You had me at “somewhere.”

That’s the first word in the 1st paragraph of J.F. Lewis’ new book, Staked. From the start I could tell this book would be something special. By page 8, I was proclaiming it a winner to my friends. I’m happy to report that I was correct.

The first item that makes this book stand out is the vampire lore that Lewis develops. Yes, he covers the standard “blood sucking is required for sustenance” and “vampires avoid the sun, are powerful and never age” standards but that’s pretty much where the similarities between most urban vampire stories and his differ. He creates an entirely new mythology for his vampires that’s refreshing and unique.

The Story:

The main character in the book, Eric, is a wise-cracking, no nonsense strip club owner who’s also a Vlad-level vampire (that’s one step above Master for you vampire geeks). As such he’s one of the most powerful vampires in existence. But he’s got one odd quirk: he suffers from memory loss and has a hard time remembering what happens from one day to the next. As you can imagine this makes for some difficult moments for a vampire. Imagine not knowing if you’d killed someone the day before. As a matter of fact the story opens with Eric killing another vampire. Unfortunately he can’t initially remember who he’s killed or why he committed the murder.

While pondering this dilemma he’s ambushed and attacked by a werewolf. Although he doesn’t want to kill the guy he ultimately has no choice but to defend himself. Eric is later told that the dead werewolf is the son of the local Alpha, who happens to be a powerful and fanatic religious leader who thinks vampires are an evil abomination. The death of the Alpha’s son is just enough to push him over the edge; he’s hell bent on seeing Eric dead.

In addition to dealing with werewolf assassins Eric is having relationship problems. His girlfriend Tabitha has been nagging him to make her into a vampire for several years. Because Eric is distracted by the recent murders he committed (and not in the mood to listen to her broken record pleas to become immortal) he unwisely agrees to turn her. To say that I was fascinated by Lewis’ description of the turning process is an understatement. I’ve read lots of vampire books but have never seen the process described in quite this manner. If you like vampire lore (and I know you do) you’ll love reading about this procedure and the effect it has on the human body. Okay, there’s one aspect that’s a little gross but it fits perfectly in my opinion.

After Eric turns his girlfriend he’s surprisingly not so interested in her anymore. There’s something about snuggling up to another cold body that’s a bit of a turn off for him. Call him hypocritical, but he likes the warmth of a human body. You can understand how this might piss off his girlfriend. Who’s now a vampire. With fangs.

The primary plot threads in the book focus on Eric’s attempts to avoid extermination by the werewolves, his girlfriend’s introduction to what it means to be a vampire, and his relationship with his girlfriend’s sister. Additionally, it looks like he might be at the center of a setup – but he can’t figure out who’s calling the shots. There are several other peripheral story lines that are equally as interesting but Lewis makes sure they don’t overshadow the central themes.

“Staked” contains a few well crafted violent scenes that demonstrate the ruthlessness of vampires. I love the way Lewis avoids glamorizing the violence that’s central to a vampire’s psyche. His vampires kill humans for any number of reasons, not just for food. As such, although Eric hasn’t entirely lost his ties to humanity he’s very honest with himself (and others) about his murderous side. I found that to be an endearing quality in Eric’s characterization: he’s true to what he is. Overall Lewis does an outstanding job developing Eric as a multi-dimensional character.

I gotta tell you, this story has it all: lots of action, a little violence, a few mysteries, a betrayal, great worldbuilding, sex, and smatterings of humor here and there. There were times when I was totally engrossed in the book. I actually missed an appointment one day because I couldn’t put it down.

The book ends with several unanswered questions which encourage us to imagine any number of possible conclusions to some of the mysteries. J.F. Lewis has NOT written a formulaic urban fantasy book (the crowd applauds) so there’s no telling what else is in store for Eric, his girlfriend, her sister, or the supporting characters. And here’s where the book really stands out: Lewis makes you care about the lives of his characters. I want to know how Eric plans to handle his relationship with his newly undead girlfriend and her mysterious sister. I want to know how Eric deals with the losses he suffers in the first book. In other words I can’t wait for the next installment in this urban fantasy series to come out.

It’s rare that I’m such a cheerleader about a vampire book (or a book with a vampire as the central figure) but gosh-darn, this was one good read. It was also one of the hardest fantasy book reviews I’ve written because I’ve had to contain myself from raving so much about the book. You should have seen my first draft of this review – you’d have thought I had stock in Pocket Books (I don’t).

I highly recommend this book. Urban fantasy readers will love it.

Buy Now at Amazon.

See also:

JF Lewis Joins the League of Reluctant Adults

Fantasy Book ReView of ReVamped by J.F. Lewis