Vampire Enforcer

Hidden Blood #1

by Al K. Line

The phone rang, and like a fool I answered. Mistake number one. Then I agreed to do a job for the Hidden Council. Definitely mistake number two.

Now I've lost count of my bad choices, same as I have the bodies, as they're piling up faster than a troll after free chalk.

As I get to grips with this new magic I've been gifted, the city remains under a spell of violence, and it's down to yours truly to deal with it. But I'm a noob at this job, ill-prepared and with my own personal demons to fight.

My hunger is taking hold as the vampire nature encroaches, the need to feed impossible to resist, and my inherited magic is so volatile it's practically splitting me apart. Nevertheless, blood is being spilled and heads are getting cracked, so I must be doing something right.

I'm Kate. First Vampire Enforcer. I think I might actually be good at this.

Genres: Vampires, Audiobook, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal

367 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 28, 2017

About the author

Al K. Line is a British author who lives in rural England with his wife, son, and dogs.

When asked to describe himself for this bio all we got was the following:

"Who am I? Degrees, jobs, living in other countries, fighting squirrels, cuddling monkeys, amused by penguins, all the usual stuff."

Reviews

[Emmalynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kates in the lead this time and it’s really an extension of the prior series. Mithnite also plays a prominent role. Now that Kate has hidden magic, Faz is sick and Kate is learning to be an enforcer. Many of the same characters return so it’s prob best to read the Spark series featuring Faz first.

[Jennifer Tooker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vampire Enforcer - Day 1

Full disclosure, I was provided an advance copy of this book by the author as part of his “A-Team” but have voluntarily chosen to write a review. All opinions are my own.

Vampire Enforcer is the first in a new urban fantasy series by Al. K. Line. While the series may be new, those familiar with the “Dark Magic Enforcer” books will have no problem getting into the Hidden Blood series as it involves all the usual suspects. Taking place shortly after the close of “Wild Spark”, Faz and Kate have returned from their eventful honeymoon in Paris. While Kate has her newfound hidden powers, Faz is still recovering from the sickness of magic use, and this recovery looks to be a lengthy one. So, with the hubby laid up, weak as a kitten what’s a Vampire to do?

Enter Dancer….

The city is going crazy. Hidden of all manner have lost their cool, their fear if you will and if the situation isn’t contained it could spell major problems for all Hidden. Dancer needs his best Enforcer to bring this situation under control, but Spark is out of commission so he recruits Kate as the first ever Vampire Enforcer. Kate’s seen Faz in action before and knows how crazy these enforcer jobs can get but still she’s intrigued. How hard can it really be? Especially for a newly minted hybrid magic using vampire?

Wrong question

“Vampire Enforcer”, true to the other enforcer books in the previous series, is action packed and full of twists and surprises. With all the usual creatures and characters involved it was very easy for me to jump right into the action. While this book does heavily piggy pack off another series, “Vampire Enforcer” can still be read as a standalone novel without the reader feeling as if they have missed too much of the back story. For those who have followed Black Spark and the gang through the last 8 novels in the Dark Magic Enforcer series you will not be disappointed in what is basically a continuation of the series with the focus on another character. Kate finds herself in all sorts of weird situations from goblins, to demons and a strange carnival ride called “The Obliterator. All in a day’s work.

I loved this book! With the focus being off Faz and more on Kate I’ll admit I wasn’t too sure how I would take to it, but there should have been no worries. Kate makes a total transformation in this book and I must say it suits her. Getting a glimpse at just her, learning just a bit of her backstory and how she copes with what she’s seen and done helps to understand how she ticks. I also love the idea of the Vampire Enforcer sort of thing as it’s never been heard of and can be quite effective given the Vamps' specific talents. If I thought Mithnite was coming into his own in “Wild Spark” his story continues in an epic way in Vampire Enforcer. The questions that I had at the close of the previous book were answered in spades. It was also good to see Dancer get into the action and mix things up with the Enforcers and the issues instead of just dictating jobs from the relative safety of the office as the Heads have previously been prone to doing.

Where do the Hidden inhabitants of Cardiff go from here? We can only wait until the next book is released. Hopefully, Kate will make good on her dinner invite with the Chemist , I can see very interesting….almost hilarious things happening.

[nat · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

This was just really difficult for me to finish. It was clearly meant just to be part of a series with people who already know and enjoy the characters, only, it's listed as the first in its series since it's the first in this character's perspective.

Problematic aspects
- supernatural copaganda basically.
- extreme sexualization of a specific woman character (like describing the shape of her buttcheeks, a drizzle of liquid running gently into her cleavage, etc). If there's some supernatural reason for the protag to see looking at this character as foreplay (like if she were a succubus?) it would maybe make sense. But as the beginning of its own series, there was no explanation given.
- the word invalid was used near the end

There was some internalized victim blaming/shame felt by protagonist about a past abusive relationship, that used phrasing like "I let him do that" - but there is some awareness of the issues with that written in. This is just mentioned once in passing.

That's just what I recall.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun Paranormal mystery

I kept thinking I knew what was going to happen and then going huh didn't see that twist. This is the 1st Al K Line book I've read but kind of wish I'd started with Dark Spark. This book kept referring to things from the previous series.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story in the Hidden universe.
BUT...
This ist Kate acting. The one Kate who liked to erst super healthy, who was chattering all along, who had her own opinion in every detail, who used to see magicians as Users of the Empty...
And now she ist just a cheap knock off of Faz: eating at Madges, aching for everyone around to bei quiet, the same thoughts and phrases as Faz, being an ABuser of the Empty...

It would have been fun to read a real Kate-ish story.

So 5 stars for the story gut 2 less for not really using the opportunity to create something new and unique.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

14 Expectations were not high when I saw the name of the author ALK Line who must have been on AC Id. Just the first chapter was enough to realise that a whole lot of pretentious snark, a haphazard boss who is conned by the MC all the time into coming across as a besotted 12 years old, an obvious flaw in the plot and a husband that well ………..

[Krys]

Whoops, apparently you need to read the Dark Spark Enforcer series before this one. I had to dig through the reviews on Amazon to confirm that I was indeed not crazy and that this book is part of a larger series. It just had the sound of a sequel when I listened to it, though it’s a “book one”.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vampire Enforcer

Wow!!! What a gr8 story. I was grabbed from the start and held within it's grasp until the end. I look forward to reading the next book. I recommend this read. 5 Thumbs up

[Laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a difficult read. Good Characters, decent plot, but the story drags on and on. Yet the piddling actions never stopped. Being splattered with ectoplasm over and over got old. I will not seek out any more of this series.

[Ilia · Rating 2 out of 5]

~ 2.5 stars ~
I liked the narration but this took so long to get somewhere that I found myself distracted by other things and did not really connect with the characters. Second book from this author that I did not enjoy much so maybe their writing style is not for me.

[Kristine · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Jay Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars, Sadly not as good as other books by this author. I am not sure why but I just did not find this book as enjoyable as other books by AL K. Line. I will keep trying books by this author.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is nice to see the other characters in the original series be better explored but the story felt to meander and lack purpose until the last few chapters.

[Mickey Hyde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story from Al K Line.

I really enjoyed the story and I like how it fit into Black Sparks story also. A great read and I’m looking forward to the next story.

[Airwreckah]

I really liked his lady wizard series but this i just couldnt get into-it felt like the middle of a series and there were exposition chunks that really killed my attention