A while ago, I wrote a review for a friend over at The Catholic Geeks: Honor at Stake, by Declan Finn.  So, when he announced book two of the same series and asked me to review it as well, I said “Yes, please!”

Seriously, offer to give Lori a book and she will be your friend for life.  Make it a book about non-sparkly vampires with a hefty dose of snark and some serious Catholic theology, and she’ll probably follow you around with puppy-dog eyes, saying, “please, sir, may I have some more?”

So, book two, Murphy’s Law of Vampires was an excellent read.  Actually, it was so good, I’m begrudging the time it will take me to write this review before I can read book three.

Buckle up, then.  This is going to be short and sweet, with a minimum of spoilers.

Basically, imagine what would happen if “good” vampires actually made sense, and weren’t some wacky stalking nutjobs who wanted to relive the hell-on-earth known as high school?  Well, meet Amanda Colt.  Then, you have the sympathetic almost-sociopath, Marco Catalano.  And somehow, you love both of them.

Trust me, Declan is really good at writing flawed, lovable, realistic characters.  Add in the hefty dose of New York style snark, and it’s just perfect.  Several times, I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing out loud at the office.

The David Copperfield joke; that’s all I’ll say.  Trust me, you’ll know it when you see it.  And that was just one brilliant one-liner among dozens.

Actually, I decided about halfway through that if Larry Correia had been smart, he wouldn’t have asked John Ringo to write Monster Hunter: Grunge.  He’d have gotten Declan to do it, because when it comes to writing about badass, almost-bad-guy good guys with exceptional loads of snark, Declan Finn completely outran John Ringo.  No joke.

He was running so fast, it was like John Ringo was encased in cement and being dragged in the other direction by a freight train.

I would pay a small fortune to have read the Declan Finn version of Monster Hunter: Grunge.  Sorry, Ringo.

The action sequences are great, and a lot of fun.  And you get to see some seriously badass New Yorkers, too.  I may Texan, but I can respect those hardcore folks that live in that city (or, I suppose I should say, “in THE city”).  There’s a bit in the story where you get a front row seat to watch how those strange, oddly lovable Yankees react when someone attacks their city.

Even the bad guys love New York.

Last but not least, there’s a very cutesy romance, where you just want to grab both of the main characters and say “What is WRONG with you morons?!”  In a New York accent, of course. 🙂

And now, because I have more reading to do, I give Murphy’s Law of Vampires a solid 4.9 out of 5.  Now, go read it and let me get back to reading the rest of the series.