Customer Reviews

Blood Will Tell

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been an avid reader of vampire fiction for many years I can see why it won the best vampire novel of 2001. It didn't use any of the usual clichés of the genre.
I found all of the characters intriguing and didn't want to put the book down. I especially liked the way Jean handled the whole relationship between Dan and Brandy.
Her theories about vampires are unique and intriguing. I found the last few chapters to be wonderfully nail biting and went to bed rather late because I had to read them before I slept. It will definitely be on my list of rereads that I do once in a while.
Run, do not walk to your favorite bookstore and buy a copy or order it from here!

Brandy Mather is a detective in a small, Kentucky town. In such a place, there should not be a rash of murders, especially not ones as baffling as the ones she is now trying to solve. The first victim was supposed to be only in early middle age, but appeared to be an old man who died with a very odd expression on his face. It is not long before other bodies begin appearing, one of them her own best friend. Brandy seeks help from computer genius, Dan Martin. What she gets is a lot more.

She begins to fall in love with Dan, but a mysterious secret keeps them apart at first. Dan has an inside track on the killer that is completely unexpected, and shocking. Brandy finds that she is facing an other worldly villain that will attempt to corrupt her very soul. Small town politics and murders may be what she is fighting on the surface, but the truth is one she can hardly believe. Vampires are real.

***** In a complex and fast paced plot, readers are given a new twist on the old legends. Dan is an appealing hero, but not as other worldly and brooding as many heroes in this genre are. Brandy is a modern, strong willed woman whom many readers will find similiar to themselves. If it is possible, this would make a fantastic continuing series.

Plain clothes officer Brenda Mather answers a late shift call from Jackson Purchase State University. There is a dead body of an elderly man in Callahan Hall. Her partner Church, Churchill Jones has already left for the weekend so Brandy answers the call alone. Lucky for her Campus Security Chief is Howard McBride a retired police officer. Coroner Troy Sanford's autopsy results disclose the ancient fellow laying dead in the History Department has died of natural causes due to old age. The case takes a definite turn for the peculiar when dental records reveal that the body is that of Professor Everett Land who everyone knows is a robust man in his forties.

Brandy engages the help of Dr. Dan Martin one of the school's professors in the Computer Science department. The pair determine Professor Land assumed a new identity some thirty or so years ago after he had reached his sixties under his previous name. Brandy is dumbfounded when the police chief declares the case closed and tells Brandy to get back to her other cases.

As Dr. Martin and Brandy develop a caring relationship she is convinced there is more to her loved one than is apparent. As time goes on Brandy begins to know for certain that Dr. Martin is not your average college professor.

Blood Will Tell is a page turner daring to take what is accepted lore regarding vampires and turn that cliché inside out. Writer Lorrah presents a well crafted work filled with good writing, fiduciary situations and characters, thought provoking situation and stimulating dialogue. Blood Will Tell is an appealing amalgam of romance, science fiction, and police procedure in which solidly punctilious main characters exhibit great strength of character in the face of impossible situation. Blood Will Tell stands in the class of P.N. Elrod's vampire mysteries.

Writer Lorrah sets the stage for excitement from the opening paragraph then carries the reader on a roller coaster of excitement right to the last page. Blood Will Tell is not a narrative for a dark stormy night alone when the lights are flickering and the reader is home alone.

Reviewed by: molly martin

Brandy Mather is a detective on the police force of the rural city of Murphy, Kentucky. She is both thrilled and dismayed when a local professor is found dead of advanced old age when the day before he had seemed a healthy man in his mid 40's. This is one of the few genuine mysteries she has come across in her job and for once she sees a real chance to use her detective skills.

However, for Brandy this case is going to turn out to be one which throws her perceptions of people and her town in a tailspin. She finally meets a man, Dan Martin, who's willing to take her as she is in a relationship (and not try to make her leave the police force) - but he's a man with a secret who can crack her case right open and lead her into the heart of darkness and corruption in the centre of the city. A darkness which could swallow both Brandy and Dan without a second's thought if they are not careful.

This is a well thought out police procedural novel. It is filled with believable, human and fallible characters. Mysteries are not solved overnight and all the characters have a real life and normal day to day problems to deal with. In many ways this has been the best written vampire/detective novel I have read in a long time, and I can see why it justifiably received the Lord Ruthven Assembly Award.

