Review : The President's Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth

Title : The President's Vampire Author : Christopher Farnsworth Reading Dates : 14 Sep - 16 Sep 2012 Total Pages : 335
The President's Vampire Blood Oath The President's Vampire Red, White and Blood
From Amazon : The ultimate secret. The ultimate agent. Nathaniel Cade returns. For 140 years, Nathaniel Cade has been the President's Vampire, sworn to protect and serve his country. Cade's existence is the most closely guarded of White House secrets: a superhuman covert agent who is the last line of defense against nightmare scenarios that ordinary citizens only dream of. When a new outbreak of an ancient evil-one that he has seen before- comes to light, Cade and his human handler, Zach Barrows, must track down its source. To "protect and serve" often means settling old scores and confronting new betrayals . . . as only a centuries-old predator can.

Book Review of The President's Vampire.

Once again, I had fun with Christopher Farnsworth’s The President’s Vampire series.

Nathaniel Cade and Zach Barrows’ story remains as exciting and fast-paced as ever. The only disappointing bit was Zach’s development as a character. After the incidents in Blood Oath, I had thought that Zach had matured but this doesn’t seem to be the case. While he seems to have grasped the importance of his role, he doesn’t seem ready yet to shoulder the responsibilities and sacrifices that comes with it. Quite often in The President’s Vampire, Zach behaves like a petulant teenager, unwilling to listen to Cade’s advice when it involved personal sacrifices.

The other intriguing bit to the second book was how Cade’s oath here becomes a disadvantage. Early on, I had already wondered what would happen if the wrong person got control of the vampire since he is compelled to obey the orders from the President and his representatives. While the events that transpire here don’t get that far, it does give us a taste of what could happen. And Cade’s nemesis, The Shadow Company seems to have even considered the possibility of gaining control of him themselves.

All in all, an exciting and fun read. I especially love the ending when Cade manages to find a way around his oath.

My conclusions :

• Would I re-read the book ? Definitely.
• Would I want to read the next book in the series ? Yes. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the next book.
• Would I want to own my personal copy if I didn’t already own it ? Yes.
• Who would I recommend this too? Paranormal, horror or thriller fans.
• For those looking to read the book, would I recommend buying or borrowing the book? Buy it. Definitely a keeper.

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Challenges : 2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge; Eclectic Reader Challenge 2012

Review : The Passage by Justin Cronin

Title : The Passage Author : Justin Cronin Reading Dates : 28 Jul - 31 Jul 2011
The Passage
Books in the series: The Passage The Twelve The City of Mirrors
From goodreads :
“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.” First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear — of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse. As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey — spanning miles and decades — towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun. With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.

Book Review of The Passage.

I loved The Passage and can’t wait to read the next books in the trilogy. In fact, immediately after finishing The Passage, I had to restrain myself from re-reading the book.

Aside from a few chapters early on which seemed overly wordy, the rest of the tale grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let go until the end. And even those parts, could be due to my impatience to get back to what was happening with the main character, Amy.

Amy is a mystery which isn’t fully resolved, even at the end of the The Passage. Sure, the group that sets out with her in an attempt to save their colony, finds out the truth of the virus which destroyed their world and possibly how to save it. But that doesn’t fully explain Amy because she’s obviously something more than that. And with everything that she has endured, it is amazing how she could still be the person she is.

As for the story, I couldn’t possibly describe everything that The Passage made me feel. There were so many parts where terrible things happen, which made me worry and root for the people in it to survive. The ending of the world especially, was haunting. I could picture everything in my mind and also the awful sadness and inevitability of it all. And still be amazed at what people are capable of during such times, not just the bad but the good as well.

My favorite moments though are probably the short interlude Amy had with her surrogate father. No matter how brief the time they had, I believe that those were probably Amy’s happiest memories. And the end, when it comes, somehow makes everything worth it all.

I’m definitely looking forward to reading the next book in the trilogy, The Twelve.

My conclusions :

• Would I re-read the book ? Definitely.
• Would I want to read the next book in the series ? The next book is now on my wish list.
• Would I want to own my personal copy if I didn’t already own it ? Yes, this one's a keeper.
• Who would I recommend this too? In particular, those who like dystopian stories.
• For those looking to read the book, would I recommend buying or borrowing the book? Buy it. This is that needs to be read again and again.

Read another review on the book by :

• Book Journey
• Reading with Tequila
• The Crowded Leaf

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Challenges : 100+ Reading Challenge, New Author Challenge

Review : Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz

Title : Your Heart Belongs to Me Author : Dean Koontz Reading Dates : 11 Jun - 14 Jun 2011
From Amazon :
From the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense comes a riveting thriller that probes the deepest terrors of the human psyche—and the ineffable mystery of what truly makes us who we are. Here a brilliant young man finds himself fighting for his very existence in a battle that starts with the most frightening words of all… At thirty-four, Internet entrepreneur Ryan Perry seemed to have the world in his pocket—until the first troubling symptoms appeared out of nowhere. Within days, he’s diagnosed with incurable cardiomyopathy and finds himself on the waiting list for a heart transplant; it’s his only hope, and it’s dwindling fast. Ryan is about to lose it all…his health, his girlfriend Samantha, and his life. One year later, Ryan has never felt better. Business is good and he hopes to renew his relationship with Samantha. Then the unmarked gifts begin to appear—a box of Valentine candy hearts, a heart pendant. Most disturbing of all, a graphic heart surgery video and the chilling message: Your heart belongs to me. In a heartbeat, the medical miracle that gave Ryan a second chance at life is about to become a curse worse than death. For Ryan is being stalked by a mysterious woman who feels entitled to everything he has. She’s the spitting image of the twenty-six-year-old donor of the heart beating steadily in Ryan’s own chest. And she’s come to take it back.

Book Review of Your Heart Belongs to Me.
I can’t quite make up my mind whether I like or dislike Your Heart Belongs to Me. For almost two thirds of the tale, I was leaning towards dislike but the ending kinds of negates my reason for why I didn’t enjoy it. So, ….

First off, I’ll say that as far as the writing goes, I had no problems with it. The pacing was just right, the storytelling smooth, easily understandable and vividly evocative.

What gave me such a hard time at the start was the main character, Ryan. As the story went, my dislike for the main character just kept increasing. He carries out what seems to me rather extreme actions and behaves badly towards the woman he’s supposedly deeply in love with that I couldn’t help but wonder if everything was just his imagination. In fact, I thought he was his own worst enemy and was the cause of his own woes. Thinking that, I couldn’t help feeling that the story was rather pointless especially since there didn’t seem to be a link between Ryan’s nightmares and difficulties.

But then, the ending springs a surprise twist that makes what first appeared to be nonsense a wonderful smoke screen. And all at once, everything made perfect sense and obviously intentional on the author’s part.

With that ending, I definitely want to re-read the book again at some later point, if only to see whether the story makes more sense now that I know the conclusion. All in all, Your Heart Belongs to Me falls more into the category of books that challenge me rather than one I’d re-read again and again for the pleasure of it.

My conclusions :

• Would I re-read the book ? Maybe at least one more time.
• Would I want to read the next book in the series if there were one ? No, I don't believe so.
• Would I want to own my personal copy if I didn’t already own it ? No.
• Who would I recommend this too? Psychological and supernatural thriller fans.
• For those looking to read the book, would I recommend buying or borrowing the book? Thriller fans might consider buying the book.

Books alluded to :

In My Mailbox

Teaser Tuesdays

Challenges : 100+ Reading Challenge, Mystery and Suspense Challenge