Blood and Bullets (Deacon Chalk, #1)

Feb 23, 2013 Jeffrey N. Baker rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

James R. Tuck is a local author here in GA. I had picked up his book to support him after having had an email exchange with him. He's a very nice guy and was very open about his experiences getting published.

I really wanted to enjoy his book. But sadly I can't say that I did. The main character, Deacon Chalk, is a Marry Sue for James. He is so idealized that I was constantly taken out of the story. It came to the point that I could predict how situations would play out.

For instance, Deacon went...more

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Feb 15, 2012 Ӄıȶȶყ Ӄaȶ (Smitten With Bad Boy Heroes) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: deacon-chalk, favourites

My Thoughts
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My inner goddess now calls out for Deacon Chalk! This fearless and brave Bad Boy Hero that protects humanity is now one of my favorites. Confidence and power radiates from his very essence. He’s scary and intimidating with his goatee and tattoos. The kind of man who will make you want to run and hide at first; but if you look a little closer, he’ll stir something deep inside that will no longer let you look away. He’s a strong, hot, alpha male w...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Kristin (MyBookishWays Reviews) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: noir, mystery-crime, supernatural

You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2012/01/...

Deacon Chalk is a man with a mission. After he’s cornered by a young vamp asking for his protection outside his place of business, he knows something’s not right. He kills vamps. He certainly doesn’t protect them, and when he’s jumped by a group of vamps bent on draining him dry, along with a (very) amateur vampire hunter, he’s sure something big is going down. His search for the culprit leads him to a very powerful vamp b...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Fangs for the Fantasy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Deacon Frost lost his family to the monsters, something he lives with every day. No longer have a reason or desire to live, he goes out and hunts them, without regard for his own safety backed up by victims and survivors

But now he is the target – an elaborate trap has been set up to catch him and another would be hunter is being used as the bait. The problem is he doesn’t know who is targetting him or why – but if he can’t find out why he is the one being targeted – or even if he is the target –...more Deacon Frost lost his family to the monsters, something he lives with every day. No longer have a reason or desire to live, he goes out and hunts them, without regard for his own safety backed up by victims and survivors

But now he is the target – an elaborate trap has been set up to catch him and another would be hunter is being used as the bait. The problem is he doesn’t know who is targetting him or why – but if he can’t find out why he is the one being targeted – or even if he is the target – he and everyone around him is at risk

This is a power fantasy, a pure male power fantasy and an action film. Deacon Chalk (yeah, his name as well) fights like a demon – or an angel rather since he has the super special angelic blood, with a whole host of shiny guns, drives a super fast shiny car, is harder than nails, kicks more arse than an entire military unit and looks awesome doing so with his huge muscles, leather and bad boy sexy tattoos. All the women around him are gorgeous and love him. He’s kind and heroic to the downtrodden while always gruff and tough, of course. And he has deeply tragic past and cries manly tears while beautiful women sooth him – but it drives forward even more ruthless because he no longer cares if he lives or dies.

It’s no good, this needs a super action movie voice over.

In a world of vampires, demons and monsters, one man stands between all that is good and the darkness. Marred by tragedy he will give anything, fight anything, sacrifice everything in an epic battle for the fate of humanity! Women want him, men want to be him and evil runs in fear from him. He is Deacon Chalk!

This is this book. It’s corny, it’s cheesy, the main character is ridiculously, perfectly awesome who is regarded with universal awe and reverence. He cannot buy take away food without being hailed as a saviour. He’s enlightened, tough, he has literal ANGEL BLOOD, an awesome fighter with the coolest toys. He could have a thousand women (all beautiful and all want him) but he is still so tragically hurting so they just admire him from afar and kiss his cheek (seriously, 99% of women in this book kiss his cheek, it’s like a compulsion) he runs his own strip club manned (well, womaned) but ladies he’s saved who all adore him, he has his own priest as back up (a priest who was a former sniper so kicks some arse, but he is not Deacon Chalk, of course). He wades in among literal hordes of vampires slaying them in their dozens – lesser hunters may kill a vampire, but not Deacon Chalk, he kills 50 vampires, 100, he kills them with a small knife and his hands tied behind his back and likely makes them flee with his terrible manly glare (we need a chorus insert here of breathy awestruck women gasping “Deacon Chalk”).

Ok, a nice power fantasy action movie style book isn’t entirely a bad thing. Sometimes some fluff and blowing up the big bad monsters with a protagonist who just shits awesome can be a fun, fluffy, mind deadening read. It can, I admit it, I even like a good action novel with nothing but cheesy over the top fights and god-like heroes who are ridiculously, gloriously perfect. It’s a guilty pleasure and I shamefully admit it.

Buuut… even action fluff books dripping testosterone and stinking of cordite need to be well written.

