Before I say anything else, I have to get one thing off my chest about this book. The guy on the cover looks like the main brother, Nate, from the TV show Six Feet Under. The actor Peter Krause. Doesn’t he!?! He totally does. Observe.
Separated at Birth?
Maybe Nate Fisher was really a 17th Century vampire. That would certainly explain some things. Nate Fisher or no Nate Fisher, I loved this book! It’s a great Middle-Eastern supernatural adventure novel. It does have its warts here and there, and it’s definitely a vampire genre novel, but HEY – who reads a vampire novel when they want to be reading something else? Only a jerk. That’s who.
In the United States in the 1600s, Jeremiah Fall is cursed to be a vampire when his father unwittingly sets one loose, having ignored the warnings of local Indians about a strange mound in his fields. Fall’s mother and father are killed. Now a vampire, Fall hears about a possible cure for his unnatural condition and spends the next century searching for a “healing stone”, which he eventually tracks to the Middle East. Unfortunately, his plans go awry when he finds that, instead of being a source of his salvation, the stone contains an ancient evil which threatens to destroy the Earth if released. Once the stone is located, two opposing secret societies appear. One dedicated to releasing the monster. The other dedicated to preventing the end of the world. Because of his connection to the stone, Jeremiah is the only one who can stop it.
Here is where I use my handy vampire classification system on Jeremiah Fall.
- Superhuman strength: Yes
- Changeling: No
- Sparkles: No
- Erotic neck biting: Maybe if Fall wasn’t so perverse (see below).
- Drink blood: Yes
- Can turn victims into more vampires: Yes
- Must be killed by decapitation or stake through the heart: Decapitation
- Reflection in mirrors: Not mentioned
- Scared of crosses and/or garlic: No
- Burn in sunlight: Yes
- Goth nightclub visit: No
- Mind control: Yes
Ah! I love classifying vampires. The one that really counts – the erotic neck biting? There isn’t really any of that. Fall clings to the gloomy idea that he is accursed, and generally refuses to vampirize humans and limits his dining to small animals. This is probably for the best, considering that human victims turn into more vampires unless the corpses are decapitated. But it makes for far fewer torn bodices.
Since the majority of the action takes place in the 18th Century, we have bonus items: Egyptian intrigue, Napoleonic wars, despotic rulers, and suicidal and not-so-suicidal cultists. One of the things I really liked about this novel is that the story is a bit of a mashup between a vampire novel and a basic mummy’s curse novel. So, following the mummy formula, you’ve got an ancient evil that is working towards rebirth, and what do all good ancient evils need for rebirth? Zita Johann! Zita Johann or some other suitable person of the female gender. So there is a little bit of romantic interest in this book.
The not-so-good? As hinted at strongly by the title, main character name, and cover, this is definitely the kind of book where you need to leave your brain at the door and enjoy the adventure. My main grudge would be the sudden appearance and disappearance of a band of suicidal desert ninjas. After they serve their purpose (to move the plot forward), they disappear into thin air, sadly.
Creepy Factor: 3 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 5 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 2 out of 5 (needs more biting)
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 3 out of 5
Final result: I can’t remember the last time I gave a book a 5 on the Suspense factor. This book grabbed me and I read it in two sittings. It has vampires, ancient evil, evil death cultists, desert ninjas, and a hero who leaves piles of dessicated small animals in his wake. I liked it!
Blood Prophecy by Stefan Petrucha – Hachette Group – 2010
Buy Blood Prophecy now at Amazon!
Thanks to the author for sending me a copy of this book to review. See you all next time!
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