Blood Debt [Mass Market Paperback]

This fifth book begins with Vicki and Mike as a couple. if you have read the series, you know that Vicki and Henry were in love but Vicki was badly hurt and Henry made her into a vampire. There are rules that vampires must follow, and one is that they can't hunt in the same territory. Vicki had one year with Henry while he taught her everything she needed to know to survive as a vampire. She left Henry, and returned to Mike, her first boyfriend.

What makes this fifth book so irritating at times, is Henry and Vicki's new personalities which come out in the fifth book. Before Vicki became a vampire, she was already a little irritating. She was an overbearing loud mouth woman cop, who had temper tamtrums, banged things when she got angry and had yelling matches with her boyfriend Mike to the point they woke the neighbors. This behavior is already a little over the top, now throw in the fact that Vicki is a vampire, and even more aggressive, and she at times can be a downright irritating character. Also my favorite character of all was Henry, a vampire, and romance writer, who with his wealth of years, always seemed calm and in control. Not in this fifth book.

Henry keeps seeing ghosts. The ghosts will ask him a question, and then an innocent person dies. When Henry cannot figure this out on his own, he has to call Vicki to help him. As soon as Vicki arrives, none of the old romance is there, instead, they spend the entire novel snarling at each other like animals (which is so unlike Henry's character in any of the other novels). It's very disappointing. Throw in Mike with his yelling and Italian cop testostrone and the most likeable character in book number 5 is Tony, Henry's roommate.

Basically Henry and Vicki will have to stop fighting long enough to solve the crime. I'm glad there was a fifth book, but I am also glad the series ended here. Otherwise, I could see myself becoming disappointed. Vicki as a vampire is annoying.

Still good series - definitely worth reading.

The book revolves around three main characters, Vicki Nelson, a Private Investigator and ex-cop, her lover, homicide detective Mike Celluci, and her ex-lover Henry Fitzroy, 450-year-old vampire, romance writer, and bastard son of Henry VIII. Henry has been living in Vancouver for a year now, while Vicki and Mike have remained in Toronto. Vicki and Henry have not seen each other at all during that year, but when a handless ghost begins haunting Henry, demanding vengeance against those who murdered him, Henry knows he needs Vicki's help to solve the mystery. Especially when the ghost begins playing a deadly game. Each night when Henry awakes he may ask the ghost one question. If the answers is yes, the ghost will leave, but if the answer is no, an innocent victim will die. At his wits' end, Henry breaks the rule he has lived by for nearly five centuries and asks Vicki to come to Vancouver.

When Vicki arrives with Mike, she and Henry have a hard time just being in the same room together, but as time passes, a strange thing happens. The more time they spend together, the easier it becomes for Henry and Vicki to get along, though their relationship is rather violent. So Vicki, Henry, and Mike work together to discover who killed Henry's ghost and why, and end up right in the middle of a perilous and volatile situation. Huff provides her readers with an intriguing and exciting mystery to solve, set amidst the ever-changing and always interesting love triangle of Vicki, Henry, and Mike.

I can't reveal too much of this book because it would ruin the ending of the fourth in this series, "Blood Pact", for those who have not yet read it. "Blood Debt" is a wonderful read that mixes horror, mystery, and fantasy seamlessly, while exploring the fascinating new dynamics of the relationship between Vicki and the two men in her life. I wished for a happier ending for Henry and Vicki (the couple I was rooting for through all five books), but Huff at least leaves her readers with the impression that things will work themselves out in the years to come. Tanya Huff is a very talented writer with a vibrant imagination and I cannot recommend this series enough. "Blood Debt" is a satisfying finale for this series and is a guaranteed page-turner. So buy it today and enjoy!