With Teeth - by Brian Keene

I am still woefully new to the worlds of Brian Keene, having only read his Zombie horror book The Rising, last month, and I wanted to see what he had as a spin on Vampires. I have to say that Vampires aren’t something that I go out of my way to read, they have been done, and done again, and each time seem to lose something of their source – the thing that makes them dangerous. Be it that they sparkle, or that they fall in love with goths, or that they hang around in covens solving crimes, it all seems very unrealistic and honestly, a little under my radar. So what could Brian bring to the party to spark some life into the genre? Well, of course, he makes them like rabid, starving weasels.

There’s this great symmetry in his choice, by dumping all of the elements of civility and making them like a zombie horde but with a cunning nastiness, I have to say I loved the book, and it rekindled an interest in what has proven, over time, to be a somewhat deflated genre (Vampire stories). It helps that Mr. Keene has a great sense of comic timing – the voice of the protagonist of the book is sympathetic and comes out with some great one-liners – early on I laughed out loud on the beach, whilst reading the book, at:

“Now, I don’t like snakes so much, but copperheads always gave me a particular case of the willies. A rattlesnake will warn you before it bites. A copperhead gives you no such consideration.

Copperheads are assholes.”

I mean – c’mon! The voice is to die for! So this pretty much set me up for a good time, and the book just played to the crowd – it’s a blast. The vampires are this mangy force of nature, trapped in an isolated bubble and given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explode. The violence is nasty, dirty, sudden, unforgiving. Exactly like an animal attack, no finesse. It’s fantastic. I won’t give spoilers, but the ending is well constructed, and you can’t help but want to come back for more of the same.

This was a breeze, I finished the book in one sitting, and had a full, satisfied glow about me afterward. I must have been unbearable.

With two shorts included as bonuses and a quick afterword from the Author to tie the whole thing in perfectly-matching-wrapping-paper, this was never going to be anything other than 5 out of 5 ⭐’s.

Loved it, Mr. Keene. Keep them coming.

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You can buy the book (American Amazon) HERE.

You can visit Brian's website, HERE.

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