Title: BlackJack
Author: Kristopher Norris
Series: The Chronicles of Vincent Black, Vampire Assassin (book #1)
Rating: 3/5 stars
Author: Kristopher Norris
Series: The Chronicles of Vincent Black, Vampire Assassin (book #1)
Rating: 3/5 stars
Author Bio:
Kristopher Norris currently lives outside Omaha, NE with his beautiful daughter. When asked where he's from he’ll say, "Everywhere." Kristopher was a military brat and spent a great deal of time living and traveling across Europe, mostly within Germany and England. He considers himself lucky to have grown up seeing and experiencing things that others save for years to do. His hope is to one day to show his daughter the amazing places he knew growing up.
Kristopher has been and avid reader and story teller since he was a child. He's been hooked on vampire stories since seeing "Lost Boys" back in the 80s...though, he'll tell you his vampire tastes have improved over the years. Vampires have always been a focus of his writing; however, he has not limited himself to that genre. Paranormal fiction, high fantasy, thrillers, horror, they all have a place in his reading and writing.
Some of His favorite authors include: Jim Butcher, Laurell K. Hamilton, Patricia Briggs, and Terry Goodkind.
For years he has been working part time as a ghost writer but felt it was time to put his own stories out there for the world.
Kristopher has been and avid reader and story teller since he was a child. He's been hooked on vampire stories since seeing "Lost Boys" back in the 80s...though, he'll tell you his vampire tastes have improved over the years. Vampires have always been a focus of his writing; however, he has not limited himself to that genre. Paranormal fiction, high fantasy, thrillers, horror, they all have a place in his reading and writing.
Some of His favorite authors include: Jim Butcher, Laurell K. Hamilton, Patricia Briggs, and Terry Goodkind.
For years he has been working part time as a ghost writer but felt it was time to put his own stories out there for the world.
Synopsis:
When Vincent Black, a gun for hire, is told vampires are all too real, he thinks it’s a joke. But soon he learns that he is not the most dangerous brand of hunter out there... Vincent is recruited by a secret society, known simply as The Guild, and is rushed off to England. Soon after landing their convoy is attacked and William, Vincent’s recruiter, is taken hostage. Forced to find allies in some of the most unlikely of places, Vincent and his fellow hunters, aren’t stopping until William is returned. Fangs, fur, and bullets are going to fly while Vincent fights to find his place in the world of the paranormal.
Review:
BlackJack was a really good book. Although I would love to give it five stars, I have to give it three due to editing and characterization issues. But, the plot was fantastic!!!! Norris has a knack for keeping you guessing until the end. The story had me wondering who the chief baddie was all the way until the final showdown.
Now, I know the whole vampire hunter thing is a little bit overdone, but Norris gives it a whole new twist. And, unlike most vampire books that are cheesy and skin deep, BlackJack actually has plot and hidden depths. I love how Norris uses vampires, werewolves, and hunters to make a point about prejudice without being in your face and preachy.
Like I said in the beginning, this is a great story, but it needs editing. At first it didn’t really bug me. After a while the erratic punctuation, peculiar formatting, and annoying typos became overwhelming. Due to the editing issues, I almost put BlackJack down about halfway through. I only kept going because I was at a good spot in the story and really wanted to know how it ended.
As for characterization... Vincent, the main protagonist, has a well-developed character (overly mentioned daddy issues aside) but everybody else seems to fall a little short in that aspect. The other characters are likable but you really don’t see them as people, just names in the book. They don’t come alive like Vincent does. Carmen especially feels flat. It’s like she’s really just there to add a love interest.
I would love to read the next book in the series; if there are some drastic improvements in the editing department. And, if vampire books are your thing, and you can handle the editing issues, I would recommend that you pick up a copy. As a side note, for those of you who are a little squeamish about such things, there is A LOT of foul language in BlackJack. Some of it seems to be for characterization and some of it just seems to be.
BlackJack was a really good book. Although I would love to give it five stars, I have to give it three due to editing and characterization issues. But, the plot was fantastic!!!! Norris has a knack for keeping you guessing until the end. The story had me wondering who the chief baddie was all the way until the final showdown.
Now, I know the whole vampire hunter thing is a little bit overdone, but Norris gives it a whole new twist. And, unlike most vampire books that are cheesy and skin deep, BlackJack actually has plot and hidden depths. I love how Norris uses vampires, werewolves, and hunters to make a point about prejudice without being in your face and preachy.
Like I said in the beginning, this is a great story, but it needs editing. At first it didn’t really bug me. After a while the erratic punctuation, peculiar formatting, and annoying typos became overwhelming. Due to the editing issues, I almost put BlackJack down about halfway through. I only kept going because I was at a good spot in the story and really wanted to know how it ended.
As for characterization... Vincent, the main protagonist, has a well-developed character (overly mentioned daddy issues aside) but everybody else seems to fall a little short in that aspect. The other characters are likable but you really don’t see them as people, just names in the book. They don’t come alive like Vincent does. Carmen especially feels flat. It’s like she’s really just there to add a love interest.
I would love to read the next book in the series; if there are some drastic improvements in the editing department. And, if vampire books are your thing, and you can handle the editing issues, I would recommend that you pick up a copy. As a side note, for those of you who are a little squeamish about such things, there is A LOT of foul language in BlackJack. Some of it seems to be for characterization and some of it just seems to be.
Excerpt:
Once outside Goodspeed pulled out two of his pistols. “This is gonna get weird.” I pulled out my Glocks. One loaded with my own ammo, the other with Terry’s. We walked about ten feet away from the door. I was wondering what we were out here to shoot, when the door we’d just came out of flew open. Goodspeed and I both had our guns pointed at whatever was coming out of that door. Out stepped the waitress that Goodspeed had talked to followed by a fat biker. He wasn’t just big this guy was fat. I’d seen him sitting by one of the stages. I didn’t like the feeling of this guy. I couldn’t explain why but something was off, it was that same feeling I get down inside when I meet people. But with this guy it almost seemed physical; I could feel it inside me. I didn’t care to even look at him. He was dirty and he stank, the only way he could get a girl to touch him was with payment. Good thing he lives in Nevada. He was startled to see the two of us out there already. His eyes darted between our guns and us. “What?” his voice was raspy and rough. “You two her fucking pimps?” “Na.” Goodspeed let off a shot taking him in the gut. The biker doubled over in pain. Still holding his stomach his head quickly raised glaring at Goodspeed. “Silver! You’ve got fucking silver?!” When he spoke I saw what they wanted me to see, fangs. He began to charge Goodspeed. It was a dumb thing to do. We both lit him up, the four guns blazing. He was fast, amazingly fast. He finally dropped at our feet, good thing too our guns had clicked empty. Once he lay still on the ground Goodspeed pulled out another magazine slid it into place, then emptied all the shots into the vampire’s heart. By the time Terry was done I could see the cement stained red with blood through the hole in his back. “This is where it gets weird,” Goodspeed said as he stepped back. This is where it gets weird? And I thought that the fangs were the weird part. Nearly at once the body started to make a high pitched sizzling sound then ignited into flames. It only took a few seconds for the body to turn to ash and blow away in the wind. Nothing was left even the blood stains had burned away. Yep, it just got weird. I’ve seen some crazy shit in my time but that was new. Suddenly I believed in vampires.