Once Bitten by Stephen Leather (Epub)

Description

There’s a full moon over Los Angeles, and for police psychologist Jamie Beaverbook that can only mean one thing: the crazies will be out in force. But when he is called into the station for a consult in the middle of the night, even the jaded Beaverbrook can’t believe his ears. The innocent-looking girl in the interview room doesn’t look a day over fifteen, yet the cops say Terry Ferriman was discovered in an alley off of Sunset Boulevard, her mouth smeared with blood as she crouched over the body of a man whose throat was torn out. A basic psych evaluation convinces Beaverbrook of Terry’s sanity and yet he can’t ignore the evidence that seems to point in one extraordinary direction. He tells himself he doesn’t believe in vampires, but after some digging, the good doctor begins to realize that the shadows of L.A. conceal a world where girls like Terry never age and where blood is more valuable than gold. Sharp, witty, and deliciously sinister, Once Bitten is a satisfying paranormal thriller from bestselling British author Stephen Leather.

User’s Reviews

Review “Leather has used every writing skill at his disposal to write a superb tale, conjuring up original ideas and unusual characters. Interweaving his unique characters with his incredible knowledge of crime and scientific know-how, Leather has created an incredible thrill ride that it’s sure to knock your socks off.”Reviewed by Lynne Levandowski for Suspense Magazine From AudioFile From Booklist It’s LAPD psychologist Jamie Beaverbrook’s job to use a computer method he created—the infallible “Beaverbrook Model”—to assess whether or not L.A.’s various psychopaths are insane or just downright evil. The latest detainee, a pretty blonde named Terry, passes with flying colors despite being found hovering above a bloodless corpse, and when she’s freed, Jamie finds himself desperate to learn more about her. Is she really a bubbly 25-year-old Valley Girl who ends each sentence with “for sure”? Or is there a chance she’s something else—say, a 4,000-year-old immortal whose vampirism is a rare scientific mutation? Readers will figure this out long, long before Beaverbrook does (he probably should’ve guessed something was awry when Terry cleaned his wound with her tongue), but there is nonetheless an enjoyable tension: Will this humorless, thick-headed guy put all the clues together before he’s on the wrong side of a jugular attack? A last-second swerve from detective story to paranormal government cover-up is a bit awkward, though the cloud of paranoia left by the final chapter is pretty affecting. –Daniel Kraus –This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ I am giving this book a 3 star rating for the ending. I was very shocked and disappointed about the ending. Had it ended better I would have given it a 4, possibly a 5. Still worth your while.This book took me awhile to get into. It kept my attention enough to to read it, but I was well over halfway finished before I became invested in the characters. The book was a mystery and even after finishing it, some of it still is. Not your traditional vampire story. I loved the spin of the vampire world and by the end I was invested in the two main characters.I don’t want to spoil things, but I will say that things started to get really good and I realized the book was almost over. I concluded that in order to get all of the answers to my free book I would have to purchase the next book to follow it all up and decided I was willing to do that….wrong. I was so disappointed in the ending. Maybe because I was expecting another book, or maybe because it wasn’t a typical ending. It got my hopes up for one of my two predicted outcomes and I was way wrong. It left me stunned looking at the words THE END for several seconds. After thinking the whole thing over I understand the ending and that it could be a realistic ending, but I definitely would have ended it differently.It was still a good read and I am very disappointed there isn’t a follow up…That I have found anyway. Give it a try, all the twists are great and I think you will enjoy it!

⭐ Full disclosure: This book was provided to me by Samsung. I do not let complimentary items influence my opinions but readers deserve to know I did not pay market price for this book.Two problems with Once Bitten can be seen right here on the Amazon product page. The first is in the editorial review section which refers to the character of Terry Ferriman as a blonde. The character is actually described several times as a brunette. When the writer of an editorial review doesn’t even know what it going on with the book then it doesn’t bode well for the rest of us. The more misleading problem as seen on Amazon is the misleading cover art. Wouldn’t you expect a story with a cover depicting a person with bloody vampire fangs to feature somebody on the receiving end of a vampire bite or some sort of vampires activity? Sadly, this is not a vampire tale. There are some characters with traits that might loosely be considered vampiric but readers expecting horror or at least a vampire story will be dissapointed. Any story points that might be considered vampires are minor and are not given much detail.Some might consider the points mentioned above to be nitpicking and they’d be right but that leads to the biggest problem with Once Bitten. There just isn’t much to talk about despite the story featuring a city that is home to quite a few murderers, a number of people with a particular “mutation” living among us, a secret government agency and a murder mystery. All of these plot points save one are given short shrift and the one element that is given detail is tacked on to the end and so badly paced that it almost feels as if the section was taken from another book the author was writing and then canceled. Most of the book is about the relationship between a protagonist who seems to be walked over by most of the other characters and his relationship with an allegedly mysterious but very blandly written woman with a secret. Many times I found myself wojeering about the more interesting elements the author mentions but seems to avoid. It feels as if there is a much more interesting book series out there and this is some sort of side story.I have no idea who Once Bitten was written for. There is a distinct lack of horror and vampire activity. All of the character deaths happen “off screen” and all are from worldly means. The romance fans will hate the bland characters and awkwardly forced romance. It is not particularly suspenseful and the mystery plot point is literally handled by an A to B to C sequence.There are far better uses for your time than this book.

