Blood Drive
Jeanne C. Stein
Ace, July 2007, $7.99, 304 pp.
ISBN 0441015093

She is not just an ordinary bounty hunter; Anna Strong is a vampire bounty hunter, a secret she keeps hidden from almost everyone including her parents. The chief of police, an old and wise vampire professional, wants to mentor her so that she can use her powers the right way but Anna wants to go it alone. She feels it is enough to go to a small Mexican town magically protected by Culebuo, to finds willing human prey. She doesn’t know what he is but it is very difficult for her to keep him out of her mind.

That night she has dinner at her parents’ home when Carolyn Delaney, her dad brother’s only girlfriend comes to the house and drops the bombshell that her daughter disappeared and she is afraid that Trish killed one of her school friends. She also tells Anna that Trish is Steve’s child. When Anna finds Trish, she is with her friend Ryan and he shows her kiddie porn that Carolyn made Trish pose for. With the help of schoolteacher, a shapeshifter Daniel Frey, who wins her trust despite the rumors that he is involved in kiddie porn, they get Trish to a safe place but Anna tries to find out who is behind the kiddie porn ring and neutralize them. She works the case while avoiding the FBI, lying to her parents and protecting young innocents from evil that even Anna doesn’t know about.

Jeanne C. Stein takes on the vampire mythos in her own unique manner that makes for an enthralling vampire thriller. Readers of Laurell K. Hamilton, Tanya Huff and Charlaine Harris will thoroughly enjoy this fast paced novel filled with several action scenes that come one after the other making it hard for the readers to catch a breather. In addition to a wonderful story, Ms. Stein infuses BLOOD DRIVE with a moral message about the kiddie porn industry that harms everyone even those without children.

Harriet Klausner