American Vampire

January 10, 2011
Armintrout (the Blood Ties series) traps GPS-challenged Graf McDonald, a tough-talking, chain-smoking vampire, in the town of Penance, Ohio, in this thin stand-alone. He's the first visitor in five years, as the community is being held in stasis by a monster called "It." After Graf saves 23-year-old Jessa from "It," she reluctantly allows him to hide from the sun in her basement. Having survived five years with few resources other than what she can trade for or grow, Jessa doesn't want to turn to Graf for help, but they come to lean on each other as the other locals target them for sacrifice. Armintrout wisely holds off on revealing the secrets of "It," allowing Graf to grow emotionally as he and Jessa get closer, but aside from the unusual premise, there's not much to distinguish this from other dark paranormal romances.

February 1, 2011
On his way to a vampire party in New York, Graf McDonald takes a wrong turn and ends up in Penance, Ohio, which one can enter but not leave. Trying to find gas, he finds Jessa, on the run from a horrible monster called It. When Graf finds that all roads lead back to town, he takes up residence with Jessa, whose abusive ex-boyfriend, Derek, sees her as his property despite the fact that he has kids and Becky, a drunken wife, at home. The unpleasant residents of the town have been cut off from the rest of the world for the last five years while It preys on them, and they are more than suspicious of Graf, the first person to find a way in since It showed up. When Becky and the kids disappear, Graf has new terrors to face as the residents of Penance target him. Urban fantasy author Armintrout, best-known for her Blood Ties series, offers a traditional horror story that will be welcomed by fans of the genre.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)