Book Review: Living Like A Vampire by Jacky Dahlhaus

Happy Halloween! Well, almost. It’s never too soon for a bit of a scare though, right? Good.

Living Like A Vampire* by Jacky Dahlhaus is the first part of the Suckers trilogy. It centres around Kate, a school teacher who has just begun her new job and suburban dream life. However, a virus that turns people into vampires is rapidly spreading and packs of vampires are killing everyone in sight. Kate has to pretend to be one of them to stay alive, which is further complicated when she accidentally bumps into a handsome sucker.

Yes, I agree, vampire books/films/TV shows have been a bit overdone – but give this one a chance. There is something rather unique about it that I enjoyed. The story has its own take on vampires but gives homage to past versions, even a cheeky little nod toward Twilight. Thrown into the mix is somewhat of a more advanced, smarter zombie apocalypse (without the zombies) and the result is a book really worth reading.

The language of Living Like A Vampire matches the plot: eerie and tense. Even though one would expect it, I didn’t see the ending of this book coming, nor some of the things that happened throughout. Therefore, I was always on edge and eager to move ahead to the next chapter. Likewise, the pace of the story was perfect and never had me feeling too rushed or longing for more information.

Kate is the main character in Living Like A Vampire but while she is likable and interesting, it was more what she brought to the story rather than her personality that I enjoyed most, if you catch my drift. Through the inclusion of Kate, the author touched in a number of themes. Of course, there is the idea of what exactly a person would go through to stay alive, but we also see the close bond of friendship (between Kate, Charlie and Sue) and the age-old problem of being attracted to the “bad boy” rather than the loyal, reliable option.

Finally, we have the vampire themselves, or “suckers” as they are called in this book. The vampires are complex creatures, some cruel like we expect from the creature but others more like Angel, the vampire with a soul. This added an additional layer of depth to the book and one which I would have enjoyed reading more about.

Overall, loved this book! I’m looking forward to part two already.

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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