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Feb 17, 2013 Rosebud rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, favorite, first-in-series, paranormal, vampire, shapeshifters, horro

The world around us is filled with supernatural beings including zombies, vampires, and shapeshifting spiders who are lurking in the shadows. The myths about paranormal entities and things that go bump in the night aren't a myth. They're real and there are those who fight them that no one ever hears about. This is the story on one of them. And his ongoing battle in fighting the supernatural.

Deacon Chalk knows the truth and he's made it his life's mission to eradicate the monsters and predators o...more The world around us is filled with supernatural beings including zombies, vampires, and shapeshifting spiders who are lurking in the shadows. The myths about paranormal entities and things that go bump in the night aren't a myth. They're real and there are those who fight them that no one ever hears about. This is the story on one of them. And his ongoing battle in fighting the supernatural.

Deacon Chalk knows the truth and he's made it his life's mission to eradicate the monsters and predators out there. The blood sucking psychotic beings who are on the hunt for their next victim or meal in a world where no one knows of their existence and lives to tell about it.

Let me start by saying this book has that James Bond action adventure feel if 007 had been a southern born tatted leather wearing guy who fights vamps, drives a 1966 Mercury Comet, and runs a strip club. Deacon is a loner who's acquired a loyal support team who aid him when he needs it and provides him with nifty vampire fighting shoot'em up kill 'em gizmos that are available to him to deal with even the worst of the psychotic supernatural entities. Yet he never gets close to any of them as he knows their very lives could be in danger if the vamps find his weakness. He knows he'll die someday, somehow but doesn't want anyone else to share that fate.

As to the story itself. The beginning was rather slow for me. But that is a personal thing. The author goes indepth to set up his world building and that includes many of the teckie stuff I just don't care for. Again, I say this is a personal thing and will probably hit the guy fans in a totally different way. I just don't know cars and their specifics, and what the difference between guns are except that a pistol is short and fits in your hand and a rifle has a long barrel. And a knife is a knife and a dagger a dagger. For those of you who appreciate that sort of stuff you will probably be in zen and drool over that section of the book according to your tastes.

Once the author got to the nuts and bolts of the story I did fall in love with the overall storyline and had a hard time putting the book down. This is one of those books that challenged me along with providing a well written story that had many twists and turns I didn't see coming. I could really see this book working as a big budget movie as the suspense and action scenes would make for spectacular special effects and the continued action adventure was such that I wouldn't want to leave for any bathroom breaks fearing I'd miss something.

The subplots and cast of characters are well worked in and add to the book. Kat, Father Mulcahy (had to laugh as I kept picturing the padre from M.A.S.H.), Katsumi, Longinus, Gregorios, Nightblade, Tiffany, Charlotte, & Larson all have their own personalities that shine. There's the priest who isn't like any I've ever seen in real life, the bumbling sidekick, the female who is secretly in love with a main character, and a immortal being who will surprise you. Now whether you like them or not is a personal thing but for me there is one character who I wanted to erase out of existence. Which one, I'll never reveal (for now).

As to the bad guy/evil elements in this read. This book is tagged with "occult" & "horror" which is appropriate as there's a significant amount of fighting, violence, gore, and blood letting. I had to do the mental wince many a time as the action scenes had me thinking "that gotta hurt" and "gonna leave bruises" but with the "paranormal" & "fantasy" tags the author was able to find ways to work around the permanent injury stuff, for the most part ☺. There are also a few times that the scenes did get to be a bit much for me as I'm a lover not a fighter but can't fault that it was worth it as the climatic ending made sense of many of the parts of this book that didn't seem important when I first read them.

This is the first in series book that doesn't have any erotic or romance in it. It's a totally awesome paranormal action suspense read that includes horror, occult, urban fantasy, and a protagonist who has a death wish. The vamps depicted in this book don't sparkle or give orgasms to their victims when they bite. But if you want to read a book that pulls you I highly encourage you to give this book a look(less)

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Jul 20, 2012 Laurie Jenkins rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: action, adventure, demons, fantasy, fiction, horror, kindle, mystery, paranormal, ctr-review, read-in-2012, science-fiction, thriller, vampires, werewolves

In a deadly game of deception, a patsy is lured into a situation for which he is totally unprepared. Nyteblade will do anything to rescue his family, but the young man is almost killed when he is pitted against a most formidable opponent, Deacon Chalk.

Deacon Chalk is accustomed to fighting against the worst monsters. He is a man who has dedicated his life to eradicating evil, ever since his family was killed five years earlier. When he is suddenly and without warning attacked by an inexperienced...more

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Jun 15, 2012 Jenn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, vampires

James R. Tuck blew my mind with THAT THING AT THE ZOO, his introduction to Deacon so my expectations were high for BLOOD AND BULLETS, his first full-length novel. I think novellas are harder to craft than novels because of the length restrictions and I was quite excited to see what the author would give us with more pages at his disposal. Unfortunately, my reaction is mixed.

