Monday, February 21, 2011

What If?

Tandem, by Tracey Bateman was a thrilling surprise. What I thought would be an intriguing suspense mystery turned out to be that and so much more. One of the endorsements on the inside cover read, "Is it possible for a writer of Christian fiction to pen a vampire tale with an inspirational message?" I thought, are you kidding me?

No joke. A Christian vampire novel. Or a novel that includes both vampires and Christians, and definite beliefs about God.

Needless to say, I was hooked, and finished the book in two days. Once again, a book preceded this one (I think I've finally figured out how WaterBrook press indicates sequels...they note "author of insert previous title here" on the cover.), but that fact didn't hinder me at all as I read this one.

Tandem is set in Abbey Hills, a small town in the Ozarks, where strange, ritualistic murders have taken place. As the killings continue, fear abounds, and all visitors are suspect. A cast of strong characters helps move the story along, and we find ourselves pulled into the minds of three separate women:
Eden, a tortured, captured vampire who escapes her prison by remembering her past.
Amede, a vampire who refuses human blood, and who comes to Abbey Hills in search of her long lost sister, Eden.
Lauryn, an antiquities dealer whose life revolves around caring for her father who has Alzheimer's.

My one critique would be the author's choice of vacillating between first and third person points of view. Lauryn's story is told in the first person, but when the point of view shifts to Amede or Eden (or any other character), it becomes third person. This frequent shift was a little jarring, and took a while to figure out. But once I realized the pattern, I could follow the story without difficulty. I just wonder why the author chose to write in that way to begin with.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading the paranormal. It was an added pleasure to receive an inspirational message along the way. My thanks once again to WaterBrook Press for providing this book for review.

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