Customer Reviews

Grave Illusions

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Jess Vangermire is in charge of a secret specialized police force. It is her job to fight vampires and keep their presence a secret from society. She hand picks her men herself and usually has to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get the type of men needed for the job. Not so when she offers John Brittain a job. Fired from the police force for accidentally killing his partner, he is consumed with guilt and spends his time drinking when he isn't driving a cab. Jess recognizes a man with integrity and moral fiber when she meets him and gets to know him. She comes to have feelings for him, which is dangerous for her. The reason? She is a vampire! She knows no human man will want her when her secret is revealed.

Lina Gardiner's Grave Illusions had excellent flow and had me turning the pages until I finished it. I love books that do that. All too often I read books that have slow parts that I want to get past so I can get back to the good parts. This book didn't have action on every page, though there was plenty of that. Instead, the action was interspersed with characterization, which is important to me. The better I know the characters, the better I like the books. If you are looking for action on every page with lots of blood and gore, this book isn't for you.

The life of ex-cop John Brittain is circling the drain since getting tossed off the force two years ago for the suspicious death of his partner. Since then he's been driving a cab and drinking too much, lost his wife and is living in near squalor in a questionable part of town. Even worse is his lack of concern for how far he's fallen. Then one night he slips out of the bar and is approached by a gorgeous leather-clad woman who presses him up against the wall and turns him on, propositions him, then disappears when he turns her down. If that wasn't a far enough step outside the norm of his miserable life of late, his former captain calls and asks him to come see him. Britt doesn't have the first clue what that's all about, nor does he have an inkling of just how much his life is about to change.

She'd been watching him for weeks, following him and aware of the others who were also on his tail. Coming face to face with him in that alley off the bar just proved to Jess that she wanted Britt on her team. Well, she wanted him for more than that but that's all she would allow herself. And after fifty years as a vampire, Jess had gotten very good at schooling her most unwanted - and unholy - desires.

The vampires in the city were joining together and acting in ways that Jess had never seen before. It was up to her to assemble and train more hunters and put a stop to the growing number of casualties. And given the interest the vampires have shown in Britt, she may have found the key to the whole mess. Convincing the man to join her cause without explaining what she or that cause is, though, may not be so easy. With the lives of her team, her baby brother, and the humans of the city on the line, the ease of the task has nothing to do with Jess' grim determination to get it done.

Though I liked the idea of the concept for the plot of this series debut, several issues prevented me from being able to enjoy it. The narrative plodded a bit, and seemed dry and stilted. I never really got a clear picture of the world of the series beyond the basics and I wish there had been more attention to detail offered in the creation of the mythos of vampires within it. There seemed to be some conflicting information and a lot of vague references, some religion-based, without many absolutes or thorough explanation.

The characters also suffered from a lack of definition. I had a hard time connecting to them because of that, and that caused the romantic subplot to fall short for me. Britt was the most three dimensional and clearly defined of the bunch, I thought, with his past and many of his motivations and aspirations covered in detail...but as the series is named after Jess I found that odd. The main character in this book doesn't seem to be the one in which the series is centered around. I don't think it would have felt quite so disparate had Jess been given more page time and her past been more thoroughly described. A few more scenes slanted from her perspective would have helped, too.

Unfortunately, those weren't the only issues I had with this book. For a story that is supposed to contain an investigation with a crack detective and a vampire, way too many pieces of the investigation were ill defined, fit together poorly, were based on wild assumptions with no supporting evidence, or were handed to the characters from nameless third party sources. Other parts made no sense and/or conflicted with logic and previously established information. The police procedural aspects of the plot failed for me on that level.

Actually, too many things failed for me in this book. There were just too many plot holes, contradictions, illogical progressions, and character issues, and the end was riddled with supposed twists that I just felt were random and bizarre. I wanted so much to like Grave Illusions (Jess Vandermire, Vampire Hunter), but ended up struggling to finish it. I'm sorry to say I doubt I'll be continuing this series.

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Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.

I have to admit, I'm not a vampire connoisseur. I don't read a lot of vampire books, have never read Anne Rice and generally like my fiction to be 'real'. Having said that, I picked up GRAVE ILLUSIONS and totally devoured it. It's one of those books that once you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down. Excellent character development and good story. Good work, Lina! I hope to read many more Jess Vandermire books.

