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V #1
V : A Vampire Crime Novel
In a world where half of the humans have died, the rest find themselves slaves to vampires.
Roman mistakenly murders the wrong person which sets his life on a path he could never have predicted.
Roman mistakenly murders the wrong person which sets his life on a path he could never have predicted.
282 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 10, 2023
About the author
Brian Yansky
53 books165 followersI write supernatural horror suspense comedy (a mix of dark humor, quirky, silly humor and satire.), .
I love many kinds of stories. I especially love off-beat, quirky stories with unusual characters and settings that have a sense of wonder and humor.…Falling in love with stories saved me from a life of crime (I’m only sort of kidding; they did save me from something). A lot of my main characters are adopted. Like them, I was adopted. I seem to write often about identity. I live in Austin, Texas. I have no horses or cowboy hats. I do have a 125 pound sheep dog. I’ve taught college, been a bartender and waiter and am now a full-time writer.
I've had five novels traditionally published and something like fifteen independently published. My independently published series, Strangely Scary Funny, is, by far, my most popular.
I like writing most anything. My grocery lists are excellent.
I love many kinds of stories. I especially love off-beat, quirky stories with unusual characters and settings that have a sense of wonder and humor.…Falling in love with stories saved me from a life of crime (I’m only sort of kidding; they did save me from something). A lot of my main characters are adopted. Like them, I was adopted. I seem to write often about identity. I live in Austin, Texas. I have no horses or cowboy hats. I do have a 125 pound sheep dog. I’ve taught college, been a bartender and waiter and am now a full-time writer.
I've had five novels traditionally published and something like fifteen independently published. My independently published series, Strangely Scary Funny, is, by far, my most popular.
I like writing most anything. My grocery lists are excellent.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 9, 2026
Yansky blends classic crime noir with vampire tropes, creating a well-paced thriller with fresh stakes.
In a US openly ruled by vampires, the humans who are not openly owned live as second class citizens. While Roman was born a slave, something about him attracted his master’s attention, leading to special training and finally a job usually only held by vampires. With a comfortable life, the favour of one of the most powerful beings in the US, and the offer of being declared a free man in the near future, Roman has always been a loyal servant—until a freak moment of compassion for a stranger not only puts his life in danger but shakes his unquestioning obedience.
Yanksy sets his story in a world where vampires emerged from hiding during a severe global pandemic in the early 2020’s and used the ongoing disruption and deaths to seize control. With the (supposed) first vampires having come into existence in first-century CE Rome and vampire society having sustained itself within organised crime, the resulting society is a veneer of Imperial Rome over ostensibly allied crime families. Over the generation since the conquest of an already reduced populace, the vampires have weakened humanity’s ability to rise up further by destroying swathes of modern technology; this further amplifies the feeling of the world being a classic gangster movie.
Rather than, as some overt vampire stories do, attempting to give an explanation of how this society remains functional, Yansky simply presents the reader with those aspects of it that are relevant for understanding the plot along with snippets of post-conquest vampiric claims of how things happened, avoiding the risk that ratios of vampire to human or other details will be—or seem to be—implausible. This veil is further sustained by the primary narrator being a human who has lived his life under vampiric rule and only been taught what his master considers useful to make him a foot soldier; thus, it feels realistic that he sees vampire society as robust and doesn’t consider scientific details.
As a debt collector and killer for the equivalent of a Mafia don, Roman’s normal life is committing acts that, if not always illegal under vampire law, are often deeply unethical. Thus, the inciting incident is not committing a crime but committing one without his master having authorised it, and thus one plot thread is Roman’s effort to conceal his involvement from the authorities (and his master) without the usual support structure.
In addition to exposing him to danger directly, Roman’s impulsive action leads to him disobeying an order, adding a second thread of concealing his actions from the group that was previously his biggest advantage.
In parallel with the challenges arising from Roman’s own choices, and entangling with them in ways that mutually increase the complication, factions inside and outside his master’s family launch their own cunning—and less so—schemes to increase their own position or destroy an enemy’s.
