
Copyright 2010

So...

This is going to be an unabashed rave.

I loved this book.

LOVED IT.

It was, for me, the sort of vampire book I've been longing for. The vampire, Nathaniel Cade, is a bad guy. He doesn't sparkle in the sun, he doesn't play all that nice with humans. He is a predator and will tell you to never forget that.

He is also, however, the President's Vampire, bound by blood oath to serve the President of the United States or his designated representative. He has no choice but to serve and obey and it is his job to deal with the enemies of the United States that most people refuse to acknowledge exist.

At the beginning of the book, Zach Barrows has had his life blown up around him. Once a trusted confidante of the President, finds himself being reassigned as Cade's partner. From high profile to no profile in a matter of hours, Zach isn't thrilled. Here's how their first meeting, involving Griff, the man Zach is replacing, Zach, and Cade goes:

"Is that a threat? Are you threatening me? Listen up, old man, because there's no way in hell-"

"It's not his job to be threatening, actually."

For a split second, Zach didn't know where the words had come from.

Then he turned and faced someone standing directly behind him. As if from nowhere.

"It's mine," he said, and smiled.

He was taller than Zach, wearing ragged black fatigues. He looked young. And pale. Very, very pale.

He stood there, perfectly calm.

Too calm, even. Unnaturally still. Almost the kind of stillness you'd only find in a casket. But just standing there.

So, Zach couldn't figure out why his whole mind narrowed down to one thought, burned in capital letters across his brain: RUN.

Zach felt a stirring of instinct honed when humans huddled at the edges of campfires, terrified of the noises in the dark. He suddenly knew he was in the presence of something that stalked his kind, and had for thousands of years. Something inhuman. A predator.

There is a reason humans are genetically programmed to fear the dark. Zach was looking at it.

As for the story itself? Some fanatical followers of Islam have hatched a plot that, if successful, would deal a devastating blow to America. It involves the bodies of dead soldiers from Iraq and the science of a former Nazi doctor and it is, without a doubt, a can't-put-it-down, rocking good time.

The chapters begin with scientific, classified information taken from the briefing book: Codename: Nightmare Pet, which actually looks at vampires from a scientific viewpoint, offering explanations as to why they are the way they are.

Cade is as advertised. He is a predator. He isn't overly fond of humans but he is bound by his oath and serves stoically, if not happily.

Zach is, in the beginning, also as advertised. He is an annoying, cocky, glib politician . . . who goes through a methamorphisis during the events of the story.

There are plenty of 'holy crap' moments mixed in with more than enough moments that will make you smile, if not laugh.

The pace never lets up and the story never lets you down.

And finally, the most telling thing - a week after I'd read the book in about 10 hours, I read it again. I've never done that with a book.

Recommendation: If you like glittery, school boy vampires, you might not like this. But, if you like tough, kick-ass heroes who just happen to be bad guys, you'll love it.  I can't wait for the next book in the series.