Review: Kiss of Death by Rachel Caine

Kiss of Death (Morganville Vampires, 8) by Rachel Caine
Young Adult Urban Fantasy
Signet (April 27, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0451229731
256 pages
Review copy provided by the publisher

Synopsis from Amazon:

A new chapter in the New York Times bestselling Morganville Vampires saga.

Vampire musician Michael Glass has attracted the attention of a big- time producer who wants to cut a demo and play some gigs-which means Michael will have to enter the human world. For this, he's been assigned escorts that include both a dangerous immortal as well as Michael's all-too-human friends. And with that mix of personalities, this is going to be a road trip from hell...

Here's a heads-up: If you're looking for a totally unbiased and/or spoiler free review - this isn't it. I am completely in love with the Morganville Vampires series. Seriously, Rachel Caine has yet to disappoint me with these books.


I first got a hold of this series last year with the release of the omnibus The Morganville Vampires with included the first two books in the series. From then on, I was hooked. Claire is a great heroine for this young adult urban fantasy series. She's human, she's new to this supernatural world and she doesn't have any sort of training in defense or any physical prowess. What she does have is incredible genius for a teenager. She's also able to somehow remain clear-headed when in danger. These abilities continuously come to the rescue for her and her friends Michael, Eve and Shane (her boyfriend). This remains true for Kiss of Death when the group goes on a road trip to Dallas and find themselves waylaid by feral vamps thanks to Mr. Bishop (who's obviously still creating problems from beyond the grave).

The consequences of Claire and crews' promise to Morley in Fade Out serves as the catalyst for the action in this installment. Morley's desperate to get out of Morganville and he has no compunction against using Claire and her friends to his own ends. Unfortunately for them all, his actions backfire. The action kicked off early and remained and a high pitch throughout.

Claire and Shane's relationship continues to serve as a refuge for them, and the readers, amongst all of the chaos. Even when I had thought that they had gone as far they could short of marriage, they manage to take a romantic step forward. Michael and Eve by contrast have some issues that continue to surface. While the constant action allows overshadows their issues for a while and even puts a bandage on them, its increasingly obvious that everything is going to come to a head. I had wanted them to address their problems more thoroughly in this book but Caine didn't go there. Hopefully this happens soon because if everything is drawn out any longer, I feel fans would get frustrated.

If you're new to the Morganville series, you definitely wouldn't want to start here. This is one of those series that must be followed from start to finish or else you'll be utterly lost. Fans, however, will really enjoy Kiss of Death.

Grade: A-
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