writerlywitterings

Review of A LOVE LIKE BLOOD  By Marcus Sedgewick

Posted by writerlywitterer on 24/09/2014 · 2 Comments 

Published by Mulholland Books

Paperback ISBN 9781444751925 price at £7.99

It is rare to pick up a book by an author one hasn’t read or heard of before, and to be so entirely blown away by the quality of the writing and the plot.

I was sent this book in a pile of books to review and couldn’t put it down from the moment I began to read. It is entirely compelling.

The story starts in Paris during the Second World War. The lead protagonist, Charles Jackson, a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps, happens upon a bunker outside a chateau. Inside, when he investigates, he discovers a man apparently engaged in drinking the blood of a young woman. Terrified, Jackson flees, but when he recovers a little and returns, the man has gone. However, the blood remains on the floor.

Later, Jackson returns to Paris while on a lecture tour, and sees the man again at a café. He decides to follow the vampire, and this is the beginning of the story.

I will not – I cannot – say more, I think, because it would be too easy to give away major elements of plot. And in any case, I wouldn’t want to give away more of the story. It is so rich, it deserves to be discovered entire by the reader.

Marcus has created a claustrophobic world for Jackson. It is tense and understandable, with a neat twist at the end which, OK, I spotted from some distance away, but which was still satisfying. While the tension rises throughout the story, the great thing is, the whole tale is believable. Once the idea of a blood-sucking murderer is accepted, the idea of Jackson’s search for the killer is all too easy to take. The writing is tight, but wonderful. This book really does read as though it’s written by a man living in that period.

In short, I was absolutely entranced by this book. I’d thoroughly recommend it.