While the unfolding events bear a strong similarity to a crime noir tale, this is more than a novel where the gangsters happen to drink blood. Rather than simply having decades of experience and practice, senior mafiosi and detectives might be centuries—or even millennia—old and possessed of abilities far beyond the human, making both inter-gang dealings more potentially complex and making Roman’s own efforts much harder.
Roman’s position as a human in a job previously only done by vampires also complicates things: both from some within the family who resent what they see as cattle being granted favour they believe should be theirs; and from members of the human resistance who see Roman as either a great person to recruit as a person on the inside or as a weak spot in an organisation of otherwise superhuman enemies.
Yansky’s narrative style—as he states at the start of the book—uses mostly shorter, more factual sentences rather than a blend of varied length and subjectivity. While this does give the descriptions a noticeable, slightly more objective tone, Yansky’s use of close point-of-view means that the reader’s more reliable knowledge of what happens in a scene and what the narrator thinks is not paralleled by an equal knowledge of what is happening elsewhere or what other’s thoughts and intentions are; thus, the choice does not meaningfully weaken the tension.
The novel concludes with Roman having resolved the pressing dilemmas that have arisen, but with the wider arcs of his life and the wider struggles between the vampire factions and between vampires and human resistors ongoing. Thus, the novel is unlikely to irritate readers who dislike cliffhangers but has a strong feeling of being the first in a series rather than a stand-alone work.
Roman is a well-suited protagonist for the plot. While readers might not consider his actions the most morally pure, the combination of having been born into his situation and his sister having been granted her freedom mean that his choice to become a good foot soldier rather than defy the vampire nation is likely to seem very reasonable. Yansky’s depiction of this initial unexamined loyalty being challenged is a good fit for the noir tone, casting Roman’s choices as between bad options without losing the focus on him having to do something.
The supporting cast display as similar blend of clear character and moral tarnish, sustaining the gritty thriller feel. Yansky’s vampires present with the slight otherness of beings that might have plans and politics that span centuries but equally display the volatile nature and craving for quick rewards of humans, creating an engaging balance between the vampire and crime thriller flavours of the narrative.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel. I recommend it to readers seeking an engaging variation on vampires living openly in modern society.
In a US openly ruled by vampires, the humans who are not openly owned live as second class citizens. While Roman was born a slave, something about him attracted his master’s attention, leading to special training and finally a job usually only held by vampires. With a comfortable life, the favour of one of the most powerful beings in the US, and the offer of being declared a free man in the near future, Roman has always been a loyal servant—until a freak moment of compassion for a stranger not only puts his life in danger but shakes his unquestioning obedience.
Yanksy sets his story in a world where vampires emerged from hiding during a severe global pandemic in the early 2020’s and used the ongoing disruption and deaths to seize control. With the (supposed) first vampires having come into existence in first-century CE Rome and vampire society having sustained itself within organised crime, the resulting society is a veneer of Imperial Rome over ostensibly allied crime families. Over the generation since the conquest of an already reduced populace, the vampires have weakened humanity’s ability to rise up further by destroying swathes of modern technology; this further amplifies the feeling of the world being a classic gangster movie.
Rather than, as some overt vampire stories do, attempting to give an explanation of how this society remains functional, Yansky simply presents the reader with those aspects of it that are relevant for understanding the plot along with snippets of post-conquest vampiric claims of how things happened, avoiding the risk that ratios of vampire to human or other details will be—or seem to be—implausible. This veil is further sustained by the primary narrator being a human who has lived his life under vampiric rule and only been taught what his master considers useful to make him a foot soldier; thus, it feels realistic that he sees vampire society as robust and doesn’t consider scientific details.