Don’t get me wrong, there are good qualities a-plenty in BLOOD AND BULLETS and, as a whole, I liked the novel. There were j...more James R. Tuck blew my mind with THAT THING AT THE ZOO, his introduction to Deacon so my expectations were high for BLOOD AND BULLETS, his first full-length novel. I think novellas are harder to craft than novels because of the length restrictions and I was quite excited to see what the author would give us with more pages at his disposal. Unfortunately, my reaction is mixed.

Don’t get me wrong, there are good qualities a-plenty in BLOOD AND BULLETS and, as a whole, I liked the novel. There were just a few things I didn’t love, and they ended up distracting me from the story, which is never good. My biggest issue was how repetitive certain things were. We get told over and over again that Deacon lost his family to vampires and he misses them terribly. The first couple times, it was poignant and I empathized but I eventually started going, “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” as the novel progressed because I’d been told about his tragedy so many times. It was the same sort of thing about Deacon’s physical appearance. I don’t need to be told every seven chapters that there are women out there who love big, burly, bald men covered in tattoos and leather. It came up organically most of the time but it did detract a little from the story for me in the latter half of the novel. Let me be clear: these are minor notes about a strong novel but they're definitely things that pulled me out of the story every once in a while.

Now that I’ve gotten my mini-rant over with, I can focus on the positive parts of BLOOD AND BULLETS. First and foremost, Deacon is a cool character. He started hunting monsters after they killed his family and, along the way, he was gifted with powers, making him more than human and better able to fight the baddies. I love that he’s atypical in the sense that he’s big and tough and drives a muscle car -- he’s the kind of protagonist we don’t see much of in urban fantasy right now. And James R. Tuck has done a great job of giving him a voice that’s his own, which I enjoyed despite my quibbles about repetition. Plus, Deacon is surrounded by interesting people. I love that he uses his club to fund his war and that his dancers and staff are all folks who have been touched in some way by the darkness. His two main allies are Kat and Father Mulcahy, two people who couldn’t be more different but who give him the support he needs to get his job done. They both have pasts but it’s Father Mulcahy who I’m most intrigued by. A priest who used to do exorcisms and is happy to fire rifles at vampires? Part of me wishes he’d get his own series. I feel like he has lots of stories to tell. There's also a nifty shout-out to a few urban fantasy series with characters with similar careers, like Anita Blake, Cat and Bones, Blade, Sam and Dean from Supernatural, and Buffy. (There was one reference -- to a Blue Woman -- that I couldn't place. Anyone know what series he's talking about?)

All in all, BLOOD AND BULLETS is a promising debut. James R. Tuck has built a strong foundation for future work and I look forward to seeing what happens to Deacon and his friends next in BLOOD AND SILVER.

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Jun 14, 2012 Marlene rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Originally published at Reading Reality

I was jonesing for a Harry Dresden fix, and somebody mentioned Deacon Chalk might be just the man to tide me over. Whoever that was, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Now you're wondering who the hell Deacon Chalk might be. Notice I didn't say heck. Deacon Chalk would never be that mealy-mouthed.

Deacon Chalk is the monster-hunting main character of Blood and Bullets, the first novel by James R. Tuck in the urban fantasy series that is, of course, named after...more

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Apr 16, 2012 Star (The Bibliophilic Book Blog) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

Deacon Chalk's baaaaaaaack! After the harrowing events in That Thing at the Zoo (a Deacon Chalk novella), we are given Deacon's first full length adventure in Blood and Bullets. A teenage vampire tries to hire him for protection, but Deacon doesn't work for the monsters. Yet he can't help but be curious as to the person this vampires is afraid of, only to be ambushed. Now he's got to follow the line of vampires back to the person or thing controlling them, but this comes with surprising results...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Jeanbooknerd rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviews

Blood and Bullets is a fantasy thrill ride driven by the big, bad-ass Deacon Chalk. Although he is scary and a bounty hunter for things that makes you tremble in fear, he still has principles. He is willing to risk his own life to save others.

In this book, author James R. Tuck describes Deacon’s latest hunt: vampires! Tuck puts us in the front row seat and we feel every trigger-squeeze, punch, kick, and screams. It is like an in-your-face action movie and each moment is filled with adrenaline-pu...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-5-stars

Plot: 5 Stars
Blood and Bullets had two of my favorite things in an urban fantasy: a male main character and scary vampires. And let me tell you, these vampires were creepy, violent monsters. One of my favorite parts of the novel was seeing the newbie vampire hunter, Larson, work with Deacon. They were complete opposities, and yet they still each learned from the other. I also really enjoyed the peaks into Deacon's past, along with his little anecdotes as to why he does what he does.