⭐ The biggest problem, for me, was the protagonist (also the narrator and POV character). He’s not very interesting, and, at the ripe old age of 35, terrified of the signs that he’s growing older. It’s pretty unbelievable that the pretty young vampire would fall in love with him.The next biggest problem was the computer evaluation program. I was fine with the premise, that the protagonist had written an automated program for evaluating an arrestee’s sanity, but it would have been better left at that. Leather throws in details, presumably to make it feel more authentic, that just emphasize how ridiculous the premise is with the current state of both computers and psychology. Better to just state that it exists and leave it at that, honestly.Next, there was the forced flashback perspective, along with the fairly silly (and forced) ending. Leather either needed to explain more about the 8 year interim, or less. The amount of explanation he put in felt like an overly brief summary of something that deserved longer treatment. Condensing that down would have worked better to keep it feeling like it belonged in the same book as everything else.Finally, there was the government conspiracy/cover-up, which felt supremely overblown and out of proportion to the scale of the “threat”: maybe a dozen vampires worldwide, and they go to that much effort? Really?The only really interesting bit was Leather’s take on the vampire mythos. That part was fresh and original (though some details felt like they were forced in to make way for the silly ending). Everything else was pretty blah at best.So, if you’re into vampires, particularly alternate takes on them, and can find this for cheap (or better, free), go for it. Otherwise, don’t bother.

⭐ I won’t ruin the ending for you. I loved the book. I was feeling like it was going to be a 2-book book. The closer I got to the end, I just knew it was. But it is just a single book. The ending…ummmm……. I wish it was a 2-book book. I love the characters and really wanted to know more. Perhaps in the future????

⭐ The first chapter basically starts somewhere at the end of the story as an introduction. It works.The protagonist is somewhat stymied after falling head over heels for a young woman who is enigmatic at best. Is she really immortal? If so, why? It eventually unfolds for you.I liked the idea, It’s a modern twist on a very old concept. However, I didn’t find the characters developed well at all. They’re difficult to get into.Other parts just aren’t followed through on or aren’t developed that well.Jaime is our protagonist. His ex-wife is out for everything she can get. Why the hate? Why the divorce in the first place? You’ll never know.We have a couple of Feds which show up toward the end. Poof! They just appear from thin air. They disappear as quickly.Some reviewers did not like the ending. I’ll differ with that. I liked it. I just found the rest of the book jumps around a bit much with too much left hanging for the reader.But, for a fast read? Why not?

⭐ Another free book from one of my subscriptions. I not going to sum up of the plot, as BookList has already done it. Also FYI, I generally don’t read urban fantasy with exception of the “Monster Hunter ” series. The hero finds himself involved with one his clients which a big no no for head shrinkers . Is this girl a teen age vamp, a womanly vamp or a thousands plus years old vampire. What ever she is; she is taking the middle age doctor for a ride. The doctor’s messy divorce does play into his thinking and the author does write this well so I did feel sorry for the hero. The changes in how vampires work gets the author a bump to 4 stars. The various twists in the book bump to 5 stars.

⭐ What would you do if you met someone who would never age and die? Who needed to consume blood…. but was certainly not a vampire? For thousands of years a beautiful woman has been avoiding detection but now, with our society so documented and wired together by computers and the internet it is virtually impossible to be “invisble.” She can no longer hide. The government wants her and any others like her in order to study the genetic mutation that keeps her healthy and free from aging. Would you help these people? Would you want to live forever? Who would be allowed to live on and on if the researchers found the key? Not the average citizen. Society would collapse without workers. Think about it.

