I would tell you about the latest installment of Rachel Caine’s Morganville Vampire series, but the first rule of Fight Club is do not talk about Fight Club…er… I mean Bite Club. Error aside, Caine managed to add into the already bizarre and twisted town of Morganville, a vampire fight club. Now skeptics who feel that no one but Ed Norton and Brad Pitt could accurately portray people getting the tar beaten out of them and still make it look cool, park your preconceptions at door. After reading it I’m still not sure how she managed to pull it off, but she did, and the Morganville crew came back better than ever with a fresh and intriguing tenth book- something few authors can pull off.
After discovering that vampires populate her town, college student Claire Danvers knows that the undead just want to live their lives. But someone else wants them to get ready to rumble.
There’s a new extreme sport getting picked up on the Internet: bare- knuckle fights pitting captured vampires against each other-or humans. Tracking the remote signal leads Claire- accompanied by her friends and frenemies-to discover that what started as an online brawl will soon threaten everyone in Morganville…
The basis of the vampire fight club is introduced by a new mixed martial arts gym that opens in town where normal oppressed citizens learn how to defend themselves against vampires. Shane, ever the sweet and loyal man with an inner inherited rage problem, signs up instantly. His bff Michael may have inadvertently become a vampire, but that doesn’t mean Shane doesn’t want to still rid the world of all bloodsuckers, and this gym is willing to give him that chance.
One of the unique aspects of this book, was that for the first time we get snippets from Shane’s point of view. They’re small little insights that allow us to see how his rage is building and how rapidly he’s losing control of not only his life and relationships, but his own will. Gloriana, or “Glory,” the new vamp in town seems to have something to do with it, but her sultry voice and ability to take away all of your self-control keeps people from pointing the finger too closely at her. Unfortunately she seems to have Shane in her sights, and is turning him into nothing but a vampire fighting machine. Quickly his rage spirals out of control and for the first time we see Claire and Shane at odds with one another.
I can’t say that I rejoiced in having our main couple go through relationship problems, but for all the reasons for it to happen, this worked the best. There wasn’t another person or insecurities getting in their way- it’s clear that they still love each other, but Shane cannot see past his red haze long enough to do anything but fight.
I liked that Caine didn’t make idle drama, and doesn’t feel the need to do so with any of her established characters. She’s capable of keeping a ten-books-and-still-going series running strongly without unnecessary relationship issues- the plot is as solid as ever and Caine manages to keep injecting new twists to life in Morganville to keep things from ever getting old. After each book I find myself saying the same thing- she knows her characters and she evolves them into believable people given the situations they’ve faced. To go ten books without any character assassinations or unbelievable moments is a phenomenal feat. She never backs down from taking the plot and characters where they need to go, and each time it all connects beautifully. Bite Club was no exception, and I hope you all will enjoy it as much as I did.
I look forward to the next installment of the Morganville Vampire Series to see what happens to one of my favorite rag-tag groups next. Last Breath book eleven, will be released November 1, 2011. Go to Rachel Caine’s site to read an excerpt.