Pace: 4 Star...more Plot: 5 Stars
Blood and Bullets had two of my favorite things in an urban fantasy: a male main character and scary vampires. And let me tell you, these vampires were creepy, violent monsters. One of my favorite parts of the novel was seeing the newbie vampire hunter, Larson, work with Deacon. They were complete opposities, and yet they still each learned from the other. I also really enjoyed the peaks into Deacon's past, along with his little anecdotes as to why he does what he does.

Pace: 4 Stars
This novel was action-packed. There was little down time between these action-packed scenes, but the story never felt rushed. Although there were a few plot points I guessed beforehand, there were still a number of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. The story flowed very well, and never slowed down. All in all, this novel was a quick and refreshing read.

Characters: 5 Stars
Deacon Chalk was a fantastic character. He has a mysterious and tortured past. With only glimpses into the events that made him hunt monsters, I can't wait until the next novel comes out so we can learn a bit more. He's also a badass. There's no other way to describe him. The girls at Polecats, the strip club Deacon owns, were interesting although they played a much smaller part. I look forward to learning more about them in future novels as well. Father Mulcahy was a great addition to the team. Not only did he bless all of the weapons, but he also had a bit of gruff humor. Larson made me roll my eyes in the beginning, but really grew as the story progressed.

Cover: 4 Stars
The cover model is exactly how I envisioned Deacon: a total badass. They really stayed true to the character, and I especially enjoy the tattoos. All too often tattoos on a cover don't correspond with the story, but these fit the main character and his description. I also liked the detail of the crosses and weapon on the cover. The purple background isn't the most masculine color, but somehow it works. The cloud and lightning details make the purple seem a little daunting and creepy. The font choice works really well. It's simply, yet bold.

Overall: 4.5 Stars

Disclosure: I received an ARC of this novel for review. (less)

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Feb 20, 2012 Paranormal Haven rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviews-by-beth-guest-reviewer

Deacon Chalk lost his family five years ago to the things that go bump in the night. Ever since he lost them he has hunted those things down, and been involved with the seedy underworld of the paranormal. Vampires, using a want-to-be-hunter named Larson, set a trap for Deacon. He manages to make it out of the trap, and goes on a quest to see who wants him dead.

This book delivers exactly what the title says. It is a pulp urban fantasy, that’s hero reminds me of almost any buff, bald action hero....more Deacon Chalk lost his family five years ago to the things that go bump in the night. Ever since he lost them he has hunted those things down, and been involved with the seedy underworld of the paranormal. Vampires, using a want-to-be-hunter named Larson, set a trap for Deacon. He manages to make it out of the trap, and goes on a quest to see who wants him dead.

This book delivers exactly what the title says. It is a pulp urban fantasy, that’s hero reminds me of almost any buff, bald action hero. This is a fact that Deacon himself seems to know. Most all of the women in the story, including the antagonist find him attractive, and he even includes why. He is clearly a badass, but goes too far out of his way to explain the reasons why. Arrogance Deacon has in spades, and there were plenty of parts in the novel I hoped it might get him into trouble. The big arrogant brut does have his soft spot, his dead family which trips him up, and makes him much more likeable as the story goes on.

The colorful cast of characters behind our hero is where it is at. This is a novel with a ton of magical critters, Vampires, Were-things, angels and even fairies are mentioned. Vampires in this book are evil, no exceptions, and the story even explains how vampires came into the world. They are not the sexy things in our romance novels, but sadistically evil. Deacon is helped fight the forces of evil with a priest, hunter-want-to-be, his sexy female assistant, a really awesome were-spider, and a character straight out of the bible. The side characters are well detailed, some more than others. I was mildly surprised by how much they let Deacon push them around.

The setting is not richly detailed. It is set mainly in Atlanta, but that seemed like a distant fact to the objects, like Deacon’s car. The settings are told well during a fight scene. It is generous with the buckets of blood, and good fighting, but that is where the settings goodness stops. There is grit, but it is in the fights, and felt lost any other time.

The book covers maybe four days in total, and the plot is very cut and dry. A big evil comes to take out Deacon, and he saves the day. There is a very thin romantic plot that seems like it might blossom into something more as the series goes on. I really enjoyed the mix of myth and storytelling that made up the back story of how certain things came to be.

I have said it before but this is an urban fantasy pulp novel to the fullest. Our hero is the classic ‘shoot’em first’ kind of guy. The problem is that there is not a lot to make it stand out of the crowd, other than the fact that the lead is not a detective or P.I. That doesn’t change the fact that the basic story has been seen before. The book has two things I enjoy, urban fantasy and grit, but it lacks in depth and detail.
- Beth (Guest Reviewer)(less)

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Dec 23, 2011 Amy Jacobs rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own

This is going to be a hard review to write. Bad ass monsters? Check. Down and dirty hero? Check. Lots of action? Check. Great story? Kind of.

