Review: Cops, Vampires, and Action Archaeologists!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 3, 2014
A Passing Curse is a rip roaring entry into modern vampire lit. It is also an ambitiously labyrinthine novel with many fleshed out characters and intertwined plots and conspiracies.  What would Vlad the Impaler do if he was alive and well in the 21st century?  That's what Rusty (Penelope) Webber, an intrepid but disgraced archaeologist has to discover after being hired by a reclusive billionaire.  The novel starts, however, as a police procedural. Detective Reese Tarrant is on the trail of a serial killer draining the blood from look alike women, but in a startling twist, finds him early on... leading to deeper, darker, more disturbing secrets and possibilities.  Reese and Rusty end up on the same trail, with a little romance thrown in, but then a lot of other interesting characters and twists... all leading back to the Ajax Rasmussen, the billionaire. Could he possibly be Vlad?  Could he have terrible plans for the world?By treating the novel as forensic investigation, rather as breathless fantasy, C.R. Trolson creates a whirlwind of mystery and action still grounded in reality, with some terrific, unsettling set pieces (Rusty is rescued by a Blackhawk helicopter at one point!) His prose is smooth and beguiling; I got completely pulled into the novel, even though it is not my normal cup of tea.  The gruesomeness at times was a drawback for me, but it is, after all a book with vampires and serial killers, (and vampires are our original serial killers, right?!)  There are perhaps, a couple too many plot threads, but overall a gripping read and a great contribution to the genre, and I hope he'll write more books with Rusty Webber as the protagonist - she's an excellent action hero!