It’s another Thanksgiving in
Seattle, and Detective Tim Anderson has a few problems. His partner, Detective
Kenny Johnson, is having family issues with an elderly uncle. Anderson has a
few family issues of his own, what with rarely seeing his daughter and having
to deal with a bitter ex. Worst of all, somebody’s killing people left and
right on the Seattle streets, and all the evidence – such as it is – points to
a vampire. However, as Anderson investigates further, he discovers it’s worse
than that: not only is the killer a vampire, but so are her victims.
This
is the setup to Blood Collector, T.C.
Elofson’s mashup of vampire and police procedural novels, and it’s a fast-paced
ride. In fact, it might be a little too fast-paced; clocking in at just over
200 pages, Elofson takes readers on a whirlwind tour throughout history and
several viewpoints as the saga of Fabiana, a nearly 2000-year-old beauty bent
on destroying the original vampire, unfolds. Despite switching between first-
and third-person points of view, as well as a few nested flashbacks here and
there, Elofson does an admirable job of keeping the plot elements straight.
Even better, real care is taken with the procedural and scientific evidence
aspects of the plot, demonstrating a care and thoughtfulness with the realistic
portions of the narrative that thoroughly grounds the novel’s events in reality
and helps sell the more fantastical aspects. This realism is not as assiduously
applied to the vampires’ effects on the real world, but there’s enough present
to sidestep some of the sillier clichés, such as the lack of reflection in
mirrors.
However,
in a narrative this streamlined, something has to go, and in the case of Blood Collector, it’s the characters.
Not one is elevated to anything more than broad archetype, and in the case of
the vampires, particularly Fabiana and her longtime love Cerci, all the clichés
Elofson managed to sidestep in vampire lore come crashing to earth from the
romance side of the aisle. Even given the routine nature of characterization in
most thrillers, these fall flat, and the stilted dialogue, frequent homophone
misuse and comma-spliced sentences do the narrative no favors. The humans don’t
come off much better, and in at least one case – specifically, the FBI agent
investigating the Seattle killings, which follow a pattern crossing state lines
– some of the characterization and motivations seem to come out of left field.
Mid-narrative switches in character don’t do much for suspension of disbelief,
and in this case, it becomes one too many burdens for the story to bear.
While the weak
characterization and fundamental language issues sink the novel overall,
Elofson displays strong plotting and clear thinking in constructing the
narrative, raising hope that future efforts extend those strengths to
characters.
