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62nd out of 149 books
—
206 voters
Bloodlist (Vampire Files #1)
by
P.N. Elrod
The Novel That Launched A Cult Phenomenon This "entertaining blend of detective story and the supernatural" (Science Fiction Chronicle) was the book that started it all.
Now, readers who are latecomers to The Vampire Files can discover the "very entertaining" (Mystery Scene) beginning of the compelling series -- in a beautiful new updated package
Now, readers who are latecomers to The Vampire Files can discover the "very entertaining" (Mystery Scene) beginning of the compelling series -- in a beautiful new updated package
Paperback, 200 pages
Published
March 1st 1990
by Ace
(first published 1990)
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As usual, I'm late to the party. A friend recommended I read this (and the series as a whole) as its one of her favorites so I gave it a shot. I'm a fan of mysteries and vampires/urban fantasy so it seemed to be right up my alley.
Overall, I felt the book to be pretty solid. It didn't knock my socks off but I enjoyed it.
Jack Flemming wakes up on a beach in depression era Chicago. His memory of the past few days is hazy. Why's he on the beach? Why are his clothes all torn up? Most importantly, why...more
Overall, I felt the book to be pretty solid. It didn't knock my socks off but I enjoyed it.
Jack Flemming wakes up on a beach in depression era Chicago. His memory of the past few days is hazy. Why's he on the beach? Why are his clothes all torn up? Most importantly, why...more
Bloodlist is the first book on the Vampire Files series by P.N. Elrod. They all feature newly turned vampire Jack Flemming. This book was okay. A bit different from what I was expecting based on the few short stories I've read featuring Jack Flemming. I listened to this on audio book; and the audio book was very well done.
Jack Flemming wakes up dead on a beach, or should I say undead. Someone has murdered him and, because of his association with a female vampire in his past, instead of dying Jac...more
Jack Flemming wakes up dead on a beach, or should I say undead. Someone has murdered him and, because of his association with a female vampire in his past, instead of dying Jac...more
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Jack Fleming, a reporter in 1930's Chicago knew that he would become a vampire after he died, he just didn't think it would happen so quickly. Unfortunately, after awakening undead, he doesn't remember who killed him or why and he'd really like to know. He ends up becoming friends with a private agent who takes Jack on as a client. If Jack can keep them both from being killed in the process of solving Jack's murder, it will definitely be a win for the good guys. I'd read Elrod's Gentleman Vampir...more
This takes place in the 1930's and has a great old-gangster feel to a lot of it, without going overboard with respect to cheap cliches. I had listened to a modern times short story about Jack in Many Bloody Returns and enjoyed it, so wanted to check this out. Definitely worth it. Although I'm annoyed that the library has book 1 and than skips to book 6, I'll buy #2 and hope it continues to be just as good. All the characters are well developed, in particular Jack and Escott. And it has just the...more
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One of the early entries into the "good guy vampire" genre. It's more of a detective story than any other kind, which is fine because it's a good detective story. The main character gets to solve his own murder. How much more personally invested can one get? The characters are likable, and the story is engaging and very re-readable; though, the more I reread it, the more confusing the opening sequence becomes: How did the bad guys know our main character was going to be at the beach, and why wou...more
Jack Flemming wakes up wet, with no recollection of how he got that way. His clothes are torn and bloody; his body is badly beaten and bruised. As he is running away from a man and is shot with a bullet amazingly he is unharmed. Turns out Jack died and is now a vampire. Jack knows his death was no accident but he doesn’t know why he was murdered. Now he is on a mission to find out what happened with the help of his new friend.
I am sure some of you might be wondering about this unusual choice of...more
I am sure some of you might be wondering about this unusual choice of...more
The main character, Jack Flemming, is a reporter in Chicago during the Depression Era. He wakes up one morning with no memory of the past week...oh, and he is also a vampire.
I think the story was suposed to be a mobster mystery with a little dash of paranormal thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. The characters all felt flat, and I couldn't bring myself to care about what happened to them. The whole vampire angle didn't help the plot along at all, either. Toward the...more
I think the story was suposed to be a mobster mystery with a little dash of paranormal thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. The characters all felt flat, and I couldn't bring myself to care about what happened to them. The whole vampire angle didn't help the plot along at all, either. Toward the...more
An oldie but a goodie. Jack is a vampire from back before they sparkled. I have one quibble with this otherwise stellar hard-boiled vampire book: although we are totally WITH Jack in everything that happens, his feeding on cattle concentrates on his reaction to the blood alone. Given the sensual details of every other part of his experience, I felt the lack of them in relation to putting his mouth on a cow in a stockyard.
