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Overview
VAMPIRE FOR HIRERaylene Pendle (AKA Cheshire Red), a vampire and world-renowned thief, doesn’t usually hang with her own kind. She’s too busy stealing priceless art and rare jewels. But when the infuriatingly charming Ian Stott asks for help, Raylene finds him impossible to resist—even though Ian doesn’t want precious artifacts. He wants her to retrieve missing government files—documents that deal with the secret biological experiments that left Ian blind. What Raylene doesn’t bargain for is a case that takes her from the wilds of Minneapolis to the mean streets of Atlanta. And with a psychotic, power-hungry scientist on her trail, a kick-ass drag queen on her side, and Men in Black popping up at the most inconvenient moments, the case proves to be one hell of a ride.
Synopsis
VAMPIRE FOR HIRE
Raylene Pendle (AKA Cheshire Red), a vampire and world-renowned thief, doesn’t usually hang with her own kind. She’s too busy stealing priceless art and rare jewels. But when the infuriatingly charming Ian Stott asks for help, Raylene finds him impossible to resist—even though Ian doesn’t want precious artifacts. He wants her to retrieve missing government files—documents that deal with the secret biological experiments that left Ian blind. What Raylene doesn’t bargain for is a case that takes her from the wilds of Minneapolis to the mean streets of Atlanta. And with a psychotic, power-hungry scientist on her trail, a kick-ass drag queen on her side, and Men in Black popping up at the most inconvenient moments, the case proves to be one hell of a ride.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Steampunk and gothic author Priest (Boneshaker) dives into urban fantasy with this entertaining conspiracy thriller. When blind vampire Ian Stott hires thief Raylene Pendle to steal medical documents that may help restore his sight, Raylene learns about Bloodshot, a government-sanctioned project that involved performing cruel experiments on vampires. With the proverbial men in black closing in on her, Raylene follows the Bloodshot document trail from Seattle to Atlanta, where she teams up with a deadly drag queen whose sister was one of the project's victims. Then she heads to Washington, D.C., to confront the people who have revived the Bloodshot project and want to make Raylene their next experiment. Raylene's breezy, first-person voice and quirky views on life add plenty of bite to the story, but the lack of a clear-cut resolution may grate on readers used to Priest's self-supporting steampunk novels. (Feb.)Library Journal
In this urban fantasy, vampires and other preternatural creatures live secretly among humans. Kick-butt, undead heroine Raylene Pendle makes a relatively safe and very lucrative living as a cat burglar. Things change when another vampire, the handsome Ian, asks her to retrieve important, highly classified medical documents. He had been kidnapped by the military and rendered blind by their experiments. He escaped but needs the lab notes to regain his sight. The real adventure begins when Raylene takes on the case. Priest (Boneshaker) is a marvelous writer, but the intensity that usually captures her readers on the first page is missing here. Although the prose is clever and funny much of the time, neither the story nor the characters are original or compelling. VERDICT This is not Priest at her best; however, she has a strong fan base.—Patricia Altner, Columbia, MDKirkus Reviews
A 100-year-old vampire thief runs afoul of secret biological experimenters—first of an urban fantasy series from the versatile author of Boneshaker (2009).
Sassy vampire Raylene Pendle makes a good living by stealing things to order; luckily, the numerous law-enforcement agencies in pursuit think she's a man. Very much a loner, she lives in Seattle in a vast abandoned warehouse stuffed with valuable objects acquired as insurance—premises she shares with a pair of street-urchin intruders who, over the months, have gradually morphed into lodgers. When charming blind vampire Ian Stott asks for her help, money no object, Raylene pays close attention. Ian needs her to retrieve top secret government files—documents detailing the horrid black-op Army experiments, performed on vampires and other unorthodox persons, that left Ian blind. After an interloper invades her warehouse—Raylene kills him without compunction—she doesn't immediately make the connection. Then, in Atlanta, she gets a lead on another victim of the experiments via the victim's brother Adrian, a huge, ex–Navy SEAL drag queen. Unfortunately, there are immediate complications: ruthless Men in Black masquerading as CIA; and evidence that Project Bloodshot, supposedly shut down years ago, is once more roaring ahead thanks to a mysterious, mega-rich private financier. Brutally unsentimental narrator Raylene—she suffers from early-morning panic attacks and can't help wondering where Adrian tucks his male equipment while he's queening—makes a quirky and charming if bloodthirsty host.
A refreshing and addictive lure for readers uninterested in fangs, bats, capes and hissing.