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South London Gothic #1
Blood Drunk
Brutal gangsters and bloody vampires. A filthy pub crawl from the streets of South London to a grimy school of magic. Blood Drunk is for fans of Slow Horses, Rivers of London, and The Dresden Files.
Freddie Burns just wants ten pints, a fight, and to take over his family's South London crime empire.
When a routine hit plunges Freddie into a secret London, he discovers a city run by vampire clans and a ruthless Firm keeping it all hidden. Good thing he has a magical talent for giving vampires a good kicking. Them, and anyone else who looks at him funny.
Shipped off to their grubby little magic school to hone his powers, everyone wants Freddie's lethal power on their side. But nobody trusts a South London hooligan who smells of cheap lager and cigarettes.
Too bad it might be up to Freddie to save the world – or at least not wreck it entirely. He just needs a drink first.
* * *
‘I literally couldn't put it down’ – Catriona Ward, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Last House on Needless Street and Nowhere Burning
‘Dark, violent, intelligent and quick. Ben Shepherd is one to watch’ – Jim Butcher, author of The Dresden Files series
‘Grimy, gritty and a huge amount of fun’ – RJ Barker, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Bone Ships and Mortedant's Peril
Freddie Burns just wants ten pints, a fight, and to take over his family's South London crime empire.
When a routine hit plunges Freddie into a secret London, he discovers a city run by vampire clans and a ruthless Firm keeping it all hidden. Good thing he has a magical talent for giving vampires a good kicking. Them, and anyone else who looks at him funny.
Shipped off to their grubby little magic school to hone his powers, everyone wants Freddie's lethal power on their side. But nobody trusts a South London hooligan who smells of cheap lager and cigarettes.
Too bad it might be up to Freddie to save the world – or at least not wreck it entirely. He just needs a drink first.
* * *
‘I literally couldn't put it down’ – Catriona Ward, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Last House on Needless Street and Nowhere Burning
‘Dark, violent, intelligent and quick. Ben Shepherd is one to watch’ – Jim Butcher, author of The Dresden Files series
‘Grimy, gritty and a huge amount of fun’ – RJ Barker, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Bone Ships and Mortedant's Peril
414 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 24, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Blood Drunk gave me everything I absolutely NEED in a vampire book....vampires that are TRICKY!
Freddie Burns, a former gangster in South London turned vampire hunter, manages to get involved in an investigation that will immerse him in vampire organized crime.
As a main character Freddie is irreverent and smart mouthed but mostly, he's super clever and has such a unique powerful magic. I loved him and all his violence!
The paranormal urban bent to the story makes it seem real and current but the secret society that Freddie clearly doesn't belong in is super exclusive. He makes it his bitch though lol and I'm here for it!
There is surprising heart throughout the novel, Freddie's search for his brother Tommy, his complicated relationship with his mother and fellow society member Isabelle. It doesn't overshadow the main grittiness of the writing though...this is a wild addictive ride and if you like vampires that are evil and a hero that is flawed and completely badass, this is for you.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this title. My thoughts are my own.
Freddie Burns, a former gangster in South London turned vampire hunter, manages to get involved in an investigation that will immerse him in vampire organized crime.
As a main character Freddie is irreverent and smart mouthed but mostly, he's super clever and has such a unique powerful magic. I loved him and all his violence!
The paranormal urban bent to the story makes it seem real and current but the secret society that Freddie clearly doesn't belong in is super exclusive. He makes it his bitch though lol and I'm here for it!
There is surprising heart throughout the novel, Freddie's search for his brother Tommy, his complicated relationship with his mother and fellow society member Isabelle. It doesn't overshadow the main grittiness of the writing though...this is a wild addictive ride and if you like vampires that are evil and a hero that is flawed and completely badass, this is for you.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this title. My thoughts are my own.
September 23, 2026
London-based paranormal urban fantasies are always fun. Whether it’s Ben Aaronovitch’s longstanding series Rivers of London or last year’s brilliant debut The Reaper by Jackson P. Brown, writers who know the capital and get the capital (something my Andy Burnham-chips-and-gravy Manchester self can’t claim) is always interesting in the spec fic world. Well with Blood Drunk, debut author Ben Shepherd is following in these fine footsteps, but he’s brought a new vibe to the table. Imagine a particularly violent Guy Ritchie crime caper. Now make it more gritty, scuzzy, realistic—picture Gary Oldman’s character from Slow Horses sleeping on a couch after inhaling a takeaway and a bottle of booze. Then add a heady dash of Kingsman—the commoner being trained in a posh secret society. Then chuck in a bunch of vampire clans and the complex rules governing their society, as well as some deliciously dark magic, and you might get something like Blood Drunk. This book was so riotously, addictively entertaining that I read it in two sittings, the first one only interrupted by the need to sleep.
