Review: Red, White and Blood by Christopher Farnsworth

Red, White and Blood is the eagerly awaited third installment of Christopher Farnsworth's intense and fast-paced President's Vampire series. This time, vampire Nathaniel Cade faces off against a malevolent entity only known as "The Boogeyman." This isn't the first time Cade has come up against this creature; over the past 100 years or so, it has infested various hosts, taking a wide range of guises, and each time only Cade has been able to stop its murderous rampages, yet each time, it finds a way to come back. This time is different, however. This time, the creature's target is none other than the President of the United States.

Cade and his handler, Zach Barrows find themselves not only having to protect the President, but also avoid media exposure, no easy task considering the President is up for re-election and is on the campaign trail with every move watched closely. While The President's Vampire tended to lean more toward adventure spy novel and a bit less towards horror, Red, White and Blood effectively captures the flavor and balance of Blood Oath: walking that fine line between the two genres. It is an unlikely pairing, but Farnsworth is a master of both and a master of the blend.

The novel is filled with enough twists and turns to keep the reader off balance and the story itself is wire-tight enough to compel more than one late night trying to finish "just one more chapter," and the unexpected ending will leave you aching for the next installment.

If you haven't read the first two books in this series, things will still make sense, however reading the first two (Blood Oath and The President's Vampire) will give you a bit more background about the world of the series, and they're just darned good reading...something you can really sink your teeth into. (There, I said it!)

Red, White and Blood is published by Putnam Books and is available from your local, independent book seller. (Make a difference in your local economy: shop local and independent first!)

Review: The President's Vampire

Nathaniel Cade is back.

Let's face it, with Twilight and its related ilk, vampires were denigrated to brooding, emasculated visions of adolescent girls' dreams. In Blood Oath, Christopher Farnsworth reversed that trend; in The President's Vampire, he takes it a step further.

Cade and his human handler, Zach Barrows, come up against an evil that Cade first confronted in Innsmouth, Massachusetts in 1928 (yes, that Innsmouth, Massachusetts in 1928), only since that time, it has mutated into something he had never seen. The trust and betrayals are more intimate, more personal this time, as is the horror.

Farnsworth has definitely come into his stride with The President's Vampire. As with Blood Oath, many of the chapters begin with excerpts from various sources; some fictional, others real; that give you glimpses into Cade and who he is. Additionally, the use of flashback chapters provide a depth to both the character and the narrative without detracting from the story or its overall flow. The dynamic between Barrows and Cade is filled with tension and a growing respect as the two continue to work with and begin to trust one another.

Part suspense/spy novel, part horror, it is to Farnsworth's credit that he does not rely on violence, blood, and gore to tell the story or to shock the reader. Cade's vampirism definitely augments what he does, but in a very Miltonian twist, just as you grow comfortable with him as a character, and perhaps even begin to like and sympathize with him, Cade does or says something that reminds you exactly what he really is: a predator that only barely resembles a human being:

"And what would you do with them? Terrorists. Traitors. Murderers. How would you handle them?"
Cade showed his teeth.
"I would kill them all," Cade said, his voice flat. "I would burn their cities until the desert fused to glass. I would tear the wombs from their mothers. I would poison their babies and dismember their children. And then I would drown the men in the blood of their families."
Graves stared back at him for a moment.
"But then, I'm not human," Cade said. "I don't need an excuse to act like a monster." (p. 81)

The supporting cast of this series, notably Zach Barrows and a female vampire named Tania, are also developing into intriguing characters in their own right. Barrows is becoming more comfortable in his role and establishing a certain and definite confidence in his work and with his partner. Tania provides an interesting foil to Cade, even as both of them struggle with the remaining vestiges of their humanity.

The story itself is fast-paced and filled with enough tension to keep one reading late into the night, yet Farnsworth masterfully counterbalances it at just at the right moments as to not exhaust the reader. In addition, Farnsworth has capitalized on the technology available in the 21st century with a website that further enhances and deepens his fictional world. (As far as I've seen, only Frank Beddor, author of The Looking Glass Wars series has capitalized on this concept as well.)

As a general observation, this series started off well and continues to develop strongly. I'm looking forward to book #3.

From G.P. Putnam's Sons (a division of Penguin Group Publishing) and available at your local, independent bookstore. (Shop local and independent...it makes a difference!!)