I had a really hard time enjoying this book. While the character of Deacon Chalk was sexy and bad ass, he wasn't one that attracted my interest. He wasn't so much an alpha hero you would come to expect in the sense of good guy will prevail, simply because he is at times so rugged and dirty as the bad guys. He can kick butt and take names when he feels like...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Shana (ReadingVixen) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Simply put, "Blood and Bullets" is one helluva ride! Mega action, mega thriller, mega suspense. This book reminded me of those old detective movies (i.e., Humphrey Bogart) from back in the day. You can picture everything in your mind as Deacon does first-person narrative on what's going on in his world; it's that descriptive. As I finished up the book, lyrics from a popular song from the 70's kept creeping into my mind:

"You know this cat 'Chalk' is a bad mother...
(shut your mouth!)
Well, I'm talk...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Richard Hayes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Deacon Chalk is a bad-ass, over 6 feet tall and more than 300 pounds, tattoos all over, he looks like a bouncer, which he has been and still sometimes is. He is also a bounty hunter but not your normal bounty hunter, he hunts the occult.

This book starts when a young vampire who reminds him of his dead daughter tries to hire him to protect her from a vampire hunter. When he refuses she attacks him and he is forced to kill her. Using information she had he goes to warn the vampire hunter only to b...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Liz rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: uf, para-norm

I read this book as part of the Read2Review program in the PNR & Urban Fantasy Fanatics discussion group! Thank you to them and the author for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Blood and Bullets.

He lives to kill monsters. He keeps his city safe. And his silver hollow-points and back-from-the-dead abilities help him take out any kind of supernatural threat. But now an immortal evil has this bad-ass bounty hunter dead in its sights. . .

Blood and Bullets was an intense and bloody sp...more I read this book as part of the Read2Review program in the PNR & Urban Fantasy Fanatics discussion group! Thank you to them and the author for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Blood and Bullets.

He lives to kill monsters. He keeps his city safe. And his silver hollow-points and back-from-the-dead abilities help him take out any kind of supernatural threat. But now an immortal evil has this bad-ass bounty hunter dead in its sights. . .

Blood and Bullets was an intense and bloody sprint of a book! If you like extreme weaponry, kicking supernatural butt and gore, Deacon Chalk, monster hunter and all around bad ass, is your guy. After being the target in an ambush attempt, Deacon is off to the races in effort to find out who set him up and why. What he finds is definitely not what he anticipated because he immediately becomes embroiled in a bloody battle to thwart an ancient vampire’s megalomaniacal plan to enslave humankind.

That said, Blood and Bullets was surprisingly not exactly my kind of read. There was way too much focus on the types of weaponry Deacon used and his macho posturing than story and no clear reasons as to exactly why Deacon was a threat. Sure the vampire seductress was hot for him (and we got numerous soliloquies on how appealing he is) but did she only target him to get in his pants or was it just because he was SO good at his job? I did like the addition of were-spiders to the supernatural lore (why not?) and loved what an amazing ally Charlotte became as she broke the vampire’s thrall and joined Deacon’s team. But ultimately I felt like instead of an urban fantasy thriller I was reading Guns and Ammo magazine.

The interesting thing is that this type of story might draw more male readers to the genre as there is a distinct lack of male protagonist voices in urban fantasy novels. I would keep James Tuck on my radar to see where he goes with the development of the Deacon Chalk , Occult Bounty Hunter series when book 2, Blood and Silver is released this summer.
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Feb 13, 2012 Fanny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is a Urban fantasy type told by the stanpoint of Deacon Chalk
a hunter of monster. He begin to work in that job because a Niphilim
(half angel-monster or human) murderer his wife and daughter. He practically has become a rock without feeling blinded by revenge. He owns the Polecats(strip club) many times crossed his mind to suicide but stopped because he knows he will not have "salvation" so he is like kind of waiting for a monster in battle to do it. the people who work in the Polecats...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Urban fantasy lovers

Shelves: r2r, dark-fantasy-horror, urban-fantasy

Loved it! I'm a Deacon Chalk fan!

Here's the book summary from the description by the author, "Ever since a monster murdered his family, Deacon Chalk hunts any creature that preys on the innocent. So when a pretty vampire girl "hires" him to eliminate a fellow slayer, Deacon goes to warn him--and barely escapes a vampire ambush. Now he's got a way-inexperienced newbie hunter to protect and everything from bloodsuckers to cursed immortals on his trail. There's also a malevolent force controlling...more Loved it! I'm a Deacon Chalk fan!

