Book Review: Language in the Blood by Angela Lockwood

Synopsis: Until the outbreak of the First World War, young Cameron Blair would have liked nothing better than to stay in Edinburgh and marry his childhood sweetheart. As the call to arms goes out, Cameron and his pals sign up to fight for their country. They are soon delivered into the nightmare of war, and there Cameron more than meets his maker. 

The story follows Cameron as he comes to terms with his new ‘life’, from his first days as a hapless vampire in war-torn France to the glamorous modern day setting of the Côte d’Azur. Along the way, he develops a distinctive taste for the finer things in life: jewels, yachts, small dogs and champagne-infused human... 

Review: Language in the Blood is a very impressive debut novel and is the first in a compelling vampire tale. When the story begins, our *hero* is fighting alongside many of his colleagues in a world war. Cameron's transition from soldier to vampire is cleverly done, and once I had arrived at that point in the book, I was hooked.

The title is perhaps the most cleverest thing about this book. It's very difficult for a vampire story to bring anything new, but the author absolutely delivers here. I loved how the title was weaved so intricately into this vampire's very special way of existing.

I think this is an extremely ambitious story, because it covers several decades of the vampire's existence. The driving factor for him is to find his maker, but in the meantime, he has to feed, and again, this is well executed by the author.

There is a tiny bit of middle story lag, which is perhaps understandable when a story has a reasonable length like this one, but the pace is broadly steady, picking up apace in the final third of the book.

It is full of surprises, twists and turns. The supporting cast is great, and how they interact with Cameron is again, superbly well done. You almost feel for anyone getting close to him, because a vampire only exists to feed - even on those he has some feelings for.

Cameron reminded me a lot of Lestat, from Anne Rice's superb Vampire Chronicles. That's perhaps the best recommendation I can give to this book, in that it is the best vampire story I have read in many years.

A big plus to this story, and extremely hard to pull off in a vampire story, is the humour. Cameron narrates the tale, exclaiming at one point:-

'I found cinemas just too dangerous to be in - all those warm bodies packed together....just too tempting!'

If we were in his position, wouldn't we feel the same?

Another line I liked, especially as I have Scottish friends who would agree with this following:-

"I'm Scottish. We only come in pale."

The humour should not make you think the book cannot hit you with great statements. I just have to highlight this,because I loved it:-

'That was the problem with human blood, it healed and made you feel better, but it also washed the humanity and moral sense right out of you.'

Watch out for the reference to Madame Marechal. This literally had me rolling about on the floor. And my floors are hard, but the bruises were worth it.

"She was found screaming blue murder saying that a vampire took and sucked the dog dry right in front of her."

"A Vampire?"

"She really has gone quite mad and walks around holding a large cross, saying that vampires are coming to eat our dogs."

There are many others that will have you smiling, but essentially this a vampire tale that slow burns, building to a rather fantastic ending. It's great to know book two is out there already. As for ratings, I was leaning from a strong four rating to five. In the end it gets a five because the story, just like Cameron, has a swagger and a coolness that no-one could fall to love. Is he flawed? Of course he is. he's not really that attractive, though women do seem to find him charming.

I just felt the author helped us understand the vampire more, than making him a simple one dimensional killer, or a pathetic love struck fool. Angela Lockwood's vampire has authority. He is powerful, rather scary, and seemingly, cannot be stopped. I'm intrigued to know where the next book will take us.