I stumbled across this author by accident. The book description was so intriguing, I took a chance and was pleasantly surprised. Lina's great writing has made a fan out of me. John Brittian is an ex-cop wallowing in his guilt and self-medicating w/ alcohol, for accidentally killing his partner. Jess Vandermire is a vampire and also a lieutenant in the NYPD. Thrown together by fate; together they will set out to solve one of the most deadly mysteries happening around the city. Someone has created a drug that permits vampires to become day-walkers. Jess must go toe to toe w/ a master vamp, even though she is technically a baby vamp in vampire years. She and Britt have a chance to prove they are both redeemable. Jess may prove she is still worth being loved and Britt may prove himself not to be a cop-killer after all. This story flowed smoothly and was well done. I could hardly put it down. I can't wait to get my hands on the next installment, Beyond the Grave. I highly recommend this book.

I also recommend:
At Grave's End (Night Huntress, Book 3)
Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows, Book 1)
Nightwalker (Dark Days, Book 1)
Staked (Void City, Book 1)
In the Blood

When I grabbed this book, It only had a few reviews that were all 5 star. I think those first reviews were fake. Yeah the plot of this story was good. But the writing just did not flow because the Editor and Writer were just not in Sync.

Normally when I break out the Kindle and start reading, I lose myself in the book. I ignore everything else around and sink myself into the story. With this book I just could not sink into it, it was too Jumpy and poorly written.

The Good part, it was free. Otherwise I would have been mighty upset over paying for such low quality work.

2 Stars for a glld plot, but poor deliverance.

The basic plot was ok, with vampire hunters closing in on a sudden surge of vampires in NYC. However, I do not think I would have read this book if I had realized it was basically a romance novel using vampires as a theme. I am generally a fantasy fan, and this book would have been more interesting (at least for me) if it had focused on the storyline a bit more, without going into mooning about the other person and their attraction on every single page. I suppose I shouldn't blame the author, though, since I didn't realize that the publisher specializes in romance books. If that is what you are looking for, you should be fine. As for me, I won't be reading any more books in this series.

I got halfway through this book and then found the plot hole you could drive a truck through. WARNING SPOILER... IF his partner Randy's body dissappeared before the coroner could perform an autopsy to figure out if the punch to the gut killed him; WHY would they have reason to go to a crypt to check his coffin. WHY would a missing body even NEED a coffin, much less have a body which turns out to be Randy's WIFE in it? Did his body walk back home for his funeral? Was the coroner on a lunch break when it did walk home, so they buried it? Suspension of disbelief is IMPERATIVE for a good story BUT... so is a plot that makes sense

Although an engaging story, this book would have benefitted from a more engaged editor. It would have avoided moments where the reader thinks, "Wait, didn't it just say...?" It's minor inconsistencies like this which detract from the over-all enjoyable storytelling.

Good read once you get past the editing issues. Many times while reading the E-book a sentence or paragraph would just disappear from one page to the next. Had to try and fill in the gaps. Interesting story line. Would give it more stars if they took more time with editing.


Update....gave it a 4th start after figuring out that adjusting the font size on Kindle app for iTouch smaller made the 'missing' text show up.

This felt like the last few bites of a terrible casserole that you HAVE to eat so you don't hurt your Aunt Gertrude's feelings. I'm 75% through this book and I've had to struggle to pick it up and continue reading. I'm a fan of vampire books (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Sookie Stackhouse, Argeneaus, Anita Blake, etc) however this book was weak from the beginning. Jess likes Britt, but Jess can't like Britt because she's a vampire. Britt likes Jess, but she's a vampire and he's an ex-cop with baggage. Tedious and boring with only a few good scenes thrown in. You're probably wondering why I'm still reading the book if it's so terrible....and the answer: I can't help it. I'm chalking this up to a mercy flush.

**UPDATE**
Wow. It took me over two weeks to finish this terrible book. Normally I demolish a book in a day, sometimes a few hours...but this was ridiculous. The writing had horrendous editing mistakes, as well as what felt like story holes. Reading the last few lines of the book had me whooping in joy....because the journey was over. If you are looking for a good vampire series check out the ones I mentioned earlier. Heck, even the Twilight books would be better.