New Fiendish Review: American Vampire by Jennifer Armintrout

BOOK:                                  American Vampire

AUTHOR:                             Jennifer Armintrout

PUBLISHER:                        Mira Books

ISBN/ASIN:                         9780778328780

RATING:                               3.75 Stars

RELEASE DATE:                  February 22, 2011

Turned in 1967, Graf McDonald is your easy going laze-the-night-about vamp…but with attitude.  Yeah, he’s blonde-blue-eyed hot, tall, and ripped and he knows it. He’s got a fabulous sexy sire, Sophia who he lusts after, a 1974 De Tomaso Pantera L, and crazy-wild Fourth of July party to go to.

That is, until his detour to Penance.

And Penance he’s going to end up paying because this one-dog town he’s stuck in is a white trash nightmare filled with pitchfork hillbillies…fighting a supernatural creature that has kept them trapped and isolated there for the better part of five years.  And sexy, urban, sophisticated, Graf is stuck in it with only jean-shorts-wearing Jessa to help him out. Will he gulp her down, or get off his pedestal to be a bit more civilized, just enough to survive?

Armintrout’s American Vampire is about as far right you can get in the lore. She managed to make her readers ride the fence about Cyrus in her Blood Ties series, and Graf is no different. Do we love him or hate him? It’s as if Armintrout is intentionally annihilating all the vampire stereotypes and in a strange devil’s advocates way…I love it. It gives us something to work for….hard. Readers are definitely not going to immediately swoon over Graf (I know I’m not…when all I really want to do is kick him in the ‘nads) until Armintrout is good and ready.

But as Jessa and Graf try to face down the demon that has had a stranglehold on the town, and personal nastiness starts to bubble over with residents turning against one another…something flowers between them, reluctantly. Graf admits to finally striking Jessa off his Plan B menu…but that’s just about all he’s willing to admit.  Together they have to figure things out, kill the demon, get out of town, and oh yeah…try to get along...

Painfully and belly-achingly funny in a dark comedy sort of way, and romantic in Armintrout’s trademark matter-of-fact writing style…with priceless….and I mean priceless dialogue…shows that Armintrout has razor sharp wit and an even greater sense of humor. I really adored American Vampire…especially watching an unfolding non-sparkling,  anti-vampire hero like Graf get his comeuppance from sassy Jessa…by the end and the last page is turned, Graf will be admitting to a lot more…and doing a lot more than crossing off Jessa of his meal plan…Slurp!  

Part of the 2011 Book Chick City Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge

A Fiendishly Bookish Review (and one grumpy cat)