(*Hot Cover Alert* *Hot Cover Alert*)
Blood Vice – Keith Melton
February 17, 2009
Urban Fantasy
Novel, e-book
Samhain Publishing
Maria is the only full blooded child of Don Alberto Ricardi, a top mafia family in the Boston area. She is an accountant, but she is a dirty one (isn’t that the best kind?) Her job is to keep her family’s books clean and make them money, and she does an excellent job of it. After her brother had died, she wanted more responsibility but because she is female, her father will never “make her”. Although she knows she has an important job, even the youngest of her father’s men outrank her. Feeling she is being slighted and wanting to prove herself to her father, she convinces her father to hire a hit man, Karl Vance to take out the Lucatti money makers one at a time. The Lucatti’s are the rival crime family in town, standing in the way of the Ricardis.
Maria and her father only know Karl Vance as a a superior hit man, but he is a vampire, a very old one at that. He meets with Maria and her father and decides not to take the this job because Maria’s father wants his total loyalty. While Karl will take a job for the right price, he is not about to give up his independence. However, two words are spoken and everything changes – Alejandro Delgado.
Karl wants Delgado dead like no other. Delgado is in with the Lucatti’s and Karl knows if Maria’s plan hurts the Lucattis enough, Delgado will have to come out of hiding. Delgado himself is a vampire, and both Karl and him were turned by Cade. When Cade first turned Karl and he saw the brutal nature of Cade’s ways, the pain he caused innocents, how he could just throw their lives away, Karl swore he would kill him one day. And he did – very slowly, with an abundance of silver spiked through his wrists waiting for the sun to appear. Delgado did not take to this killing kindly and they have been mortal enemies ever since.
Karl agrees to work for Maria, and now Maria has a chance to prove herself to her father. Although she has no qualms about sending Karl out to kill people for her, she herself has never killed anyone. She decides it is time to watch someone in action, so she waits at the next victim’s house for Karl to show up to do his job. As she watches through her scope, she witnesses the unbelievable. She sees first hand Karl is much more that a hit man – as she watches him drink dry the man she told him to kill. But that is not the end of her evening. Delgado shows up in the house and a huge fight between Karl and Delgado ensues. They end up out in the street where Delgado sees Maria and catches her smell. Delgado escapes before Karl can kill him.
Maria must now cope with the knowledge that Karl is a vampire and she is no longer safe from Delgado. To bring her down even more, her father has agreed to a truce with the Lucatti family, no longer needing Karl’s services. While Maria is down, Delgado rears his head again, and this time no one is safe. Maria finds the only person she can turn to is the one man she doesn’t know if she can trust. The alternative is the one whispering to her and leading her away to darkness.
Blood Vice is so much more than just mortal girl meets bad ass vampire – oh and let me tell you Karl Vance is a baddie – mysterious, lethal, intense. A vampire of few words with smoldering good looks. This story examines the struggle Karl faces every day to stay on the side of good although all of his instincts point him towards sinful acts. And it is the struggle of a woman, who has grown up in a family where malevolence is second nature that now finds herself in the middle of an entire new definition of evil.
In this world, vampires are inherently evil. They are predators to the nth degree. Karl Vance has not only worked hard to control his instincts, but his maker Cade brought him into his vampire self in such a cruel way, torturing a defenseless girl, that he has found strength in that. He often feels left by God, but still finds himself kneeling near the church praying for the souls he has killed, no matter how bad the person was. He has sworn to never drink the blood of an innocent, rather he chooses the mafia men he is hired to kill to quench his blood lust.
Karl and Maria get pushed together in the battle against Delgado. While there is physical attraction and their relationship does progress to a certain point, I would have liked to seen a bit more emotional attachement. At one point, Maria finds herself in danger and Karl risks everything to save her. Yet, previous to that incident, I never felt a real emotional connection with them. I think the amount of romance in the book fits the story perfectly, I just want to be on a more intimate level with their thoughts for one another.
There is never a point where this book lagged and there are plenty of unexpected twists to keep the story very interesting. There is actually a huge development a third of the way into the story that I can’t mention without giving away a big spoiler, but it definitely changed the direction of the book. I love it when the bad guys in books are BAD and Delgado is such a slimy, evil vampire. As the story went along there were times I thought Delgado isn’t really going to do that, and then he does and its wonderful – well, wonderful for the reader, not for the poor character that is being tortured.
