In The Blood

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, Not as good as some other reviwers thought...
Review: A decent effort by a writer who has been around for a while. Gresham has been a long-time writer for the Pinnacle Horror line and shows what he can do with a vampire tale in the deep south. He does not make it hard to read; the language is easy to understand and he has a natural storyteller's gift for gab.

It is a little slow at times, but the story is still very easy to follow. The Trackers date back to the Civil War and the old southern mansion is about to be torn down, letting loose an ancient evil. Not really that original of a concept, but Gresham does a decent job with it.

Franklin is an original character as a homosexual in the family that is an outcast. He is a natural as a vampire and makes for a wonderful "bad guy." However, the ending is one I never would have guessed from this frightful character.

This was one of the first books I have read from Gresham. Based on this interesting tale, I will search out more, even after his Dark Magic, which was disappointing.

Mr Gresham, you have a gift as a storyteller and I am sorry to only give a 3 for this effort, but it just didn't strike me as deserving more. However, I will continue to read your work and hope to see future novels.

Rating:
Summary: Will curdle your blood...
Review: because of the poor and uninspired writing.

"In the Blood" follows the unfortunate Tracker family, cursed since the Civil War era for their cruetly towards slaves. They are doomed to "lead lives of quiet desperation," never becoming truly successful at anything. In the family manse "Sweet Gum," the spirit of one dead bloodsucker kin infects a male Tracker and for some reason they can only feed off of one another. So the vampire Trackers run around trying to recruit the non-vampire Trackers as they pass up some choice locals, who seem to dissapear midway through the book.

I was turned off by the incestual tone throughout the story, for Pete's sake the main character was in love with his neice! No matter how pretty a bow the author tried to slap on that package, I still couldn't get past it. Aside from the endearing character of the dwarf-child Emily, there was really no one to rally behind. Kudos to Gresham though for making the chief vampire, Franklin, homosexual; in his former life Franklin never followed the conventions of society, so he set his own rules as a vampire, like walking by day. That was original.

The action was mostly very contrived and implausible, the heros and villains each making dumb choices simply to advance the plot. Despite an interesting premise, the novel never succeeds in completely pulling you in.

Rating:
Summary: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK
Review: What ever you do, don't buy this book. It is a waste of money, time, and every thing else. It's one of the worst books I've ever read. The plot, or lack there of, is pathetic, the characters are less than one dimensional, and the writing is atrocios. The author uses every vampire cliche and every southern hick cliche (the main character is in love with his niece) that exists. The book fails on every level, as a horror story, a love story, a vampire book, and especially as a readable book. DO NOT read this book, it is terrible.