⭐ I heard that Leather’s writing style is like Ken Follett’s, but if Once Bitten is anything to judge by, it’s not. Not at all. However, this was my first venture into his work, so perhaps whoever said that wasn’t completely off the mark. I reserve judgment.The characterization was good. Although the book is one of innumerable vampire tales, the occult story line served as more of a backdrop for the plot, which involves LAPD psychologist Jamie Beaverbrook’s discovering that vampires exist and that he’s fallen in love with one of the ageless creatures, all in relation to his fear of aging.The book had some problems with grammar and word use, which can yank me out of a story and make it difficult to like. There weren’t so many that it became too horrendous, though: improper subjunctive construction throughout, “hone” instead of “home,” etc. It didn’t keep me from enjoying the book.

⭐ After years of resisting a piece of twenty-first century technology, an e-reader, I finally purchased a Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6″ Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology . And ONCE BITTEN was my first download. It doesn’t rank up there with First Kiss, but it was a watershed moment nonetheless.Author Stephen Leather used to give ONCE BITTEN away for free on his website, but I understand that he had to cease and desist after such liberality ran afoul of the contractual obligations made with a commercial distributor of the story, which perhaps lends truth to the adage that no good deed goes unpunished.Though one might think that ONCE BITTEN is a recent creation, it actually pre-dates the writer’s Spider Shepherd series.ONCE BITTEN isn’t a thriller in the conventional sense. And it’s neither scary nor very bloody. Rather, it presents the reader with a different interpretation of the vampire creature of legend and, perhaps for the contemplative reader, poses the question “What if?”Jamie Beaverbrook, a clinical psychologist, is the hero of the story, although attributing to him any actions even faintly heroic would be an overstatement. Jamie works for the Los Angeles Police Department; he interviews murder suspects upon their arrest to determine their sanity prior to their cases going to the DA’s office. As an indication of the high esteem in which he’s held by the cops, they ridicule him unmercifully as “Batman” because he drives the “Batmobile”, a 1966 Sunbeam Alpine Mark IV.Beaverbrook himself is currently damaged goods; he’s being sued for divorce by a vengeful wife who blames him for the death of their severely deformed daughter soon after birth. So, he’s emotionally vulnerable when ordered to interview a “throat-biter”, the young and beautiful Terry Ferriman, caught in an alley off Sunset Boulevard crouched over the slashed throat of the dead victim. The LAPD cops now begin to call him “Vampire Hunter” and hang toy bats and garlic from his car’s radio antenna. Jamie hates that.ONCE BITTEN is conspicuously low-key when compared to fiction’s other sensationalistic vampire tales. Jamie’s role is to act as Terry’s foil. Perhaps even fool. In any case, the story’s chief effect upon me was to cause me to rethink the consequences of never dying. I mean, it’s said that money is the root of all evil. Yet who wouldn’t want to put that to the test by winning the lottery? I would. But immortality? No, I think not; I suspect it would wear thin after the first couple hundred years, especially if so much effort would have to be spent in remaining anonymous and under governmental radars.Other reviewers have opined that ONCE BITTEN doesn’t have an ending. Indeed, it doesn’t in the sense that Leather could write any number of sequels would he care to do so. But, I’m almost certain he won’t. That said, the conclusion to this episode, as unsatisfying as it might be to some – and I don’t include myself in that crowd – is probably all that could be expected all things considered.Leather was thinking outside the box. I like that.

⭐ I finished reading once bitten and I can tell you this is really an off-beat vampire tale. Very mysterious. I can almost picture this as a 40’s or early 50’s movie. It has a film noir type of feel. It is not a gory type of vampire tale like 99 Coffins: A Historical Vampire Tale or the recent DRACULAS (A Novel of Terror) , but it is not a cheesy teenage angst Twilight book either. Do not let the title “once bitten” throw you off. I think “Lilac Time” would have been a better title for this “mystery”. Not my usual cup of tea, but I enjoyed the way the story played out. once bitten is more character driven then it is action driven. Very intriguing. once bitten will draw you in and you will fall for Terry just like Jamie did. But you have to wonder: is she playing him or not?Stephen Leather is an established author of many action thrillers set in England, and once bitten is a new type of story for him. I’ll give him 4 stars for this effort. I have downloaded his next thriller called the basement . Hopefully his action stories will soon be available to us American Kindle readers.

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