A vampire has gone rogue in west Hollywood. The local coroner calls on an old friend from med school who she later learns is also a vampire for help. First part of book reads like a mystery as we don't know who the killer is. Great character development with a whole slew of supporting chracters. ( )

REVIEWED: Bite Club: A West Hollywood Vampire Novel
WRITTEN BY: Hal Bodner
PUBLISHED: June, 2005

Bite Club is a fun-filled murder mystery that traipses across all of West Hollywood from its seediest underground clubs to the chambers of its political offices. Do you like your characters promiscuous and cheeky? Like Supernatural horror? Like a quick-paced plot that intertwines the emotions, history, and actions of a wide array of people and lives? If so, you'll find this novel a delightful romp across a culture that's not afraid to poke fun at itself or at others.

I'm also now looking forward to reading the sequel, "The Trouble With Hairy," which was released earlier this year and is already a major contender for a Bram Stoker Award™!

Five out of Five stars ( )

I'll be honest, i didn't expect much from this. I only bought it because it was cheap and I had some extra money on me.
That being said, i was pleasantly surprised how good this was. It was a great story, especially for a first novel.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and would definitely recommend to anyone who likes a good vampire novel. ( )

In a beyond suspicion time, when M/M romance was still a budding genre mostly for the ebooks market, Hal Bodner wrote Bite Club, and it’s surprising how much it sticks with what we now believe being the common rules of a M/M paranormal vampire romance. Probably the only exception is the character of Becky, the girl best friend of vampire Chris, who should be a main character of her own, so nice she is.

Becky is a coroner in Los Angeles, a little overweight, a little hopelessly in love with her best gay friend Chris, Becky is a strong heroine, very clever and with a big heart. Even if she is obviously in love with Chris, she is not in a sour mood since she cannot achieve her dreams; she is genuine, so much that Troy, Chris’s long-time companion, doesn’t exactly like her, but at least is able to accept that she is part of Chris’s life.

Chris is an ancient vampire, 240 years old, and Troy is Chris’s lover since the 1950s. Chris and Becky met in the ’80, when Becky was in med school and Chris was in one of his “experiments”. Since the first moment Chris made it clear to Becky that he was gay and in love with Troy, so he has never once given a chance to Becky, but still, she cannot avoid to fall in love for the handsome man.

As I said, I like Becky, even if she has no chance to win Chris, Troy, Chris’s husband, is too much of an handful, and so cute, that no one in his good mind would leave him. Monkey, as Chris calls him, is “jumping” like the animal itself, always in motion, coquettish enough to make it clear he is gay, and proud to be, but not to the point of being a farce. Of course he is exaggerating his attitude, but I think it’s also a way to protect himself from the world, those few time Chris is not there to do that.

Chris is a little aloof, but he is obviously in love with his little monkey, and he would do everything to protect him; but he is also a good friend, and when Becky needs him, he doesn’t think twice to come to her help. Chris is probably too good to be true, but he is the friend and the lover everyone would like.

I decided to concentrate on the romance point of the novel, probably since I was surprised to find them and to be so good. But I have to warn the readers, this is also a paranormal horror, and the horror elements are quite bloody (no pun intended).

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1555839037/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

I went in expecting a bit of brain candy, and was pleasantly surprised to find an entertaining story, much humour, and a cast of rather vivid (in some cases almost over the top) and entertaining characters. Given the subject matter (vampires - angst, guilt, woe *cough*Anne Rice*cough*), I was expecting a wallop of angst, and was pleased to find although there was action and excitement and perilous situations, I didn't have my gut unecessarily twisted six ways from Sunday emotionally. I didn't actually want to like Troy; he's very camp, in a way that normally irritates me in real life, but I think he's actually my favourite character. His lack of taste in decor probably endears him to me. :D

The author doesn't try to take himself too seriously, and as such had produced a story that is easy for the reader to settle into and just go with it, and has enough in it to keep readers engaged until the end.

I sincerely hope that the author writes more about these characters, because I feel a little bereft now I've finished the book. ( )