Customer Reviews

Beyond the Grave

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are like me, a real Vampire Lover, reading all the Vampire and Vampire Hunter books you can get your hands on, this is a series for you! As for the ending, well, get over the ending and move on to the next book in the series.....that is what the ending intends for you to do! Don't most books, tv shows, etc. end with a "cliffhanger" so that you are anxious for the sequel?
Jess is an awesome Vampire/Vampire Hunter. And Brit makes an awesome partner for her....And who doesn't love the priest/brother,Regent? I mean, seriously?
For me, one of the biggest perks for this series is that it doesn't plunge into erotica like so many Vampire/Vampire Hunter novels tend to. Kudos to the author, Lina Gardiner!!

I am very disappointed with all the inconsistencies! Lina has a real problem with time. James and Terry are married? They had only been together a couple of weeks. She skips days or nights I should say, and she repeats herself a lot! I'm conflicted b/c it's a pretty good story line and I've grown to like the characters, but I'm really annoyed by the inconsistencies! Aren't editors supposed to help with that? And it's a cop-out to end the book on such a cliff hanger so people will buy the next book. Shame!

This was another great novel by Lina. I really enjoyed it. The story picks up shortly after where Grave Illusions leaves off. Jess Vandermire is now a police captain in the NYPD. She is also a vampire and hunts down and kills her own kind to protect humanity. Jess and Britt's relationship seems to go back and forth. They are both in love with one another but afraid to cause the other pain. Jess is being stalked by the most deadliest threat she's faced during her 50yrs as an undead. Someone has been attempting to get close enough to Jess to drug her w/ a hallucinogenic. Coincidentally, some high-society women are being rented-out as blood and sex slaves, without their knowledge. And for those unfortunate women who happen to resemble Jess, they are being violated, murdered and turned. And it gets worse; suddenly, Jess has been losing time and blacking out and fears she has now turned into what she hunts. This story had a good amount of action, sex and is highly entertaining. I won't give too much away but if you are a Jess and Britt fan, the ending is a tragic-shocker! I look forward to book three, Grave New Day, due out October 2009.

I also recommend:
Nightwalker (Dark Days, Book 1)
At Grave's End (Night Huntress, Book 3)
Staked (Void City, Book 1)
A Rush of Wings: Book One of The Maker's Song
Wicked Game

Those shocker endings everyone keeps mentioning will have you hating the book...dont waste any more of your time if you have read the first book and dont even bother if you havnt read it... I hate it when you read a good book and get a CRUDDY, really really bad ending...it makes you want to toss the book across the room!

Low-rent covers aside, this is a pretty good UF/Vamp series. The books lean a bit more towards UF than PNR, but there is a strong romantic element-without a lot of lavish sex. The first book has a couple of issues like: cheesy villain dialogue, mediocre writing, typos, & plot inconsistencies, which seemed to cheapen a relatively good book. The writing is greatly improves & the editing is much tighter as the series progresses, but a few typos & mistakes still remain like: repeated scenes, character name mistakes, and plot inconsistencies.

Still, I enjoyed the 2nd book much more than the 1st and can see a really good UF series taking hold. The mystery and surprising reveal is also turned up a few notches from the last book, and thank goodness the cheesy villain dialogue didn't make another appearance. An addicting read, that leaves the reader wanting more. Warning: the ending leaves you with a bit of a cliffhanger, so make sure you have book #3 lined up, prior to delving in.

I loved Beyond the Grave! The team of Jess and Britt are such a fun combo. I think this would make a GREAT movie. I can visualize all these cartoonish characters wandering through the streets and appearing on bridges and jumping from car to car. I, who don't normally like vampire novels, but love the books by Lina Gardiner, and am looking forward to the next one.

Jess Vandermine is the captain of a secret police unit that hunts and kills vampires. Few know that she is also a vampire. With her brother's help, she has been able to retain a portion of her soul. Her brother is a Catholic priest who has spent the past 50 years praying for her and being her protector. In the first book, Grave Illusions, Jess met and fell in love with ex-policeman, John Brittain. He joined her unit of vampire hunters and together they fought the growing evil that threatened to take over the city. In Beyond the Grave they are investigating a series of murders that have been committed by another vampire. When Jess starts experiencing bouts of dizziness and having blackouts, she doubts her ability to lead her unit.She hasn't been sick in the 50 years of her vampire existence and is at a loss as to the cause of these episodes. When her dagger is found with the body of the first victim, John has to wonder what is going on with Jess. Has her vampire nature gained control of her or is she being framed for these hideous crimes? Jess also wonders if her two natures are at war with one another. What nobody knows is both possibilities are equally frightening to her. She has been a vampire for so long that she doesn't know if she could go back to being human. By the same token, being an evil vampire who murders without a second thought is repugnant to her.

I liked Beyond the Grave even more than I liked Grave Illusions. I'm hoping the third book in the series won't be too long in coming.

NYPD Police Captain Jess Vandermire used to believe she was the only living vampire with a soul. However, while working a vampire serial killer case, the detective has to reconsider her soul belief. Lately she has suffered from dizziness and blackouts; each time she goes unconscious, a human female dies. Jess fears she may have gone rogue and as a psychological defense mechanism blacks out to forget what she has done.

Her partner Police Lieutenant John Brittain strongly believes his superior officer is innocent. He vows to find the real killer and uncover the link to Jess' blackouts. He has no GRAVE ILLUSIONS that this will prove easy as humans are physically inferior to vampires as he is to Jess. Still he owes her as she gave him a reason to live and even more important he believes in her. Britt's biggest fear is that the killer is working his way to a grand deadly finale starring Jess.

This action-packed vampire police procedural will hook the audience into a vampiric hypnotic state the first time Jess collapses and never let's go for an instant. The story line is faster than a speeding vampire, but also goes deep inside the souls of the two cops as both fears that if she survives she will be another soulless undead. Adding to the spins and twists of the serial killer investigation is a secondary character, a caring priest whose faith in God regardless of what he faces keeps those in his circle of influence safe. Fans will relish this delightful urban fantasy whodunit as Lina Gardiner makes vampires with and without souls seem genuine

Harriet Klausner