The plot begins with Freddie Burns, a young and green gangster who wants to inherit his uncle’s South London mini empire. But when a hit goes wrong, Freddie is the only survivor, and discovers two things: vampires are real and very present in London, and he’s got a type of magic that’s particularly good for beating the undead shit out of them. Next thing he knows he’s enrolled in a secret society that teaches him how to use his magic to sustain a tenuous vampire pact in the city, even as something big is coming down the line that threatens everything.
The first thing to point out is just how relentlessly, albeit grimly, entertaining this is. The reveal of London’s secretive system of vampire clans, covenants and rules is fun, and the nature of Freddie’s magic is gloriously dark and leads to some truly revolting sequences. I’m not going to reveal what his magic is—my rule is that if the blurb doesn’t mention it and it surprised me, I shouldn’t mention it myself—but trust me, it’s darker than a black hole at midnight. And then there’s the secretive magic training school Freddie is sent to, often feeling like a literary pisstake of those that have come before—imagine if a young James Bond or Harry Potter didn’t give a shit and spent his weekends belting people on the football terraces—but is also gleefully sinister. Thereafter, things get complex but no less fun, throwing in secretive vampire plots and other strange creatures of the night (wait till you meet the brutally sinister Resurrection Man).
But this isn’t just a fun vampire crime caper. The heart of the book, for all its scenes of underground club fights with gnomes, is the character of Freddie, who refuses to get with the programme and continues to drink himself into oblivion while rejecting any real help, like Danny Dyer in a spy film. As entertaining as this is at first, it soon starts to become a source of violence in itself, as I genuinely cared for him—his first person voice is strangely charismatic as much as it is booze-soaked—and his subtle character development (or at least the reader’s wish for it) makes the second half of the book, after the initial wave of fun and violence has crashed down, more grimly real as all the threads come together. Underneath the riotous fun is a character study of someone hurting, and the question of whether they can do something about that that doesn’t involve twenty drinks and a bloody face.
Oh and it’s worth mentioning the lack of speech marks. Yep, that’s right. There are none. This isn’t revolutionary—famously the likes of Cormac McCarthy saw no need for them—and recently the likes of Sally Rooney have been ditching them, but to do it for a debut takes some balls, and requires crystal clear clarity in prose and dialogue. It might be disorienting for some, but it’s a great way to throw you into the head of its character, and you’ll soon forget why you ever needed them in the first place.
Overall, Blood Drunk is a gloriously addictive South London vampire crime urban fantasy: throw Guy Ritchie, Kingsman and the secretive-but-scuzzy vibe of Slow Horses in a blender then chuck in nasty, dark magic and a secret vampire society and you have one of the most intensely entertaining reads of the year; a book so well written, it doesn’t even need speech marks. Drink it up, it’s bloody brilliant.
The plot begins with Freddie Burns, a young and green gangster who wants to inherit his uncle’s South London mini empire. But when a hit goes wrong, Freddie is the only survivor, and discovers two things: vampires are real and very present in London, and he’s got a type of magic that’s particularly good for beating the undead shit out of them. Next thing he knows he’s enrolled in a secret society that teaches him how to use his magic to sustain a tenuous vampire pact in the city, even as something big is coming down the line that threatens everything.
The first thing to point out is just how relentlessly, albeit grimly, entertaining this is. The reveal of London’s secretive system of vampire clans, covenants and rules is fun, and the nature of Freddie’s magic is gloriously dark and leads to some truly revolting sequences. I’m not going to reveal what his magic is—my rule is that if the blurb doesn’t mention it and it surprised me, I shouldn’t mention it myself—but trust me, it’s darker than a black hole at midnight. And then there’s the secretive magic training school Freddie is sent to, often feeling like a literary pisstake of those that have come before—imagine if a young James Bond or Harry Potter didn’t give a shit and spent his weekends belting people on the football terraces—but is also gleefully sinister. Thereafter, things get complex but no less fun, throwing in secretive vampire plots and other strange creatures of the night (wait till you meet the brutally sinister Resurrection Man).
