Staked (Void City, Book 1) (Paperback)

by J. F. Lewis (Author)
Key Phrases: uber vamp, magic gun, Demon Heart, Orchard Lake, Void City (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A pedal-to-the-metal demolition derby of sex and violence. Werewolves and vampires were never so much fun."

-- Mario Acevedo, author of X-Rated Bloodsuckers

"[A] fast-paced story with a heady mixture of humor, violence, and sex."

-- Library Journal

"...certainly impressive for a debut. The plot is reminiscent of the early, and best, of the Anita Blake novels."

-- Don D'Ammassa

Product Description

UNREPENTANT. UNIMPRESSED.AND TOTALLY UNDEAD.

Eric's got issues. He has short-term and long-term memory problems; he can't remember who he ate for dinner yesterday, much less how he became a vampire in the first place. His best friend, Roger, is souring on the strip club he and Eric own together. And his girlfriend, Tabitha, keeps pressuring him to turn her so she can join him in undeath. It's almost enough to put a Vlad off his appetite. Almost.

Eric tries to solve one problem, only to create another: he turns Tabitha into a vampire, but finds that once he does, his desire for her fades -- and her younger sister, Rachel, sure is cute. And when he kills a werewolf in self-defense, things really get out of hand. Now a pack of born-again lycanthropes is out for holy retribution, while Tabitha and Rachel have their own agendas -- which may or may not include helping Eric stay in one piece.

All Eric wants to do is run his strip club, drink a little blood, and be left alone. Instead, he must survive car crashes, enchanted bullets, sunlight, sex magic, and werewolves on ice -- not to mention his own nasty temper and forgetfulness.

Because being undead isn't easy, but it sure beats the alternative.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (March 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416547800
• ISBN-13: 978-1416547808
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #98,349 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 1 in The Void City Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's hope there more where this came from!, March 4, 2008

By	Lupa (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

Eric is a vampire. A vampire who owns a strip club, drive a '64 1/2 Ford Mustang, and has persistent short-term memory problems thanks to having been embalmed. Unfortunately, that werewolf that he killed while defending himself had connections--and now the pack's coming to collect payment (and did I mention they're holy rollers on top of it?). On top of it, his girlfriend, who convinced him to turn her into one of the undead, suddenly just isn't doing it for him any more. And his partner in the strip club business may not be the best friend Eric thought he was. What's an undead guy to do?

One would think that a novel featuring a vampire-owned strip club would be pretty predictable. Same goes for vampires vs. werewolves, and, of course, the physiology of the vampires themselves. Lewis manages to not only avoid being predictable, but displays an excellent talent at worldbuilding and characterization. Eric is anything but the seedy, smarmy stereotypical strip club owner. Despite being a vampire, he still deals with very human problems, from love to paying fines and tickets. Additionally, because he's still relatively young, dying in the mid-20th century, he doesn't have the "I've been dead for so long that my culture of origin no longer matters" copout going on. Instead, the reader is treated to odd cultural references from the 1950s and 1960s, and Eric's life is still punctuated by reminders of his human life--including his would-be wife, Marilyn, who stays with him even after his undeath.

The plot is fast-paced, too, especially for a not-quite-400-page book. Rather than focusing only on the mystery at the center of the story, Lewis brings in several plot threads and fleshes them out enough to keep them interesting. He wraps them up well, though he leaves a few cliffhangers at the end--which makes me really, really want to read the next book! He has a good grasp of dialogue, too; the characters speak believably and have distinctive voices. The changing first-person perspective brings added depth to the story as a whole, and Lewis has a good sense of when to change narrators.

Overall, this is one of the most entertaining and well-developed novels I've read in a good long while. Highly, highly recommended.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Debut, April 4, 2008

By	Slaingod (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This book was a lot of fun. Reminds me of a good cross of say Dresden Files and some of the other paranormal/urban fantasy (mostly female) authors out there. So basically the male lead is a little more well-rounded/thought out than usual. Some predictable plot twists, some not. It's hard to be completely original these days, but he still makes it seem fresh and interesting. Several laugh out loud moments.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gritty, Rip-Roaring Read, May 11, 2008

By	J. Szabo (Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The action doesn't stop from page one till the end, and I was left wanting more. Eric is that guy, the one that we all know at least one of, and he's a vampire, with memory problems, woman problems, and even best-friend problems.

JF Lewis is a hot new origional voice in the urban fantasy market. I'm looking forward to the next installment of this series! A gritty, down-to-earth telling of what it might really be like to be a vampire, and have to deal with all the everyday problems we all encounter as-well-as the not so everyday ones, like a whole pack of werewolves out to get you!