If you like the vampire/detective/mystery sub-genre this is a novel you MUST pick up and read. It will be come a yard stick for many other books you might read in the future. Ignore the tacky cover, it doesn't do the contents justice.

It's by no means the worst thing I've read, but it's not really worth spending that much time with, either. It's kind of a shame, because there are some interesting twists on the genre. Most of the vampires seem to want to have a mainstream life, which could be interesting, and she does deal a little with the difficulties for the vampire characters of trying to have a normal life while you have to keep changing identies. She also makes vampirism a genetic disorder, which is a nice science-y variation, but it gets screwed up with a goofy twist. It's genetic, so you can't pass it on, but if the vampire's really, really in wuv with a soulmate, they get to live almost as long as the vampire. Aaaw. This basically is to allow having your cake & eating it too for the main characters, and it's kind of annoying since the vampire character asserts that there's nothing supernatural about the disorder.
The big problem is that main characters aren't really that interesting, and have one of the flattest romances I've seen in a while. The "mystery" is see-through, and if the main character were actually as smart and inquisitive as she's supposed to be, the book would be about 100 pages shorter. The book is also trapped in a "Young Adult" writing style, so much so that I wonder if it was originally intended as one. If so, it would explain at least one of the rythm-killing tangents the book takes, where lead character cop Brandy goes to give a "keep your kids off drugs" lecture to the local PTA for an otherwise inexplicable half a chapter.

I was so excited to find this book by an author who is from and still lives in my home state of Kentucky. The excitement ended by chapter two. The romance portion of the story is frustrating and the mystery predictable. The two main characters get together in chapter 1 (yes, chapter 1) and they are in limbo until later in the book...much later. The "mystery" in the story is probably only a mystery if you don't own a tv or this is the first book you've ever picked up. Free time is precious, spend it on Charlaine Harris or
Laurel K. Hamilton.

Blood Will Tell is a great read. It starts out as a small town mystery/police procedural, soon introduces vampires, action and romance but stays true to its mystery beginnings... and ends with a surprise that I won't give away.

Great fun from a fantasy master.

The story was okay. I didn't find the characters that interesting or appealing -- at least, not enough to buy a sequel if there is one. It's so obvious who the villain is. And, frankly, I like my romances a lot steamier. The best we get here is the first delicious kiss that Dan gave Brandy. Everything after that was just bland. I DO have to agree with one reader, though. The cover is so misleading. Who is that vamp on the cover? It certainly isn't Dan Martin who was described as having black eyes and black hair. Black hair? Isn't that a [very unappealing] blonde on the cover? And was that supposed to be a werewolf in the corner? There was no werewolf in the book. One more thing; I thought the last terror scene would never end. Good grief, was THAT ever dragged out. I kept hoping the book would get better. I would recommend any of The Southern Vampire Series books INSTEAD of this.

This book does start slow - but if you hang in there it is a great story. No real surprises - the hero is the hero and the villian is the villian (if you know what I mean...)A new slant on the old blood-sucker. I cared about Brandy and Dan and would like a sequel. The ending suggests there could be more...

Murphy, Kentucky Police Detective Brandy Mather answers the call from nearby Jackson Purchase State University that a corpse of an old man has been found serenely sitting in the office of Professor Everett Land. The body contained identification of the professor, but the teacher is in his forties, not a nonagenarian like the deceased. Dental records later confirm that the dead person is Land, but how did he double in age seemingly overnight?

While at the University, Brandy meets computer science teacher Dan Martin, who explains he helped Everett with a web site. Dan assists Brandy by accessing Land's records in hopes of finding a clue. While working together, Brandy and Dan fall in love with one another. However, Dan is not what he pretends to be and soon Brandy questions her sanity as she wonders if she loves a clever killer or something out of a horror novel like a vampire?

BLOOD WILL TELL is an exciting romantic police procedural vampire tale that is filled with action, strong sleuthing, and a fresh perspective on the blood-eating creatures of the night. The tale starts with action as the mystery opens rather quickly with the puzzler how does a middle aged person become geriatric in seemingly hours? From that powerful opening gamut, the plot smoothly blends elements from the two genres into a brilliantly conceived, cohesive tale. With superb lead characters and a complete support cast, fans of supernatural mysteries or jut vampiric tales will want to read Jean Lorrah's terrific novel that shows talent will tell.

Harriet Klausner