Review: Bloodshot

Bloodshot by Cherie Priest

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I found this a far cry from Cherie Priest's other novels, and not just because it's an entirely different genre with very different characters. The tone was different, the voice was entirely fresh, and the narrative approach was quite different from the other books I've read of hers. Nonetheless, it still added up to an enjoyable tale well-told.

The book follows Raylene Pendle, a vampire thief nicknamed Cheshire Red, who stumbles across a government conspiracy that left one of her kind blinded for all eternity. Her hunt for information on Project Bloodshot takes her from her comfy home base in Seattle to Atlanta, GA, then to Washington, DC.

The books wasn't without its flaws. I'm hoping the narrative flow is a bit more even in later books. This seemed to have clearly-delineated moments of action and tension, with very little blending or mixing-up. I don't want to call it predictable, but it was a little too easy to set aside for the night, knowing I was just about to read an action-y section.

I also didn't like the sexual tension, or lack thereof. As fun as it was to read Raylene's detailed descriptions of how delicious she found various men (and her speculation about a drag queen's "tuck job"), I got no indication within the text that it was at all mutual. Maybe she was supposed to skeeze out readers by coming across as a dirty old woman and call attention to how gross it is when guys do it, but I wasn't impressed.

It also seemed like Raylene had too easy a time throughout this book. Thinking on the events, it doesn't seem like there weren't a few times when the tension was ramped way up, but that's the danger with a character who's uber-paranoid, uber-prepared, and never loses her cool. I didn't feel that sense of danger.

I did enjoy this book, but there were some factors I was looking for that I found lacking, none of which added up to my knocking the book too far down in rating. Overall, I liked it, and plan on picking up the next one.



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