But this isn’t just a fun vampire crime caper. The heart of the book, for all its scenes of underground club fights with gnomes, is the character of Freddie, who refuses to get with the programme and continues to drink himself into oblivion while rejecting any real help, like Danny Dyer in a spy film. As entertaining as this is at first, it soon starts to become a source of violence in itself, as I genuinely cared for him—his first person voice is strangely charismatic as much as it is booze-soaked—and his subtle character development (or at least the reader’s wish for it) makes the second half of the book, after the initial wave of fun and violence has crashed down, more grimly real as all the threads come together. Underneath the riotous fun is a character study of someone hurting, and the question of whether they can do something about that that doesn’t involve twenty drinks and a bloody face.
Oh and it’s worth mentioning the lack of speech marks. Yep, that’s right. There are none. This isn’t revolutionary—famously the likes of Cormac McCarthy saw no need for them—and recently the likes of Sally Rooney have been ditching them, but to do it for a debut takes some balls, and requires crystal clear clarity in prose and dialogue. It might be disorienting for some, but it’s a great way to throw you into the head of its character, and you’ll soon forget why you ever needed them in the first place.
Overall, Blood Drunk is a gloriously addictive South London vampire crime urban fantasy: throw Guy Ritchie, Kingsman and the secretive-but-scuzzy vibe of Slow Horses in a blender then chuck in nasty, dark magic and a secret vampire society and you have one of the most intensely entertaining reads of the year; a book so well written, it doesn’t even need speech marks. Drink it up, it’s bloody brilliant.
October 2, 2026
I really enjoyed this book! A vampire and magic story set in South London. It is very gruesome at points but was so interesting and funny.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of Blood Drunk by Ben Shepherd from Grand Central Publishing/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.
⭐ 4.2 ⭐
Take some Snatch (Guy Ritchie), Rivers of London (Ben Aaronovitch), and early days Rebus (Ian Rankin) and put ’em in a blender. Add some vampires a la Anne Rice and Charlaine Harris/True Blood.
Hit pulse.
(Oh dear. That pun was totally unintentional, this I promise you.)
Then, take the lid off to see what kind of chunked up glop you’ve got going. Hit blend……then, when some of it comes out of the top and hits the wall because you forgot to put the lid back on, think about it cleaning it up.
Say fuck it, and leave it to congeal and harden while you go out to your local for a lager and a shot.
Innit, then?
Gosh how I do so desperately hope this the first in a series.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to attempt to do a little online stalking of One Mr Ben Shepherd who is now one of my newest favorite authors.
DESCRIPTION
Join a new kind of vampire hunter—former gangster Freddie Burns—as he fights for his place, for his family, and for the hell of it in London’s gritty magical underworld. Mostly for the hell of it, to be honest.
Freddie Burns just wants ten pints, a spot of football violence, and to take over his uncle’s fading South London crime business. But when a gangland execution goes wrong, Freddie discovers a new kind of organized crime—one where vampires are spine-breakingly real and monsters hide just out of sight.
Good thing Freddie has a supernatural gift for giving vampires a kicking—them and anyone else that looks at him funny.
Dragged into a world of shadowy organizations, secret sorcerous pacts, gruesome vampire initiations, and a plot to rule it all, Freddie realizes it’s up to him to save the world —or at least not wreck it entirely. He just needs a drink first.
Received a complimentary copy of Blood Drunk by Ben Shepherd from Grand Central Publishing/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.
⭐ 4.2 ⭐
Take some Snatch (Guy Ritchie), Rivers of London (Ben Aaronovitch), and early days Rebus (Ian Rankin) and put ’em in a blender. Add some vampires a la Anne Rice and Charlaine Harris/True Blood.
Hit pulse.
(Oh dear. That pun was totally unintentional, this I promise you.)
Then, take the lid off to see what kind of chunked up glop you’ve got going. Hit blend……then, when some of it comes out of the top and hits the wall because you forgot to put the lid back on, think about it cleaning it up.
Say fuck it, and leave it to congeal and harden while you go out to your local for a lager and a shot.
Innit, then?
Gosh how I do so desperately hope this the first in a series.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to attempt to do a little online stalking of One Mr Ben Shepherd who is now one of my newest favorite authors.