But that's relatively minor, given the pleasure of this vampire noir myste...more
But that's relatively minor, given the pleasure of this vampire noir myste...more
Jack Fleming is good man and an ace reporter in 1930's Chicago who had exchanged enough blood with his vampire lover that he knew the possibility existed that when he died he might become a vampire. His death still came as a surprise, but waking up with no memories of the event and no one to help him learn to deal with his newly undead status is a challenge. He hires a local P.I. to help him solve his own murder.
This series is one of my favorites in the "good guy vampire" genre. It's mostly a cl...more
This series is one of my favorites in the "good guy vampire" genre. It's mostly a cl...more
This is a book that does exactly what it sets out to do. It's a 1930's detective story where the main character happens to be a vampire, and... well that's what it is. It's straightforward, and it's enjoyable. You've got guns, and gangsters, and murder, and mystery, and a love interest or two, and it's all just fun. I wouldn't say it's great writing, and the characters aren't that deep, and the plot isn't really that clever, but it gets the job done, and if you go into it knowing the basic idea,...more
BloodList by P.N. Elrod as read by Barrett Whitener (08:39:59), was the first eaudiobook that I listened to on my new SmartPhone after I discovered that my library carried a wealth of eaudiobooks that I could listen to for free. It was the first book I saw which was available and so I downloaded it based on the description and a brief sample of Whitener’s reading of it.
Jack Fleming, is a reporter in 1936 Chicago who is trying to find his own murderer after coming back to life. While he knew the...more
Jack Fleming, is a reporter in 1936 Chicago who is trying to find his own murderer after coming back to life. While he knew the...more
Bloodlist by P.N. Elrod is the first book in the Vampire Files series. The story is set in a gangster-dominated Chicago of the 30s, and revolves around Jack Fleming, a vampire. In Vampire Files #1, Jack wakes up and realizes that he is dead, and a vampire. He has to work out what happened, and why, and learn the new rules that govern a vampire's life. The tone is wry, the story is interesting, the premise is intriguing, and the supporting cast of characters add to the fun. This is a good twist o...more
Chicago, 1936. Jack Fleming wakes up dead and can't remember how he got that way.
A fun homage to the hardboiled novels of the era, fast-paced, fun, and gritty all at once. This is an excellent start to the series and features one of my favorite opening sentences for sheer eye-catching surprise:
A fun homage to the hardboiled novels of the era, fast-paced, fun, and gritty all at once. This is an excellent start to the series and features one of my favorite opening sentences for sheer eye-catching surprise:
The car was doing at least forty when the right front fender smashed against my left hip and sent me spinning off the road to flop bonelessly into a mass of thick, windblown grass.
I read this quite a while ago. It was one of the first modern day film-noir style vampire stories I read. In my opinion it helped define the genre. At the time, I quite enjoyed it and I enjoyed the second in the series as well. (None of the others were released yet) Since then, there has been a lot of stories in this same genre, and I'm a bit overloaded on them, so I don't know if I would feel the same way now, but it is definitely worth a read.
Fun paranormal noir mystery set in Chicago during the Depression. None of the characters is particularly original -- down on his luck reporter, private investigator, crime lords and thugs of various descriptions, femme fatale -- but the author combines them in creative ways.
The narration style is deadpan, which works OK for the protagonist's voice, but doesn't work very well for some of the other characters' voices, especially the PI, who is supposed to have an English accent and, well, doesn't.
The narration style is deadpan, which works OK for the protagonist's voice, but doesn't work very well for some of the other characters' voices, especially the PI, who is supposed to have an English accent and, well, doesn't.
While its protagonist is a vampire, it does not feel like part of the recent vampire trend, probably because it was written twenty years ago. Set in the 1930s, it is an interesting twist on the typical noir story in that the protagonist is an amnesiac vampire who has to investigate his own recent murder. The other male lead seems to be a British version of William Powell. I found myself mildly nauseated by the vampire sex scences, which when you think about it, is really how it ought to be. Whil...more
I loved this book. Listened to it on audiobook with a great reader. This is a cross between a hard boiled detective story and the supernatural. I love Jack Fleming as a character. I love the setting (post Prohibition Chicago). There are gangsters, night clubs and a dame. It is pretty much exactly what I want from a hard-boiled novel. Elrod did a great job interweaving everything.
