Slayer is the first book in Karen Koehler's highly acclaimed vampire series.
In times when, according to many, far too many books are written about vampires, the author manages to come up with something original: a book which can righteously be called one of the best of its kind.

Alek Knight belongs to the Dhampiri, half-human half-vampire beings that make up the police force of the vampire community. The current situation is the result of an agreement made several hundred years ago with the Vatican.

One day, Alek's master, the powerful vampire Amadeus, tells him about the need to find the Chronicle, which includes the history of both the vampire race and their controversial relationship with the church. It was stolen from the Vatican and it has to be returned in order to prevent a war, another Inquisition.

The slayer, who is still mourning for his long lost sister, Debra, is determined to do his duty until an astonishing encounter occurs. Debra seems to have come back, and the strange encounter opens his eyes to the truth; Amadeus is not what he is supposed to be.

Slayer engages the reader right from the beginning, with all its powerful images, fallible characters, both cruel and likeable ones, and also by mixing romance and self-sacrifice, heroism and hope. Often, there is also death, which is, at times, also inevitable for those not susceptible to illness or prone to aging.

This is the world of buried and unbound passions, of intricacy and lies, where nothing is what it seems.

A plot with many twists and turns, the good characterization and all the well-written details make this book a good read and highly recommended.

Fans of vampire stories and those of conspiratory theories will certainly like this book. Anne Rice, watch out. The vampire tale kingdom has a new queen.

Reviewed By Ilona Hegedus
© June 2005