Review: Well Written Novel Left Me Unsatisfied
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 16, 2012
My dirty little secret is that I love vampire books. Ever since I read Dracula, I have been on a quest to read every vampire book I can find. Of course, like all voracious readers of vampire books, I do have some pretty basic standards: a hot, sexy male vampire, his obsession with a human female, who recognizes what he is and is torn between retaining her humanity and the promise of everlasting love and passion in the arms of her vampire. Sex is more important than blood, but throwing in a little murder and mystery really is the icing on thee cake.  A Tear of Blood has all of this and more...A Tear of Blood has a hot sexy male vampire, gorgeous actor,  Michael Dunne who is obsessed with Charlie Grayson, the writer of the screenplay of his new movie A Tear of Blood. Charlie is not beautiful beyond belief and is astonished that Dunne is attracted to her. Dunne gradually reveals that her story channels the story of his life - a life that began when he transitioned from a sentient alien life form and assumed the body of her husband in Ireland in 16th century Ireland. Between then and now, he learned to drink human blood to survive and has loved and lost her many times. Dunne is determined that in this life, Charlie will transition and share eternity with him. They have shared reincarnation cycles with another person, the very attractive and all too human Daniel Johnson, now a police officer investigating several murders of young women, who died drained of blood and with a slight smile on their faces. Charlie is torn between Michael's incredible allure and Daniel's humanity. Charlie has to deal with a dying mother,  pain and fear from her second bout with leukemia. Her time is running out fast but Dunne is determined not to lose her this time.The novel is full of twists, turns, misdirections - all leading to a real surprise of an ending.It's well written and should have been a real hit with me. Oddly enough, though,  A Tear of Blood didn't thrill me. The story line was excellent, as was the pace, but the characters fell a bit flat. Michael started out to be a real thrill, yet he lost his allure quickly because he was totally devoid of humanity, just an empty shell. Charlie started off a bit weak but gained personality while Daniel just never fleshed out. No matter how good a book is conceptually, no matter how skillful the plot and subplots are developed, a book never really engages me when I just don't care about the characters. The characters in A Tear of Blood left me cold.