Book Review -- In the Blood

Title: In the Blood
Author: Adrian Phoenix
Genre: Urban fantasy
Pages: Oversize paperback, 385
Published: 2009
Opening Lines: "Jon Bronlee cracked open the door and peeked out into the motel parking lot."

Dante Lives

Vampire. Rock star. Begotten son of the fallen angel Lucien. Dante Baptiste struggles with nightmares and seizures, searching for the truth about his past. It is a quest as seductive as his kiss, as uncontrollable as his thirst, and as unforgiving as his determination to protect one mortal woman at any cost.

Knowledge Kills

FBI Special Agent Heather Wallace now knows the extent of the Bureau corruption that surrounds her, but worries she is losing the battle. And when Dante and his band Inferno come to Seattle on tour, Heather can't help but her drawn back to the beautiful, dangerous nightkind. But what Heather and Dante don't know is that new enemies lurk int he shadows, closer than they think . . . and even deadlier than they fear.

Destiny Unfolds

Shadowy government forces have pledged to eliminate all loose ends from Project Bad Seed -- and Heather and Dante are at the top of the list. Elsewhere, the Fallen gather in Gehenna, intent on finding their long-awaited savior, the True Blood nightkind whom Lucien DeNoir would die to protect. And a damaged and desperate adversary, with powers as strange and perilous as Dante's own, plots to use Dante as a pawn in a violent scheme for revenge. But only one of these lethal forces holds the key to Dante's past -- a key that could finally unlock the secret of his birth and the truth of his existence . . . or destroy him completely.

~ Jacket copy

Thoughts: I'm not sure what it is with this series, but the last two books have taken me forever to get through. However, I've loved every minute of them! Maybe my mind is intentionally slowing down, so I can savor the book that much longer ^_~

This book picks up shortly after Dante tells Heather to run from him. She finds herself back in Seattle on medical leave. After being unable to give the full reason behind her miraculous recovery, she is trying get back in favor by working on the cold case file of her mother's murder while on leave. During this process, she starts to learn how underhanded and corrupt the Bureau -- at least the people she's working for -- really is. And, to make matters worse, they try to get her father into the mix, which also causes him to bring along Annie -- the severely bipolar sister -- as his "ace in the hole."

Meanwhile, Dante has a falling out with his father. Unable to talk him out of going on tour with Inferno -- and ending up in Seattle -- Lucien realizes that he is not fully able to protect Dante. This, of course, leads to a separate part of the story that finally involves the Fallen.

Man, even trying to write about the plot of this book is insane! It is complex, has a lot of twist and turns, involves a few different story lines, etc. However, I never felt lost and it all fits together nicely in the end!

My appreciation for Von keeps growing. I really like him as a character, and I feel that the author has done a good job fleshing him out from the first book. It was also nice to meet the other members of Inferno and see that they are not all nightkind.

The author seems to love her whack-job villains! Athena is just disturbing, brilliant, and interesting. I wonder how much of her insanity was due to the biological tampering and how much was just already genetically determined in her DNA. After her constant droning about Dante making them into a holy trinity, I loved the ending and found it very fitting. In addition, the symbolism to Scripture with the Maker and the three headed beast was not lost of on me! Honestly, it made me laugh considering the history involved with those three!

I was happy to see that Heather was finally able to accept her feelings for Dante and refuse his command to run. In addition, it was nice to see that even Von could understand the importance Heather held in Dante's life and was willing to try and force Dante to see/accept it.

After the ending in the book, I am really curious to see where she goes in the next. The addition of Cortini presents an interesting plot line, and I really want to see how it plays out. Also, there is going to be some ramifications for Dante's reaction to the Fallen who came for him on the hill. I doubt Gabriel and the Morning Star will be too thrilled.

Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Currently: Children of Paranoia by Trevor Shane
Current Pages: 20797
Current Progress:

58/50 books