Review: Tainted Blood by Mary Ann Mitchell

Tainted Blood
By Mary Ann Mitchell
Published: July 2003
Publisher: Leisure Books
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Challenge: TBR

BLURB (from back cover)

The infamous Marquis de Sade has lived through the centuries, spreading his evil and perversion over two continents. This master vampire cares little for his human playthings, seeking them out for his amusement...and nourishment. Once his dark passion and his bloodlust are sated, he moves on, leaving another drained and discarded toy in his wake.

Now Sade's travels have a definite purpose. He is determined to find the woman who has made his life hell for two hundred years - destroy her once and for all. His journey leads him back to America, to a seemingly normal suburban house. But the family who lives there is far from normal. They too are undead, vampires as dangerous as Sade, despite their wholesome appearance. And when the notorious Marquis meets the all-American family of vampires, the resulting culture clash will prove fatal, But for whom?

FIRST LINE

“The Hugheses were dead and resided in a contemporary four-bedroom house with hardwood floors and granite-top kitchen counters.”

REVIEW

Overall this book is dark and demented. These vampires are not your young adult romantic vampires. These vampires consist of a dominatrix, a baby vampire named Chuckie (shudders), two hideously evil child vampires, wacky mom and dad vampires (who brought their children over to the undead), a psychotic “vampire slayer” wanting to do nothing but die, and of course the perverted Marquis de Sade .

The creep factor hits high in the Hugheses family. Mr. Hughes had an affair with Marie, the dominatrix and Marques de Sade’s mother-in-law, and ended up being turned into a vampire. He then proceeds to turn his wife and two of the older children. His wife couldn’t help herself and turns the baby of the family also. So now you have a family that only ages in mind (which makes Chuckie the baby extremely creepy). Now Marie is coming for visit to her “American family” and she has a hidden agenda that involves payback to Marquis de Sade in the form of a “vampire slayer”. She knows he will follow her to Hugheses because he just can’t resist the temptation.

One paragraph pretty much sums up this book. From page 188:

“Everything seemed to be in upheaval. His sister was preparing to kill his brother. His brother had killed a little girl. Aunt Marie, who was afraid of nothing, was terrorized by the sight of his little sister. Babette was bonkers. His father wanted to kill his brother, and his mother might be in the basement with a naked Uncle Louis.”

This is my first book (that I can remember) that I have read of Mary Ann Mitchell’s and I do think I need to read some others that involve her Marquis de Sade characters just to understand them. Definitely for the horror vampire genre lovers and for adults only.

RATING

 

PURCHASE TAINTED BLOOD

Amazon  /  Book Depository  /  Barnes and Noble

READ CHAPTER ONE HERE

OTHER BOOKS

 

Review: In the Event of My Death by Carlene Thompson

In the Event of My Death
by Carlene Thompson
Publication Date: 1999
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 328

Blurb from Amazon: 

They had been six teenage girls in Wheeling, West Virginia. Full of mischief. Acting wild. Having good times. And getting into trouble. they called themselves the Six of Hearts. Then one night things went to far. One of them died. The rest swore to never tell what really happened.

Now, thirteen years later, someone has decided to kill the remaining Six of hearts. The first to die is Angie, a successful New York City actress. And flower-shop owner Laurel Damron, still living in Wheeling, may be next. She has gotten a chilling message in the mail. She knows a killer is watching her. But who? Only by searching the past can she uncover a haunting truth...only by looking deep with herself can she uncover a lost memory...and only by suspecting everyone she knows, does she have one slim chance of staying alive...

My Review: 

A club started by six young girls called the Six of Hearts started out innocent but ended with the death of their friend Faith. Now 13 years later, the surviving five are being picked off one by one. The calling card is the number six and a drawn heart together with a tarot card for judgment.

Laurel Damron, one of the club members, is scared to death by what is happening but the original club leader, Monica Boyd, doesn’t want any of them to tell what happened that night that they lost one of their friends. Monica has worked too hard to become partner in her law firm to lose it now. After the second of them is found dead, Laurel tells her boyfriend, Officer Kurt Rider, everything. Now that it is in the open, she hopes that they will be able to solve this before the next one to be found dead is her! But who could it possibly be? Faith’s crazy father, her little sister or could it have been her unborn child’s father? Or could it be one of them? 

In the Event of My Death really had me guessing. The cast of characters are well written and keep you wondering because it seemed anyone could have had a motive. The atmosphere of the small town everyone knows your business really helps with the suspense because not one person knows the whole story. Laurel eventually pieces it all together with her own investigating but is it too late? My only hold up of not giving In the Event of My Death a 5 star rating would be with the relationship that happens in the end of the book. It was forced and fast, like the author quickly tidied everything up.

Recommended for all the mystery lovers out there.

My Rating: 4 STARS

AUTHOR LINKS

Website

PUBLISHER LINKS

Website 

PURCHASE IN THE EVENT OF MY DEATH

Amazon  /  Barnes and Noble

*Book was bought personally by me.
**Read as part of my TBR Challenge

Review: Covenant with the Vampire

Covenant with the Vampire
by Jeanne Kalogridis
Series: Diaries of the Family Dracul, Book 1
Publisher: Dell
Publication Date: September 1, 1995

Arkady Tsepesh has returned to his childhood home to Transylvania with his pregnant wife Mary to take the place of his deceased father as the caretaker to his eccentric uncle, Prince Vlad. Arkady decides to begin writing a journal to record the painful days ahead and to also remember his father. The only other family member left is his older sister, Zsuzsanna, who was born crippled. Unfortunately the Tespesh family is plagued by madness, tragedy and children born deformed or dying young. 

Once back at the family home, Mary notices strange things about Arkady’s uncle. He doesn’t eat or drink. He also pays too much attention to Zsuzsanna than Mary is comfortable with. Mary is warned by her servant, Masika, to get away before it is too late. She witnesses many things that have her scared to death and she can’t seem to get through to Arkady what a monster his uncle is. 

Things are about to become worse because Prince Vlad has broken the covenant and the peasants know if he is already preying on his family that they will be next. Arkady feels the madness descending upon him. He starts seeing his older brother, Stefan, who was mauled by their family dog when Arkady was five. He thinks that Stefan is trying to tell him something but he can’t seem to figure it out. 

The entire story is told through diary entries of Arkady, Mary and Zsuzsanna. A very dark, intense read. It isn’t for the faint of heart because there is graphic scenes involving incest and necrophilia that had me cringing.

Rating: 3 STARS

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Website

Blog

OTHER BOOKS IN SERIES

Children of the Vampire

Lord of the Vampires

*Book was personally bought by me.
**Read as part of 2011 TBR Challenge