Dark Road Rising (Vampire Files)
Elrod ties up some loose ends fromCold Streetsand picks up where 2006'sSong in the Darkleft off in Jack Fleming's swaggering 12th adventure. Jack, a hard-boiled vampire PI/club owner in 1938 Chicago, subdues and wins over Gabe Whitey Kroun, a big bad gang boss from New York whom Jack soon discovers is also undead. Whitey's vampire blood helps Jack's best friend, Charles Escott, survive a deadly infection and injuries from a nasty fight, but it may turn him into a bloodsucker. Elrod sometimes gets too caught up in nostalgic gangster-style chatter, but the action is solid, and while newcomers might feel like they've wandered into a half-finished film starring Humphrey Bogart and Vincent Price, fans will be thrilled.(Sept.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.