Here's the book summary from the description by the author, "Ever since a monster murdered his family, Deacon Chalk hunts any creature that preys on the innocent. So when a pretty vampire girl "hires" him to eliminate a fellow slayer, Deacon goes to warn him--and barely escapes a vampire ambush. Now he's got a way-inexperienced newbie hunter to protect and everything from bloodsuckers to cursed immortals on his trail. There's also a malevolent force controlling the living and the undead, hellbent on turning Deacon's greatest loss into the one weapon that could destroy him. . ."

I don't like to do summaries, (but everyone does them) I figure no one's reading my review unless they were intrigued by the book summary anyway, and want to see how people liked it! So here goes!

I liked the tough guy Deacon. He is strong, he has no soft edges because he's been hardened in the fire of tragedy. He is well armed, and he knows how to handle himself in danger. He's a likeable character because he is flawed and troubled which makes him more real and easy to relate to. I read to be involved in characters, so there has to be a character I can get involved with for the story to work for me. Deacon has a strong voice, which made it easy for me to get involved in his story. The flip side to this is that Deacon's strong voice often overrides the other characters which is a problem in the book. Kat, Father Mulcahy (the MASH name really was distracting for me, but I tried to let it go!), and Larson all were interesting characters and I'd love to see them better developed, which may occur over the series. (I'd also love to hear more from Charlotte, and Longinus...)

I adored the were-spiders. What a great new twist. Everything is about werewolves these days and it was refreshing to find a really unique, and creepy twist to an old idea! I personally hate spiders so I was determined to hate Charlotte (clever, having the spider named Charlotte leaves it open for many character jokes). She was appropriately creepy, scary and dangerous, but you end up liking her pluck anyway!

Next, the action was awesome, and it kept coming! The monsters were monstrous, all vampires are evil, and we found out their origins! Nice twist to that by the way (trying to keep it spoiler free). Also, the villainess was truly evil while still being beautiful and sexy. I think that I love fantasy and sci-fi for that matter because they generally deal with the battle between good and evil. It's the oldest story, so I like it when the lines are clearly drawn. In this book, you definitely know who is the bad guy.

Since I read this as part of read-2-review and I agreed to give an honest review, I will also list issues the book had. Don't get me wrong, it's on its way to fantastic, but it did have issues. First off, it needed editing. I realize that I got the 'unedited proof' as listed on the front of my pdf copy, so I'm assuming that the mechanical errors are fixed in the edited version. Some of the dialogue is awkward, which again may be cleared up in the editing process, it wasn't enough to do more than slow me down so hopefully it's been fixed. The biggest distractor to me, other those mentioned above, was the fact that he constantly told us how big he was. After the first two times, I got it. I don't like being insulted as a reader, and it felt insulting that I couldn't be trusted to remember that he is 6"5' and 320 lbs. I get it. I also felt insulted the second time he described his tattoos. I remember from the first time. As a writer myself, I realize that these may just be moments of, "crap, did I write that already?" but a proofreader should have caught it.

Overall, it was well worth the read though, and I didn't find any flaws so big they couldn't be quickly fixed. Like I said above, I'm a fan and I will read the sequels!

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Feb 09, 2012 Mallory Anne-Marie Forbes rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Paranormal, Vampire, Werewolf, other shifter, Urban fantasy

Shelves: feb-2012-book-challenge

Talk about your protagonist with a Death Wish! One Deacon Chalk, monster-tracker, bounty-hunter of evil, paid to kill monsters, but consciously and unconsciously on hold, waiting for the one monster that he can’t stop-whichever monster will finally kill him, so that at last he can be reunited with the family he lost suddenly and violently only five years ago: wife, daughter, son. Chalk is himself dead-and-returned, killed by Nephilim while rescuing an abducted Angel, then healed and resurrected...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Jenn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mixed on it, I enjoyed alot about it but I felt like there was alot I could have done without or could have been toned down. I think the main thing is how over-the-top bad-ass Deacon Chalk is - everything about him literally has to be bigged and badder than anyone else's - there was a paragraph on his boots being more real and badass than some Goth's. Same for his coat. Even a torch singer he likes had to be "napalm" to another singer. I felt like it was a bit much. This isn't to say I didn't li...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is a gritty urban fantasy. As the title suggests, it does not skimp on the blood or the bullets either. There is gore, but a lot less than most zombie books. Most of the vamps go "poof" when they are killed like in the Buffy tv show. So I see a lot of vacuuming in the future of these characters. ;) Sorry, but my brain goes there when they keep talking about the dust the vamps leave behind.

It is told in a long narrative reminiscent of those old detective stories. I don't love this style...more

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Feb 27, 2012 Maghon Thomas rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, read-2-review

I would like to thank, as always, R2R and the author for giving me a copy to read for a review :)

First I would like to say that if you like a great fantasy ride filled with action and fun weapons, this one is for you! Also, I have a thing for writing in the guys perspective. I love a strong female heroine but it's a rare treat when you hear from a dude :) now, on to the review...

