~REVIEW of Tanya Huff's BLOOD PRICE~

~GREAT SERIES OPENER THAT STANDS THE TEST OF TIME~

Blood Price (Victoria Nelson, #1)

Opening Line: "Ian shoved his hands deep in his pockets and scowled down the length of the empty subway platform."

Written in 1991 BLOOD PRICE was the basis for the television series Blood Ties. After becoming a fan of the TV show I discovered author Tanya Huff and was instantly blown away by her writing. Now this 5 part series also has the added bonus of visual character references (in particular Henry the yummy Vampire). I will definitely be continuing on with this series and would highly recommend it to other fans of the paranormal genre. Despite the noticeable absence of cell phones and computers it holds up perfectly well by today's standards.

 Vicki Nelson is going blind and because of her degenerative eye disease has had to leave her job with the Toronto police department. Now a private investigator the headstrong and intelligent P.I tackles most of her cases during daylight hours when she has some amount of reliable vision. One night however while waiting at the subway station she stumbles upon a murder victim and is immediately wrapped up in case beyond her wildest expectations. The case forces Vicki to call upon ex partner (and sometimes lover) Mike Celluci as well as befriending the 450 year old illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, a gorgeous vampire who makes a living writing historic romance novels.

The three main characters diverse personalities play well off each other and ooze sexual tension throughout. And even though all the love scenes are fade-to-black I surprisingly enjoyed having to use my imagination in a time when all books get down and dirty in vivid detail. Huff has also given us the advantage of multiple POV's within this story and I especially enjoyed Henry's numerous flashbacks, taking us back to when he was turned and his many adventures and lost loves after. I also liked the fact that this takes place in the real (Canadian!) world because we don't believe in the paranormal here and at first neither does Vicki.

As I mentioned before the writing is top notch although I found the story lagged a bit in the middle when we entered the demon caller antagonist Norman's head. The ending however more than makes up for it with page-turning excitement. This promises to be a great series and fans of Blood Ties or Vampires and the paranormal in general couldn't ask for more. Cheers