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Thursday, 26 July 2012

***Review*** The Vampire of Highgate by Asa Bailey





Released: July 7th 2012
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Format: Paperback
Source: From the Publisher for review purposes
Find At: Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon | The Book Depository | Barnes & Noble
Author Site: Asa Bailey




Goodreads Synopsis:

Kathy is an innocent, an outsider who longs to belong somewhere. Anywhere. Dreams of her half-sister Amber and of the centuries old Highgate Vampire are taking her to places she doesn't want to go. Kathy can't stop the sequence of events. If her nightmares and reality collide, the Highgate Vampire will come to take her soul...



My Review:

I found this one to be very chilling and spooky; there is an undercurrent of tension that runs through this book which only adds to the heightened darkened mood.

What I found interesting was that this novel was based on the real life story of the vampire of Highgate. This is really exciting as it adds extra oomph to the story. I have a friend who lives in the area and she was very excited to find a book about the local folklore. There is certainly no glamorising of the vampires in this books, it is hard, ruthless and not at all romanticised.

I must admit I did take a couple of chapters to settle into the story, but once I did I really loved it. The main character Kathy is flawed, but she shows real power when it comes to finding out what happened to her half sister Amber. I think she is a very brave girl and you can certainly see her character develop throughout the book. She is a much different person from the girl who left America at the beginning of the book.

This book is dark and gothic and you can get to feel the real terror of some of the victims that befall the vampire. The scene is set well and you can certainly get the feel of the locations, this for me is a must in a book. I really want to feel that I am walking the streets with the character whilst also feeling their raw emotions.

It does jump period a little and I did have to re-read some of the pages again just to make sure I didn’t miss any detail out. These flashbacks were very useful as it made the story more detailed.

I wasn’t too sure what to expect of this book, but it did not disappoint me. I would recommend this book as I do think it is a chilling and worthy read. I thought the writing style flowed nicely, but like I said before I did have to re-read a few pages just to make sure I hadn’t missed out any of the vital details.
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Overall summary: 
If you want a dark, gothic and chilling read and don’t mind vampires being terrifying then this is the book for you. It has an added bonus of being based on a real life story of the Highgate Vampire.

My Thoughts on the Cover: 
Yes I do like it. The vivid red writing really stands out and the girl has a very mysterious and gothic feel about her. I don’t automatically get what the book is about from the picture, but the title of the book certainly explains a lot. I would pick this cover up in the bookshop, but I would have to be drawn in by the synopsis on the back to really want to take it home with me.

*** Many thanks to the publisher for supplying me a copy of this book for review.***

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like one to add to the wishlist. I love it when vampires are real and gritty. Not like the fluffy and sparkly ones that have been banded around recently. GREAT review btw.

Jane

Yackers said...

A great reveiw Jenny. I've been waiting for some reveiws of this to show up and I'm glad I did wait... I don't think I'll be reading this one afterall.

Asa Bailey said...

May I pop by and say Hi, and thank you for the review.

Chocolate Chunky Munkie said...

Thanks for stopping by and saying hi Asa, glad you like the review :D

caroline.taylor078 said...

Its brilliant to get a new vampire series as I am one of the few who thinks there aren't enough being published these days since the shift in popularity to dystopian books. I love the way this one sounds like a real chilling gothic read, something to curl up with on a dark foreboding night.

Mel said...

I love vampires and I love books set in or near London so I will check it out! I like creepy and gothic as well! :-)

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