Books4Tomorrow: REVIEW: "VAMPIRE SHIFT" (Kiera Hudson series, #1)

Title: “Vampire Shift”

Series: (Kiera Hudson series, #1)

Author: Tim O’ Rourke

Publisher: Ravenwoodgreys

Publication Date: June 6, 2011

Genre: Paranormal, Horror

Reviewed by: Books4Tomorrow

Source: Gifted from author

My star rating: 5/5

SUMMARY

When twenty-year-old police recruit Kiera Hudson is posted to the remote town of The Ragged Cove, her life is changed forever. Investigating a series of horrific murders, grave desecrations and missing persons, with her unique ability of ‘seeing’, Kiera soon realises her life is in danger.

But when Kiera is crewed with Police officer Luke Bishop, not only is her mind and heart opened to a terrifying new world, she comes to suspect that Luke might be involved in the killings.

In a race against time to unearth the truth, Kiera must discover the identity of who or what is behind the gruesome deaths on the ‘Vampire Shift’.

REVIEW

OK, honestly. I’m so incredibly tired of the vampire theme in YA books today, I want to gag when I read the word vampire in a blurb or book title. But one – this is not a YA book. Two – I didn’t read the blurb. And three – these are not your everyday fall-in-love, sparkling, will-save-you-in-a-heartbeat vampires. No, no, no. These are monsters. Just the way I like ‘em! Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to another marvelous horror writer. Yep, Tim O’ Rourke’s Vampire Shift scared the bejeesus out of me, and as I am a huge fan of horror, scaring me is something not easily done. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that creeped me out so much I felt like hiding under the covers after turning off the lights. Reading Vampire Shift was like watching a horror movie on the big screen. It had all the ingredients necessary to get my adrenaline pumping – terrifying vampire monsters, a sinister, small town cut off from the rest of civilization, the customary ominous old priest (a character with a twist I never could’ve predicted), the main character snowed-in with no means of escape, desecrated graves and dark underground tunnels leading to…well, I don’t want to give away too much. The entire time while reading this I had goosebumps all over and many times nearly jumped out of my seat with fright. This book is not for the faint of heart I can assure you. Horror fans be warned, you will love this!

What more can I say? The writing is good and without too much detailed descriptions the author still managed to create a sense of foreboding and trepidation throughout the story. Everyone was a suspect. Seriously. The good guys seemed to be the bad guys, and then certain things happened to convince me the bad guys are actually the good guys, and then some more unexplained things happened to have me so thoroughly confused I couldn’t make heads or tails of who the good guys and who the bad guys were. I have to hand it to the author – he knows how to construct a complex plot that keeps the reader intrigued, riveted, and guessing right up to the end – and maybe even questioning the strength of your bladder. All the characters – protagonists and antagonists alike – were all richly formed and three-dimensional. None of them, not even the minor characters, felt like carbon copies of characters I’ve come across before in similar books or movies. I was greatly impressed by the author’s creativity, especially in the fight-scenes and how I was constantly kept on the edge of my seat while paging my way through all the nail-biting suspense. So folks, keep an eye on this author. He’s going to make it big! And horror junkies…why are you still reading this? Aren’t you supposed to be on chapter two of this book by now? Go get your copy!