Rating:

A Thirst for Revenge

Author: L.A. Freed

Angela was attacked and now she is dying in her hotel room. Technically, she should be dead already. The attacker drained her blood and threw her into a river. She is pale and cold and in extreme pain. She isn’t sure what is happening, and she lingers been the desire to die and end the pain and her own stubbornness to fight through it, find her attacker, and get her revenge. Then a stranger shows up at her door and offers her a choice. She can die, or she can come to him, sacrifice her soul, and live forever. What’s a better motivator for eternal life than revenge? And so, Angela begins the transition into a creature of the night, but it is not an easy or painless process, and before she can confront her would-be destroyer, she has a lot of hard lessons to learn.

I found Blood Thirst in a long-ago random eBay book lot that just keeps giving. The absolutely overdone cover combined with the breathless blurb is enough to make any B-horror hound’s soul soar. Sometimes you need a deep, psychological horror that forces you to confront the nature of humanity, of corruption, and the true nature of evil. And sometimes . . . sometimes you just need something silly and a bit scary with some Dark Shadows-like vibes. That’s what I expected from Blood Thirst, and it certainly had its campy moments, but L.A. Freed’s story has a surprising quality to it as well.

The pull starts with Angela’s transformation. It’s gritty and mesmerizing. Not the glamorous thing of Bella Lugosi’s day, but a shocking bodily and mental change that many young vampires do not survive. We can’t help but be drawn in: what will happen next to Angela, dubbed Ainjul by the vampire (Elijah) who helps her? Will she survive her gruesome metamorphosis and all the many things that can go wrong, from encounters with crazed cultists to a bloodlust that might turn inward?

As Angela learns about her new life, she also bonds with Elijah. This is both a strong part of Blood Thirst and a weird one. Elijah is an old Black man, turned vampire, and it’s not long before we find out that Angela is casually racist. It starts with absolutely shocking comments along the lines of “they all look the same” to her, which jolts readers who were getting ready to follow a sympathetic anti-hero on a revenge path. It’s so blatant, so absurd, that we think it must be part of the plot. Surely, through her deepening friendship with Elijah, and the many times he saves her, she will come to a deeper understanding. She’ll see the error of her ways . . .right?

Yeah . . . no. That casual racism is just sort of there. We’ll see it later in another important character, when Angela makes a strange half-hearted attempt to get said character to stop using the “N” word. It’s …  yeah. It’s bad. I’m not sure what the point was, since it was there, but only pseudo-addressed. Was the narrative affirming or denying the racism? I’m really not sure, and I’m not comfortable. Elijah and his narrative fades away, and Angela remains as she was. She doesn’t grow, she remains kind of uncomfortable with her racism, but she also never grows out of it or addresses it. The important side character I mentioned – yeah, he doesn’t grow either. Their relationship deepens and morphs, and his use of Elijah and remains unaddressed. Angela just lets it go. So … yeah.

Then, the transformation enters a second stage, and things get weirder. The revenge story morphs, and it’s a sordid little twist we never could have seen coming. It’s a vampire soap opera for sure, and I have to admit, my curiosity would not let me put the book down. I didn’t know where it was going to go, what was going to happen, and I was ultimately invested.

Now – Angela, Matthew, and Elijah are never “good” characters per say. Angela is comfortable with racism and with killing. There is no moment of regret, no feelings of compassion, no torn loyalties over what she is becoming and what she must do to live. I admit that I kept reading on, hoping to see this torn conscience, hoping to find that humanity, but I did not. Was the story stronger for its honesty about the monsters that populated it? Ehhhh, maybe, maybe not. It was different though and diverting. How could Angela harbor such strong morals on some aspects (her family loyalty, her care for animals), and yet be fine with racism and wanton killing? It’s a dichotomy that is honestly left ambiguous, and perhaps that is part of the appeal. It’s certainly part of the discomfort that accompanies the narrative.

Oh, and there is a vampire dog named Bong. Yes, it sounds absurd, but it works, and it reveals so very much about the transformation and the type of personality needed to survive in an afterlife of darkness and killing to live.

And one other random thing. The transformation for a male vampire here is … ummmm … quite interesting with certain “parts” drying up and shriveling off, so if you’re thinking sexy vampire time, you can forget that. It’s an entirely new twist on vampire romance, which keeps things interesting, albeit distinctly non-seductive. The creativity here is key and keeps us guessing, although I would have preferred my male vampires intact, but the book was admittedly weird all along, from vampire dogs to van driving vampires to voodoo cultists to some VC Andrew-ish love stories, so really, what did I expect?

Is Blood Thirst good quality, deep horror? No … but it is totally entertaining. It’s problematic, on many levels, but it is also unique. It will keep you reading, keep you questioning, keep you curious. It’s not like anything I’ve ever read before, and I liked that. Recommended, with a great big caveat about the racism.

 

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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