I liked this book, alot. First, you have a guy, who's big, bad, scary, kills things, but still has a conscience! Ohhh...more I would like to thank, as always, R2R and the author for giving me a copy to read for a review :)

First I would like to say that if you like a great fantasy ride filled with action and fun weapons, this one is for you! Also, I have a thing for writing in the guys perspective. I love a strong female heroine but it's a rare treat when you hear from a dude :) now, on to the review...

I liked this book, alot. First, you have a guy, who's big, bad, scary, kills things, but still has a conscience! Ohhh and he's got tattoos, lots of 'em!! That's hot! He is a bounty hunter to kill the things that go bump in the night, and he's good at what he does. And he's not a man-whore hahaha sorry, I should bleep that out :) his main hunt this time are vampires. And he has some awesome HUMAN backup :) I like this too. I also like that there are some non-human characters that are good at heart and he chooses to leave them be.

The writing is done in a way that you can picture every shot, kick, punch, scream, smell. It flows very well, and it's like an action movie, you are excited and feel the tension. And I love the supporting characters that were created, they have as much of my heart as the main character does. And the bad guy(s), well you'll understand when you read :)

The main character, Deacon, is strong both physically and mentally, but has his soft spots and I love this. He's willing to sacrifice his life to save others, and he is very adamant about that. He's also sometimes the typical man with protecting women, but he's cool about it :)

I have only one negative thing, and it's not really negative, but sometimes it was a little long winded. I understand that some things need describing and if there isn't enough then it leaves the reader confused or lost or empty. However, it was just in a few cases and by the middle I was way too invested to care, and most of the details were already described. This did not have a negative effect on me wanting to continue reading.

Overall, this is a really good book, especially if you are like me, with favoring fantasy, on the darker side, without much romantic activity :) its gets 4 PAWS from me :)(less)

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Feb 09, 2012 Nicole rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: review, urban-fantasy, read-in-2012

Review originally posted here: http://thebookpushers.com/2012/02/06/...

Publisher: Kensington
Publish Date: February 7th
How I got this book: ARC from publisher

Tuck is debuting his new series, Deacon Chalk Occult Bounty Hunter, with Blood and Bullets. This is a hard review for me to write, because while I really enjoyed the story, the book also didn’t work for me in a lot of ways.

Deacon lives for one thing and one thing only: killing vampires to avenge his family. His whole life seems to revolve ar...more Review originally posted here: http://thebookpushers.com/2012/02/06/...

Publisher: Kensington
Publish Date: February 7th
How I got this book: ARC from publisher

Tuck is debuting his new series, Deacon Chalk Occult Bounty Hunter, with Blood and Bullets. This is a hard review for me to write, because while I really enjoyed the story, the book also didn’t work for me in a lot of ways.

Deacon lives for one thing and one thing only: killing vampires to avenge his family. His whole life seems to revolve around killing vampires and evil creatures, he even has a little extra kick in his blood to help him get the job done that no one else can do. One night, an ambush is set that has Deacon coming closer than ever to death, and he is determined to find out who wants him dead. With his rag-tag team of friends, Deacon goes to extremes to find the immortal who wants his head on a plate, and comes close to loosing everything.

This book is filled with fast packed action scenes. At every turn it seems as if Deacon is kicking vampire ass. But at the same time, it doesn’t seem to help the story move at a quick pace. It took awhile for the book to get moving quickly, and I found that I put the book down quite a few times before things got to a point where I was sucked into the story line.

I also felt as if this story was one that I had already read before. It had a lot of the same elements from JF Lewis’ Void City Series. They both have heroes that own strip clubs, are obsessed with their cars, have an assorted group of friends that help them fight evil, and are unique in their supernatural fighting abilities. At the same time, there were enough differences for me to enjoy the story, but the similarities were just enough that I always felt like it was a story that had been done before.

One of the things that I did like was that Deacon wasn’t a total asshat. I have read a few UF stories with a male protagonist written by a male author in which the hero came off as a douche. I was glad to see that Deacon’s character didn’t adopt that style. He was morally sound, devoted to his beloved wife, and dedicated to take out evil, regardless of the cost to himself. He cared for his group of friends, protected them in all possible ways, and was an all around likeable guy. I wanted to cheer for him and see him triumph in the end.

I think that fans of the urban fantasy genre who are always looking for stories with male leads will enjoy this. Although for me it moved at a slower pace than I would have liked, the plot and characters did eventually pull me in and keep me engaged. I am looking forward to future books in the series, especially if we get to see more of Deacon and his budding relationship.

All in all I had some mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, I really enjoyed the overall story, but as I said before, it didn’t feel like it was a brand new story and that dragged it down for me a bit. I do hope that Tuck can continue to develop the series and characters and create a unique aspect to the series.
I give Blood and Bullets a C-
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Feb 20, 2012 April rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: r2r

I received this book from Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Fanatics Read to Review program. I'd like to thank the author for allowing me to review his book.