1930's gangsters in Chicago meet a Vampire with a showgirl and a sympathetic detective on his side. I found this book to be fairly funny, in a dry sort of way, and it has an interesting take on the tradional vampire legend (no sparkles here, sorry) that was quite interesting. Good read, but not a reread or a buy. I'm glad I borrowed this one from the library.
My "E" book
My "E" book
One of the best vampire stories I've read. There's a little romance (it's really hard to find a vampire story that doesn't), but it is 90% very entertaining story line. If you like this genre, I would not pass these novels up.
P.S. You will find this same review on all these novels. I don't like to give anything away.
P.S. You will find this same review on all these novels. I don't like to give anything away.
[audiobook:]
This book had a different take on vampires than the usual lore, which was interesting. However, overall, it didn't do much for me. The story wasn't bad, it was just kind of boring.
The part that was bad was the audiobook's narrator. His manner of speech was so robotic at times that it was almost comical.
This book had a different take on vampires than the usual lore, which was interesting. However, overall, it didn't do much for me. The story wasn't bad, it was just kind of boring.
The part that was bad was the audiobook's narrator. His manner of speech was so robotic at times that it was almost comical.
I read all 12 of these recently. I didn't particularly like them, but I liked them just enough to continue. I do not recommend reading these to anybody, really. The 4 from the sub-series about Jonathan Barret I liked a lot more than these.
This is another version of vampires I don't like, similar to Twilight.
This is another version of vampires I don't like, similar to Twilight.
written for the time period after the depression, a detective novel with a vamp twist. Not you typical Vamp book. It reads like the ol' gum shoe books, interesting and cunfusing because of the different type of living/speech then. The characters draw you into the story well and carry it well.
I like this series. Elrod’s description of Fleming’s boat ordeal sizzled. Either she’s been badly beaten herself, or she has a hell of an imagination. The whole book is written in the style of the classic noir hard-boiled private eye. “Say, doll face, what’s the big idea?” lol
it was pretty straightforward, no real twist at the end. I don't like that he just accepted his newly dead status. /shrug i know these are supposed to be some huge series, but i won't be reading anymore (i listened to an audiobook, loved the narrator, very Noir, and sounded like Cas from Supernatural!)
I read several of P N Elrod's Vampire Files books back in the early 1990's. Some may remember this as the pre-vampire-fetish era, before Twilight. Vampires were written about with fear, loathing, eroticism (hello, Dracula), and such, but not so much with massive "vampires are hot" fanbase.
In today's vampire-novel-ridden environment, people might pass these over. They are about a private eye-turned-vampire in 1930's Chicago, and they are quite entertaining, or at least I remember them as such. 3....more
In today's vampire-novel-ridden environment, people might pass these over. They are about a private eye-turned-vampire in 1930's Chicago, and they are quite entertaining, or at least I remember them as such. 3....more
The Vampire Files (11 different books) series featuring hardboiled PI Jack Fleming and also include his partner, Charles Escott, his girlfriend, Bobbi Smythe and other recurring characters. It's a really interesting take on a vampire character. I like it a lot.
I've read quite a bit of vampire P.I. stuff by now. Judging by the copyright date, this one may have helped birth the genre! I found it clever and refreshingly low-angst, with an interesting flapper-Chicago atmosphere. Lots of fun.
Wry, noir tone in 1930s Chicago setting but with an unusual character - Newsman Jack Fleming wakes up dead and immortal. But he's still a down-to-earth guy who wants justice for his murder, accompanied by a vivid group of friends he makes along the way as he deals with the case and his new status as undead.
I listened to this as an audio book. It was a fun new take on vampires and a mystery as well. When I first got it, I wasn' t very excited about it being set in the 1920s but I got past that quickly and really enjoyed the book.
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Patricia Nead Elrod is an American fantasy writer specializing in novels about vampires. Her work falls into areas of fantasy and (in some cases) mystery or historical fiction, but normally not horror, since her vampires are the heroes. -Wikipedia
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