Pete Johnson(Corgi Yearling)

Marcus is a perfectly normal teenager with a perfectly normal life, albeit some slightly odd parents. At least that’s what he thought, until his 13th birthday! When his parents give him an iPod Touch (hence the blogging), he is over the moon, quite content and pleasantly surprised by his parents buying him something he actually wanted… but that’s not the only surprise his parents have up their sleeves. They soon manage to spoil his birthday by dropping a bombshell: he is half-vampire, and that his transformation is about to begin. And it’s not going to be pretty! Despite being warned that trying to reject his vampire side will make things worse, Marcus is not willing to let it happen. But unbeknown to him, while he is busy moaning about the tragedy of fang-growing, bad breath and blood-craving he does not know that hovering in the shadows, someone is thirsty for his blood and waiting for the right time to pounce.



I had never read any of Pete Johnson’s books before and I will admit that I was primarily attracted to it because of the words VAMPIRE and BLOG! What a great surprise it was though, first because I thought Pete Johnson’s approach to the very fashionable theme of vampires was very refreshing, with lots of humour thrown in but still a little bit of tension and scary bits thrown in. But also because at last here is a vampire book which is suitable for slightly younger readers!
It’s a vampire book that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Marcus is very sharp in his delivery of one-liners and it is quite hilarious at times. The characters are well designed and believable; I was particularly fond of Tallulah who manages to be fierce and vulnerable at the same time.

The only let down for me was the front cover which I found, well, naff. I know we are not supposed to judge books by their covers, but let’s be honest, we do. Well, I do and I am assuming quite a lot of children do too. But as I said, this is the only flaw in this overall great read for 9 year-olds and above.

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