Karl Vance is on the more serious side of characters I have read. Keith Melton slowly reveals his past and gives reasons for his present day motives. He has this desperate need to prove to himself that he is a person of worth, that he is not another faceless vampire that kills without conscience. He is alone in the dark world and when Maria comes into his life and becomes familiar with vampires and needs his help, he latches on to that.
I also loved Maria and how she grew up in a crime family and has been ordering hit men left and right to kill competing family members, and she doesn’t feel remorse. I kept waiting for her to have a big emotional breakdown, feeling guilty of her past, but it doesn’t happen and I find that so refreshing. On the other hand, when Karl Vance has to drink a criminal’s blood to stay alive, he is on his knees praying outside the local church. I find that a fascinating opposite.
I honestly have to say, I knew nothing about this book going in. I happened to see a novella written by Keith Melton on Twitter which led me to his website where I saw the cover for Blood Vice and knew I had to read it – yes, I was shallow and fell in love with the hot guy on the cover – kudos to cover artist Anne Cain. I must say how lovely it is when you pick up an unknown book and don’t want to put it down until you are done. For those who enjoy dark urban fantasy with romantic tension, this is a must. Best of all, there is so much more to discover about Karl Vance and Maria Ricardi. The next in the series is planned for summer 2010.
Rating: 4 Stars
Keith Melton’s website
Keith Melton on Twitter
I have some weird obsession with the mafia and picked it up in High School, so yes this would be a good book for me, and a vampire, yay.
And yes I second that hot cover alert
I've been waiting for your Smexy review on this one Mandi because I LOVED the cover art so much.
Thank you – awesome review and the story sounds amazing.
This one is definitely going on my list.
Thanks
L
Blodeuedd – It is a fun mix of mafia and vampire world. If you think about it, they go together quite well:)
Lea – It is an awesome cover!
Mandi,
Wonderful review. :)
M
Michelle – Thanks:)
Ok, I have had this downloaded on my reader for MONTHS. I just haven't read it yet! I am reading it next! Great review, thanks!!
I read this book back in February and I just loved it, especially the main character Karl. I can't wait to read book two.
Love your reviews. :) Another one for the TBR pile.
Book Junkie – my tbr on my Kindle is a scary place ;) Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Anna – I loved Karl!! I can't wait to see what happens next, especially after the epilogue!
Fiction Vixen – :)
Did you say Mafia? That's enough to get my attention. And there're vampires! the mix of both can be really interesting.
I'll have to look into that when i'm in the mood for darker books =)
Great review, might have to check this one out. Thanks!
Hmmm, interesting. I like the basic concept, but I'm not sure how I would handle Maria not coming to some sort of realization that her actions were wrong (LOL on the dirty account being the best kind, though!). Even if it was the hero who was ordering the hits and cooking the books, I'd want him to come to that realization, you know what I mean? The book does sound intriguing, though, so I'm torn.
I took it from the perspective that this is all she knows and she never went after innocents..but yes, she is still ordering people dead. Things happen to her though…I can't give spoilers:)
Nice review. ~sigh~ I guess I have another one on my TBR pile now….
I know..these darn tbr piles. Mine is giving me the evil eye
great great great review! so thoughtful, and i too choose books solely based on their covers. to be honest sometimes i end up way disappointed though, for not doing my research first and then not liking it.
and i just adore the way you made Karl sound, such a great character!
oh yes, a good cover is totally hit or miss when it comes to the actual book. This one goes together great;)
Thank you, Mandi, for your thoughtful review. ^_^
And thank you to all the readers who expressed interest. Blood Vice can be found in a variety of ebook formats through a variety of vendors. For those who prefer print books, the print version will release on Dec 1st, 2009.
Thanks again!
I'm sorry was there a review here? I was so busy staring at the cover of the book! lol I know, Tracy = shallow. :)
Kidding. Great review. I really like the bad boy vamps a lot so I'll have to check this one out. Thanks!
Mafia and vampires? This sure sounds like a great book! Thanks for the great review, Mandi! I'm putting this book on my wish list.
WOW you're right. The cover is hot! I'd read it just because of the cover lol.