As a debt collector and killer for the equivalent of a Mafia don, Roman’s normal life is committing acts that, if not always illegal under vampire law, are often deeply unethical. Thus, the inciting incident is not committing a crime but committing one without his master having authorised it, and thus one plot thread is Roman’s effort to conceal his involvement from the authorities (and his master) without the usual support structure.
In addition to exposing him to danger directly, Roman’s impulsive action leads to him disobeying an order, adding a second thread of concealing his actions from the group that was previously his biggest advantage.
In parallel with the challenges arising from Roman’s own choices, and entangling with them in ways that mutually increase the complication, factions inside and outside his master’s family launch their own cunning—and less so—schemes to increase their own position or destroy an enemy’s.
While the unfolding events bear a strong similarity to a crime noir tale, this is more than a novel where the gangsters happen to drink blood. Rather than simply having decades of experience and practice, senior mafiosi and detectives might be centuries—or even millennia—old and possessed of abilities far beyond the human, making both inter-gang dealings more potentially complex and making Roman’s own efforts much harder.
Roman’s position as a human in a job previously only done by vampires also complicates things: both from some within the family who resent what they see as cattle being granted favour they believe should be theirs; and from members of the human resistance who see Roman as either a great person to recruit as a person on the inside or as a weak spot in an organisation of otherwise superhuman enemies.
Yansky’s narrative style—as he states at the start of the book—uses mostly shorter, more factual sentences rather than a blend of varied length and subjectivity. While this does give the descriptions a noticeable, slightly more objective tone, Yansky’s use of close point-of-view means that the reader’s more reliable knowledge of what happens in a scene and what the narrator thinks is not paralleled by an equal knowledge of what is happening elsewhere or what other’s thoughts and intentions are; thus, the choice does not meaningfully weaken the tension.
The novel concludes with Roman having resolved the pressing dilemmas that have arisen, but with the wider arcs of his life and the wider struggles between the vampire factions and between vampires and human resistors ongoing. Thus, the novel is unlikely to irritate readers who dislike cliffhangers but has a strong feeling of being the first in a series rather than a stand-alone work.
Roman is a well-suited protagonist for the plot. While readers might not consider his actions the most morally pure, the combination of having been born into his situation and his sister having been granted her freedom mean that his choice to become a good foot soldier rather than defy the vampire nation is likely to seem very reasonable. Yansky’s depiction of this initial unexamined loyalty being challenged is a good fit for the noir tone, casting Roman’s choices as between bad options without losing the focus on him having to do something.
The supporting cast display as similar blend of clear character and moral tarnish, sustaining the gritty thriller feel. Yansky’s vampires present with the slight otherness of beings that might have plans and politics that span centuries but equally display the volatile nature and craving for quick rewards of humans, creating an engaging balance between the vampire and crime thriller flavours of the narrative.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel. I recommend it to readers seeking an engaging variation on vampires living openly in modern society.
February 16, 2023
Did expect a full-out dystopian mess of a book. All characters sad, mean, evil, conniving, hopeless. I know some will find this just right for them and the writing itself is not bad. Not my kind of read. Although, not being hopeless, I read all the way through looking for some redeeming quality. Nope. Hopeless.
February 27, 2023
I really enjoyed this book, I’ve preordered the next in series. Involved plot with twists and a lot of suspense. The whole idea of humans enslaved and dominated by the V is the stuff of nightmares. The human race fighting back against superior forces in a quiet revolution is classic. Highly recommend this book.
April 11, 2025
Fun, fun, fun
I became a fan of Brian Yanskys writing style with the librarian series. This series doesn't disappoint. If you are looking for a good time this is a great read.
I became a fan of Brian Yanskys writing style with the librarian series. This series doesn't disappoint. If you are looking for a good time this is a great read.
August 30, 2025
Vampyres!!!
A Vampire story with a twist (or three). I love Mr Yansky for his other books and thought I was over Vampire stories, apparently I’m not.
A Vampire story with a twist (or three). I love Mr Yansky for his other books and thought I was over Vampire stories, apparently I’m not.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews