Friday, November 4, 2011

The Cross-Sean McCabe

The Cross


Sean McCabe

Signet, Dec 6 2011, $9.99

ISBN 9780451413161



In Romania British police detective Joel Solomon awakens to the horror that his former lover Federation's Vampire Intelligence Agency undercover enforcer Alex Bishop changed him into the abomination she is. She did so to save his life, but he rages at her because she has made him into what he most loathes in the world.



In Prague, Alex meets with Utz McCarthy explaining what happened that left the Federation leaderless as vampire traditionalist Gabriel Stone led an aerial assault on the assembly and a key special drugs pharmaceutical plant. She mentions she remains alive due to Solomon the human and the Cross of Ardaich that kills vampires, but was allegedly destroyed during the vampire civil war.



While the Ubervampyr leader Stone recruits a mortal cannibalistic serial killer to find the cross, three skiers (Rebecca, Lindsey, and Chloe) in Romania see a castle not in the guidebooks and locate fragments of the cross. Teaming up Joel and Alex must prevent Stone from obtaining the cross, but first the former cop must move past his fury.



The second Vampire Federation urban fantasy (see Uprising) contains a myriad of subplots (much more than above) that starts a bit slow, but insures the audience will believe in the McCabe mythos. The key rotating cast is full blooded especially the irate Solomon and the besieged Bishop. When all the players (including Dec Martin who knows the truth) converge, the action accelerates to speeds faster than a vampire can move as blood flows with an exhilarating High Noon finish.



Harriet Klausner



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