UF Review: Bloodstone by Nancy Holzner

Bloodstone

by Nancy Holzner

Book #3 in Deadtown series

Mass Market Paperback, 323 pages

Published September 27th 2011 by Ace

Boston’s diverse South End is known for its architecture and great restaurants, not its body count. So when mutilated human corpses begin turning up in the area, the entire city takes notice. The killer—dubbed the South End Reaper—uses a curved blade for his grisly work. And even though there’s no real evidence pointing to a paranormal culprit, the deaths are straining the already-tense relations between Boston’s human and inhuman residents. As the bodies pile up, Vicky, her formidable aunt Mab, and her werewolf boyfriend Kane investigate, only to find that the creature behind the carnage is after something much more than blood…

Bloodstone is the third book in the Deadtown Series by Nancy Holzner. Victory (Vicky) Vaughn, the heroine, is a shape shifter living in Deadtown; part of Boston where all the paranormals are forced to live. Vicky exterminates personal demons for a fee during her “day job” and in between cases she tries to save the world from demi demons that try to take over the world.

After Vicky finishes up her latest extermination job she is faced with trying to help her MIA vampire roommate, Juliet Capulet (Yes THE Juliet Capulet as in Romeo and Juliet). Juliet went on the run from the Old Ones (a group of very old vampires) in Hellforge and now she is back and needing Vicky’s help.

While Vicky tries to help Juliet she is grabbed by a group and is being held by a mad man that she later finds out is Pryce’s (bad buy from Hellforge) father and just happens to be the real Merlin from King Arthur’s days. While Vicky is asleep she uses the dream phone line to contact her Aunt Mab that lives in Wales and is who taught Vicky everything she knows about demon hunting.

Vicky has a lot of family issues to work through in Bloodstone. We get a lot of background info on Aunt Mab and we learn why Vicky’s sister Gwen hates Mab so much. Gwen’s daughter is showing signs of becoming a shifter and will need Vicky’s guidance.

And like many UF books there is a love interest. By this installment in the series, Vicky is settled into her relationship with her boyfriend Kane, who is high profile werewolf lawyer that is fighting to for civil rights for all the paranormals in America. Kane is just one of the many people that Vicky finds herself trying to help, after he is turned into a wolf by force.

Vicky has her hands full in Bloodstone trying to save the world and keep all her loved ones safe.

If you are an Urban Fantasy fan that loves a strong heroine and the idea of a world where thousands of Bostonians get turned into zombies because of a virus sounds cool to you, then you need to check out Holzner’s Deadtown Series where the city is a melting pot of paranormal creatures just trying to live together.