Deacon Chalk lost his family to vampires. He faces his grief everyday by hunting monsters that prey on other humans. His base of operation is located in a strip club he owns. His employees know about his hunting creatures. His employees include individuals saved by Deacon from the vampires he hunts. His closest allies include a priest ba...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Eric Maldonado rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There are good things about the book that show promise regarding the premise and the plot line and you can see a vast amount of material to produce a long running series BUT the dialogue and some of the scenarios where the character is inside his own head aren't good at all; don't get me wrong want to read the next book in the series but i would have this writer tell his editor to earn his keep because the dialogue is cheezy and overly done, he needs to learn that less is more; good example is w...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Thefamily Richmond rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-not-to-read

I read a lot in the Science Fiction/Fantasy arena and I thought based on the recommendations that this was going to be a good book.
1) Too much sexually oriented commentary in the book. The main Character owns a strip club, they go to a strip club to hunt down a vampire, several reviews of women from a pure sexual point of view, a couple of scenes where he talks through Domination/Submission...
2) I like the story line idea but the book fails to reach its maximum potential because it is a to shal...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Stella rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, for-review, urban-fantasy

I reviewed Blood and Bullets as a dual/duel review with Jackie over at Book Lovers Inc, you can read the original review there, here is my part of the review:

I would like to start by saying how very different Blood and Bullets was from all of the other UF books I have read so far. The main reason for that was due to its narrator Deacon Chalk being a man. I think so far I have read only one other UF novel written by a male author, and even that one figured a heroine, so I was curious to see how B...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Lara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-challenge, r2r, 2012-in-2012

This urban fantasy felt inspired by the Larry Correia Hunter series, at least at first. It has a Catholic widower as the hero who received extra powers in the past. There are nods to other urban fantasy series in the beginning, and an interesting explanation and origin story for vampires.

The lead spends a lot of time with his monologues, explaining rather than acting. It is a bit like someone who loves the sound of his own voice, but that doesn't fit the character. He is tough, religious, and ha...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Kathy Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was urban fantasy at its gritty and violent best. Deacon Chalk spends a lot more time talking about weapons and killing the monsters than doing anything else. It all starts when he is lured to an ambush. He does manage to escape along with the human who tried to stake him thinking he was a vampire. This starts Deacon on a quest to find out which vampire targeted him. It would take a very powerful one to control the number of lesser vampires sent after him.

Deacon works out of Polecats - a st...more This was urban fantasy at its gritty and violent best. Deacon Chalk spends a lot more time talking about weapons and killing the monsters than doing anything else. It all starts when he is lured to an ambush. He does manage to escape along with the human who tried to stake him thinking he was a vampire. This starts Deacon on a quest to find out which vampire targeted him. It would take a very powerful one to control the number of lesser vampires sent after him.

Deacon works out of Polecats - a strip club - which he happens to own. It provides some of the financing for his battle. He is also supported in his hunt for monsters by his bartender Father Mulcahy, a priest from one of the militant orders, and various other employees of Polecats. He also brings in the guy who tried to stake him. Once self-titled Nyteblade, Larson becomes more than a reluctant source of information when his mother and sister are captured by the monsters. Larson is a total opposite to Deacon. He is small, slight, completely untrained. However, he does have knowledge about hunting vampires that does come in handy.

Deacon was an interesting character but a little one-dimensional. If we were told once, we were told ten times that he was willing to die and, in fact, looked forward to it so that he could be with his dead wife and children. His whole life is killing the monsters until one of them finally kills him. This episode comes pretty close with its climactic battle of good versus evil.

One thing I did like at the beginning was the homage to some other urban fantasy titles:
There are few proclaimed vampire slayers and they range all kinds. Anita out in St. Louis, but she has a lot of stuff going on, not just vampire executions. Cat and Bones run their crew killing vampires and do a fine job of it. I hear whispers about the blue woman now and again, but it's hard to pull the fact from the fiction on that one.
I don't recognize the Blue Woman. If anyone has read that one, I'd like author and title please.

If you are looking for gritty urban fantasy with a male main character and are more interested in fighting than emotional depth, this one will satisfy. I think I'll be following along on his future adventures to see if he grows and changes.(less)

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Jun 03, 2012 Xenophon Hendrix rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

On the negative side, there is a lot of telling rather than showing and a large number of infodumps. Worse, many of the infodumps are repetitive, telling the reader something he has already been told in a previous infodump. The characterization is rudimentary. The hero is heroic, and the chicks all immediately dig him. The dialog is nothing special. The plot is nothing if not straightforward.

On the positive side, the story moves right along, and there is a lot of action, at least when the reader...more

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Blood and Bullets (Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty-Hunter #1)

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