Rachel Caine – Kiss of Death

The eighth book in the Morganville Vampires series, published April 27, 2010.
Genre: YA urban fantasy
Cover: nice, my book has the small cover, I prefer that one.



Leaving Morganville, Texas, has never been easy. Living outside of it may be impossible.
Vampire Michael Glass just received the call he’s been waiting for all his life. His music has attracted the attention of a heavily connected music producer who wants him to cut a demo and play some dates – which means Michael will have to enter the human world.
But he won’t be alone. He’s been assigned an undead escort, which includes immortal enforcer Oliver, as well as Michael’s human friends: rebellious Eve, oft-misunderstood Claire, and courageous Shane. And with that mix of personalities, this is going to be a road trip from hell.
But what waits for them proves more perilous than they thought. Caught between humans who hate them and a savage party of travelling vampires out to create a blood-soaked feast for themselves, Michael and his friends may not make it to the show on time ... or ever.


Things are settling down in Morganville after the battle against Bishop. Claire is going to university, visiting her parents, and working with Myrnin on making a computer program do what Ada did before. But it is just not possible, concerning the safety of the town, and preventing people and vampires from leaving.
Because yes, there are vampires who want to leave Morganville desperately. Like Morley and his crew, who are threatening Claire and her friends if she does not get them permission to leave town soon. They will become their food.

Eve wants to have a relationship with her brother Jason, and has invited him over to the house for dinner. Something none of her roommates are happy about. Jason is a psycho, he almost killed Shane, left Claire mortally wounded behind, and has betrayed them all to Bishop. He wants nothing more than to become a vampire himself. And not a good one like Michael is. But well, he is her brother and her last living relative, so perhaps it is understandable, but can he really change for the better?

And then Michael gets invited for a recording session in Dallas. Of course Amelie will never allow him to leave Morganville to do that, will she? To their astonishment, they are all allowed to leave Morganville for a while, but with an escort. Oliver. Oliver is not happy with the assignment either, but he will have to put up with them and their antics, as Eve is driving her beloved car, which has enough room in the trunk for all their stuff and to hide a vampire from the sun if necessary.

But the road trip is not going according to plan, when they run into some bullies in a small town, who get them into trouble with the local police, and later trash the car. Eve is devastated, but when the lady who owns their little motel introduces them to her family member who runs the local garage and second hand car shop, she is over the moon when she can buy a real hearse.

Still, trouble is not over yet. They are not the only ones who have escaped Morganville, Morley and his vampires have arrived by bus, and are taking the girls and Shane hostage. And their is nothing that Olivier and Michael can do about that, just yet. But when the next village is seemingly deserted, trouble becomes horror. There are vampires already in that village, a legacy of dear old Bishop, and they will have to fight alongside the few remaining civilians, and kill them all, or cure them from the disease ... Enemies to friends, and friends to enemies? Especially as Jason also turns up again.


Surprise after surprise in this 8th book in the series. It just keeps getting better. I really enjoy how mature Claire is getting, and how her relationship with Shane evolves and grows. Eve and Michael are running into more and more problems, but I think that is mostly Eve’s own fault, being insecure about Michael’s feelings and him being a vampire.

I enjoyed this book very much, there is lots of danger and suspense about what would happen next, and Claire is quite a sharpshooter with a crossbow! I liked that! And the local fortress of defense against the vampire is the library! With the elderly female librarian as acting mayor, how cool is that! When the pressure is there, and there is danger to her friends, Clare really steps up to the plate and handles it. I like that.

I look forward to reading the next book soon.

8 stars.

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian