House Rules

February 1, 2013
Merit, Sentinel of one of Chicago's vampire enclaves, Cadogan House, and her boyfriend, Ethan, co-Master of that House, face murder, dastardly politicking and romantic discord in the seventh Chicagoland Vampires (Biting Cold, 2012, etc.) novel. As Cadogan House prepares to secede from the Greenwich Presidium, the vampire ruling body, the latter is determined to make that separation as acrimonious as possible. Lacey, a visiting vampire Master, is supposed to be easing the tensions of the process, but instead devotes most of her energy to attempting to replace Merit as Ethan's girlfriend. Meanwhile, a serial killer is beheading pairs of vampires, and the local vampire community calls on Merit and Ethan to investigate. There are a lot of plot ideas in here, but the author doesn't really trouble to flesh them out fully, wrapping them up neatly before any storyline can become more than a sketch. This best-selling series has an incredibly solid fan base, so it's doubtful that any reviewer's opinion could shake it. Nevertheless, some may find it hard to distinguish this urban fantasy from countless others that mix conspiracy, racism/speciesism, crime-solving and gorgeous supernatural beings having awesome sex into a now-familiar stew. As Willow of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a series at least partly responsible for kick-starting this genre) says, "Bored now."

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