American Vampire [Mass Market Paperback]

Jennifer Armintrout (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 22, 2011

Buried in the Heartland is a town that no one enters or leaves. Graf McDonald somehow becomes its first visitor in more than five years…and he was only looking for a good party. Unfortunately, Penance, Ohio, is not that place. And after having been isolated for so long, they do not like strangers at all.

Jessa's the only one to even remotely trust him, and she's desperate for the kind of protection that only a vampire like Graf can provide. Supplies are low, the locals are ornery for a sacrifice and there's a monster more powerful than Graf lurking in the woods. New men are hard to come by in this lonesome town, and this handsome stranger might be Jessa's only hope for salvation.

Even if she has to die first…

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

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. --Diana Tixier Herald

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mira (February 22, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778328783
• ISBN-13: 978-0778328780
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,390,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jennifer Armintrout is the USA Today Bestselling author of the Blood Ties series. When not writing paranormal romance and urban fantasy, she writes romance under the pseudonym Abigail Barnette. She was born, raised, and will hopefully die and be buried in Michigan.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars American Nightmare - Spoilers - July 26, 2011

By R. McFeeters

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Graf is a young Vampire, who is on his way to visit his sire in DC for a 4th of July celebration when he gets lost in Ohio. Hungry and desperate for shelter, because of the rising sun...he pulls into a old shut down gas station. Its then that things take a twist. I thought that this story was a nice change, and I hadn't read anything like it so far, so for the idea itself its worth reading.

Jessa and the small town of Penance have been stuck in limbo for 5 years, why, they don't know. All they know is they can't get out and no one can get in. There is another problem, there is a Demon running around town wreaking havoc whenever it wishes. It's a unsettling situation, because when people start to think they are doomed they do odd things, like blame the problem on a 17 year old "witch" and burn her at a stake sort of things.

When Jessa meets Graf at the gas station she is in shock...one, because she has not seen a stranger in 5 years and two the demon is after her that night. Graf saves her life and thus a odd pairing is created as Graf and Jessa try to figure out what's going on and how to get out of town. Graf needs to escape for obvious reasons, Jessa has worn out her welcome in the spooky town as she is labeled the town tramp for her involvement with Derek her now married x-boyfriend.

The spoiler is: Jessa was Home Coming Queen, her x-boyfriend Derek was Captain of the Football team. When they graduated Jessa went off to college, but she is forced to come home when her parents and younger brother die in a car wreck, that same week she and the rest of the town become trapped. Derek, who was never able to go to college and couldn't see a life past High school football and popularity. He makes a deal with the devil or in this case a demon in order to keep the town as it was, untouched, and keep things the same. So clearly making a deal with a demon causes problems and more over things aren't exactly as Derek would hope. Things go to hell in a hand basket and Graf and Jessa fall in the love during it all. It also turns out that when the demon is hurt you can leave or get into town, this is discovered later of course.

This is not a romance novel, more of mystery or horror. The town is insane and its unsettling as you watch the turn of events; throwing a vampire into the mix makes it fun and entertaining. There are a few good twist. 4 stars for the originality.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Starts off with a bang and intrigue... May 8, 2011

By Book Addict

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I loved this story at first, then I hit the first set of cliched characters and scenarios. And it went down from there. This book didn't seem to know if it wanted to be a mystery, a cultural commentary, or a romance. The main characters are hard to relate to because they aren't consistent in their personas or their behavior. Graf waffles between wanting to love or kill (not metaphorically) Jessa. He wavers between being a hero and being a selfish a-hole. Jessa can't decide who she wants to be: social pariah or exalted victim. The main characters constantly act in a contrary manner to what is set up for their characters, which makes them appear untrustworthy to the reader. The rest of the town, with its stock characters, are at least less wishy-washy about who they are. The villain is clearly drawn, and, because of that, the mystery of the monster "It" is clearly evident about halfway through. Not only that, but naming the monster "It," like that of the novel by Stephen King, makes it seem less scary and almost comical, especially when one realizes that everyone in the town COULD have left, since they do, periodically, when the monster has been injured. Why anyone remains when there's a clear OUT is too big a hole to keep this a plausible story. I really wanted to like the main characters, but after a while, they just became annoying.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't Deliver For This Fan December 14, 2011

By Eve

Format:Kindle Edition

American Vampire is the story of Graf, a vampire, and the town he unfortunately finds his way to, Penance. The town is caught up in a nightmarish world where no one can escape and all the residents are terrorized by something they call It. Graf meets Jessa, a misfit among the townies and befriends her in the hope that she'll at the very least provide a good meal for him and at the very most help him to find a way out of the town.

The other residents of Penance are stereotypical local yokals. Jessa is seen as the town slut because she is having an affair with one of the local guys, a man named Derek. While this offers a little in the way of characterization for her, its main use seems to be to show how chivalrous the vampire Graf is compared to Derek, who leaves a lot to be desired.

The It monster is hokey from the beginning and hurts the story more than anything else. Something terrorizing a town for five years could be incredibly interesting, but this It isn't it. Unfortunately, It is about as interesting as everyone else in the town.

Much of the book wants to be a vampire story but never quite makes it there. When Graf finally does act like a vampire, it's not sexy or scary, which are really the only two viable options for a vamp character. When it finally does get to where it seems to want to go, it's quite late in the book and the reader has spent at least 80% of the book wishing for something other than the misadventures in Mayberry on meth.

Overall, American Vampire doesn't deliver for this vampire fan. Graf had promise but never quite fulfilled it, and the rest of the characters simply didn't do it for me.