Customer Reviews

High Bloods

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

 

 

I couldn't put this book down. The only reason I didn't give this book the full five stars was due to too many characters. Also, thankfully, there is a glossary included in the book which is very helpful for all the lingo and acronyms peppered throughout. Sure, it's not a decapitation every time you turn the page, but just the foreboding of the next killing was compelling. Lastly, I thought it was a Stephen King novel when I picked it up due to the quote listed on the bottom of the front cover praising the true author, John Farris. Perhaps a clever method of marketing? At any rate, the story was excellent.

Ehh.. this book had such a great premise and though its characters were strong, as well, it was ultimately lacking. Right off the bat, I was more than a little alienated by the terminology used - and while there was a glossary, I just don't understand why the first time the "new" words were used they weren't defined! Some were, but definitely not all, which took a while to get used to. Also, the most interesting part of the book (the werewolves and their new society) were hardly touched upon! I was MUCH more interested in that that than the actual plot. And while it is nice to have a werewolf book unaccompanied by vampires, it would have been nice to have more of the actual werewolves!! The ending wasn't terribly conclusive either.... It just felt rushed. I do think that this would have made a better movie than it did a book.

I really, really wanted to like this book. The description of the story sounded unusual and I could not wait to dive in! However much this book reminds us of the old detective novels of yesteryear, and it does, it does not deliver werewolves. It is as if half of the novel is missing. I feel that if the author added more actual interaction with werewolves and included them more prominently in the story, he would have a winner. The story that was there was great.... what was missing..well I missed it!!

sounded good. BUT i just can't get through this book. made it thru about 100pp. just sooo boring and slow and too many people that are boring to try to remember. i hate to say it but I think I will not finish this book which is EXTREMELY rare for me. one I pay I read it even if it sucks.

...sorry.



good luck.

Last night I stayed up until 12:30 AM finishing the thrilling new novel from John Farris, High Bloods.
A little background first: since the age of twelve it's become a habit, whenever I'm in a book store, to scan the bindings for a title that could have something to do with werewolves. Usually I'm disappointed--it turns out to be one of the many vampire books hogging the shelves, or a trendy paranormal romance. I lucked out two Saturdays ago and discovered not one, but two new werewolf novels on the shelves at Borders. One, as you guessed, was High Bloods by John Farris. The title alone didn't strike me as potentially a werewolf book, but the clawed werewolf hand on the binding did.

What a fun book. It's a hard-boiled detective novel written in Pulp-era style, yet set in the future. A fast-paced action-packed thrill ride with lycanthropy, classism, and mystery on the menu. It hearkened back to the attitudes and ideals of the 1940's, evident in the hero's views of women, machismo, and in the behavior of the female characters. There is a spark of nostalgia that ignites under futuristic lingo, frightful glimpse of future southern California, and werewolves (those afflicted with lycanthropy) outnumbering normal humans. Unaffected humans are known as the titular "high bloods", and are the elite upper class. Werewolves are known as "lycans" or referred to as "hairballs", and are the outcasts as well as the low caste (ironically, despite their status, the lycans are the majority of the famous actors and musicians--Hollywood stars and media darlings). Humans afflicted with lycanthropy that have biannual blood replacements to keep from transforming are known as "off-bloods", and their own class (not considered as lowly as lycans, but not equal to high bloods).

The book ends at a jumping point for a sequel. Hopefully a follow-up is in the works. I'm itching for a broader view of the world, the history of the lycanthropy virus and its origin, more about the growing lycanthrope rights movement, and more of the exciting mayhem of High Bloods. >:-)

There's no other way to put it. A bestseller in the making. Farris has consistently produced some of the finest (and sadly overlooked) horror-suspense novels of the decade...High Bloods is no exception and I happen to think it's his finest work. Heavily influenced by the Gold Star line and Raymond Chandler, High Bloods has all the workings of a classic detective novel, yet Farris is able to weave a remarkable and fantastic sci-fi tale, a unique premise involving a future society living rather tenuously with werewolves. There's plenty of hints dropped at the apocalyptic scope of the werewolf plague that impacts the world of High Bloods...but the book is never about that. Farris deftly works in enough back story to let the reader's imagination run wild. It's effective, at least for me. The same principle is at work in some of our finest horror films...it's what you don't see that scares you the most. In High Bloods, the back story that most amateur writers would try and crowbar into a momentum-driven plot would simply suffocate the story. Not here. High Bloods drips with atmosphere, sharp dialogue and intrigue, with prose that keeps the story moving at a steady clip. Not to mention a world (in this case Los Angeles) totally unique unto itself (there's even a glossary included for Farris' totally hip slang)...and that's a testament to his genius. True Blood, Twilight, Underworld, and all the other weak nu-vampire tales have absolutely nothing on this stunning novel from a true master. If this doesn't get picked up for a potential series or big-budget feature...well frankly I'd be shocked. It's simply a goddamn classic, a truly original novel. And I can only hope there will be more to come.

While I'd like to believe that John Harris is indeed a master of terror as proclaimed by Stephen King, but after reading this novel I'm certainly a skeptic.

This werewolf tale set in an alternate reality never achieves the "reality" part. From an incredibly deep, yet utterly unbelievable romance between the protagonist and a happenstance witness to the book's first murder to the ridiculous plot turns that end the book, the author never manages to create an immersive world. I suppose the inclusion of a glossary should have been the first clue that I wasn't going to connect to this imagined place.