Hellbent

June 6, 2011
Vampire thief Raylene Pendle is back for more mysteries and mayhem in the entertaining sequel to February's Bloodshot. When Raylene's agent hires her to steal some magical bones, the vampire has no idea how much trouble she's in for. After dodging sorcerous lightning sent by a powerful witch who also wants the bones and has no qualms about unleashing the forces of nature against her enemies, Raylene and Adrian, a Navy SEAL turned drag queen, get involved in trying to solve a suspicious death and must navigate some tricky political situations involving vampire Houses. Raylene's sharp humor and sly observations about life as a thief and a vampire are the highlight of this engaging book. However, readers expecting answers to the conspiracy story arc raised in Bloodshot will be disappointed by the lack of focus.

July 1, 2011

Without pause for thought, Priest plunges into a sequel (Bloodshot, 2011, etc.) featuring Seattle vampire thief Raylene Pendle that aims toward comedy and strikes flab.

Raylene, who steals things to order and lives in a warehouse along with her lodgers, street urchins Domino and Pepper and blind vampire Ian Stott, has a new commission from shady auctioneer Horace Bishop: to steal a box of bacula (penis-bones, ha-ha) derived from such legendary creatures as unicorns, gryphons and werewolves. Said bones, thanks to their enormous magic power, are extremely valuable. However, once she arrives at the indicated location, the bones have departed, likewise their former owner's existence, and his shack is about to be blown to shreds by mega-powerful lightning bolts. Back at home, another problem has emerged. Ian's father has mysteriously died in an Atlanta vampire house, and his brother Max in San Francisco is demanding his presence—since, Raylene suspects, Max secretly wants to bump Ian off and rule the roost. Then Horace calls with an update: The bones' new owner is Elizabeth Creed, a schizophrenic genius ex-NASA astrophysicist and now, evidently, a witch. Pausing only to drag her sidekick, ex–Navy SEAL and drag queen Adrian deJesus, along, Raylene decides to tackle both cases at once. Neither proves particularly sensible, consequential or mettlesome. Along the way, we learn far more about Raylene's OCD and other insecurities than we need to. Pages of dreary banter limp past.

Is Raylene going soft? Well, she's more human and far less distinctive. Unasked, we also get fangs and bats, if not yet any capes or hissing.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 15, 2011

When an urban fantasy features a "vampire superthief" and an "ex-navy SEAL and fabulous drag queen" among its lead characters, it can either be a delightful guilty pleasure or a disaster. In Priest's second Raylene Pendle book (after Bloodshot), the author brings an enjoyable noirish humor to this booming genre. Our undead protagonist boldly breaks down the fourth wall to bring new readers up-to-date (although being reminded that she's just a character in a book may take some readers out of the narrative). In her new outing, Raylene has been hired to retrieve a magical artificat also desired by a powerful witch who will stop at nothing to get it. At the same time, someone is trying to kill Ian, Raylene's blind vampire friend. VERDICT Raylene and her gang of misfits will draw in urban fantasy fans of all stripes as well as fans of Priest's other fantasies. Some language, used to show character traits, is a bit strong and might turn off gentler readers. However, the humor and adventure more than compensate for this minor negative.--Stacey Rottiers Comfort, Dexter Dist. Lib., MI

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2011
Raylene Pendia's second adventure presents the vampire and occult thief with an entire shopping bag of problems. She's on the lam from the government, seeking a fantastically powerful magical talisman, as is a super-powered witch, who wants the world-ruling power it will give her and, incidentally, is trying to kill Raylene's best (indeed, nearly only) friend. That leaves Raylene with nobody to guard her back except a drag queen who, however, picked up some useful skills when he was in the SEALs. The premise is not all that original, but it achieves credibility that it might otherwise lack, thanks to Priest's range of highly developed skills, notably including pacing that moves along at what can be described only as a magical tempo. Considerable enjoyment guaranteed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)