Book Review - The Vampire with the Dragon Tattoo

The Vampire with the Dragon Tattoo by J R Rain (JS)

Review by Jacqui Slaney

For a person who was never that been bothered about reading about vampires, I seemed to have read quite a few recently and though few if any of them sparkle in sunlight, I have found the majority a good read.

This is the book one in the series of the private detective Spinoza. I had previously heard about him in the Samantha Moon vampire stories, the character  needed some extra help, and the writer cleverly wrote in some of his private detectives from other stories to assist. I was intrigued by how the Spinoza character was described and so finally got round to reading this book.

This is the description:

Three years ago, high school student Veronica Fortune witnessed the brutal murder of her parents. Now armed and dangerous, she sets out to hunt down the very thing that destroyed her life.
That is, until she disappears.
Spinoza is a private investigator who specializes in finding the missing. He is good at what he does. Damn good. However, he is also a recovering alcoholic and a royal mess. Hired to find Veronica, Spinoza will not let his personal demons—or demons of any kind—get in the way of finding the truth about the missing girl.
Now following a bizarre set of clues that leads him into stranger and stranger territory, Spinoza is about to come face-to-face with something legendary...and something hungry for blood.

This is a short story, which as all the ingredients were there for an intriguing book could have been much longer, and it does actually start with the feel of such, but then speeds up and suddenly you are at the end. A nicely wound up ending I will admit, but you are still left with a vague disappointment.

Spinoza is a great character; and as you read the story, you get glimpses of his past. His child dead because of his actions, a time spent in prison all of which leads him to specialise in lost children cases. 

This is such a case, although this child is nearly an adult, who is reported missing by her adoptive grandparents. I say adoptive as Veronica, the missing girl turned up at their door in rather strange circumstances. As Veronica is described to him, and as he meets the people she knows, Spinoza forms an impression that the girl is deranged due to her beliefs that she is a vampire slayer, yes I did say slayer just like Buffy, except with more blood.

The people he meets in the course of his investigation, even Spinoza’s own friends are not developed as much as you would like. I like real characters in story not just names on a page, and unfortunately many of the people mentioned in this story are just that.

Even so, to my surprise, I enjoyed this story, as I do like this author’s writing style, I would just have liked more description and detail.

7 out of 10