DESCRIPTION
Join a new kind of vampire hunter—former gangster Freddie Burns—as he fights for his place, for his family, and for the hell of it in London’s gritty magical underworld. Mostly for the hell of it, to be honest.
Freddie Burns just wants ten pints, a spot of football violence, and to take over his uncle’s fading South London crime business. But when a gangland execution goes wrong, Freddie discovers a new kind of organized crime—one where vampires are spine-breakingly real and monsters hide just out of sight.
Good thing Freddie has a supernatural gift for giving vampires a kicking—them and anyone else that looks at him funny.
Dragged into a world of shadowy organizations, secret sorcerous pacts, gruesome vampire initiations, and a plot to rule it all, Freddie realizes it’s up to him to save the world —or at least not wreck it entirely. He just needs a drink first.
September 27, 2026
“They say get the bad news out of the way first, so I'll start with the day that Uncle Jim got eaten.”
What an opening line!
Blood Drunk is a gritty, gruesome urban fantasy full of dark magic, secret vampire societies, violence, brotherhood, grief and a LOT of swearing. As someone who also swears far too much, I felt right at home.
The story follows Freddie Burns, who finds himself thrown into a side of London he never knew existed after a routine hit goes very, very wrong. Vampires are real, magic exists, and Freddie quickly discovers that he might have a rather dangerous ability of his own.
I really enjoyed the magic system in this. A good chunk of the beginning is spent watching Freddie try to understand what is happening to him, learning more about this hidden world and attending the Academy to figure out exactly what he can do (so may feel a tad slow to some). The way magic works and how it is obtained is DARK, but I'll leave it there because discovering it alongside Freddie was part of the journey.
I also loved that the vampires weren't necessarily what you'd usually expect. They're not all mysterious, seductive creatures (although they still do love a castle). Some of them are basically just regular people you'd find down the pub. It made the supernatural side of London feel strangely believable.
There's a very distinct voice to the whole book. Freddie tells his story almost as though he's sitting there having a conversation with you (probably 6 beers deep), taking you back through events and occasionally stopping to explain his thoughts along the way.
That being said, the writing style did take some getting used to. There are no quotation marks around dialogue, which I've never encountered before! For probably the first half I found myself having to slow down to work out who was actually speaking and it got quite confusing. Eventually I got the hang of it, but it definitely made this a slightly slower read for me than it otherwise would have been.
A lot of these characters are pretty awful (plenty of hooligan behaviour, aggression, drinking and people generally making terrible decisions). Some of it I found hilarious, while other moments were a little jarring (guess it just reminded me of too many people I'd bump into on nights out lol).
Underneath all of that chaos though, there's a much darker side to Freddie's story. He goes through A LOT. As the grief and pressure builds, he turns more and more towards alcohol to cope. Watching him spiral made me really start rooting for him to somehow pull himself back out of that dark place.
This was completely different from the type of fantasy I normally read, but it really surprised me. It's violent, messy, gruesome and unapologetically British, with a lot of dark humour thrown in, and I found myself thoroughly entertained by it.
I'm very intrigued to see where the South London Gothic series takes us next!
Thank you to Tor/Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read Blood Drunk early in exchange for an honest review.
What an opening line!
Blood Drunk is a gritty, gruesome urban fantasy full of dark magic, secret vampire societies, violence, brotherhood, grief and a LOT of swearing. As someone who also swears far too much, I felt right at home.
The story follows Freddie Burns, who finds himself thrown into a side of London he never knew existed after a routine hit goes very, very wrong. Vampires are real, magic exists, and Freddie quickly discovers that he might have a rather dangerous ability of his own.
I really enjoyed the magic system in this. A good chunk of the beginning is spent watching Freddie try to understand what is happening to him, learning more about this hidden world and attending the Academy to figure out exactly what he can do (so may feel a tad slow to some). The way magic works and how it is obtained is DARK, but I'll leave it there because discovering it alongside Freddie was part of the journey.
I also loved that the vampires weren't necessarily what you'd usually expect. They're not all mysterious, seductive creatures (although they still do love a castle). Some of them are basically just regular people you'd find down the pub. It made the supernatural side of London feel strangely believable.
There's a very distinct voice to the whole book. Freddie tells his story almost as though he's sitting there having a conversation with you (probably 6 beers deep), taking you back through events and occasionally stopping to explain his thoughts along the way.
That being said, the writing style did take some getting used to. There are no quotation marks around dialogue, which I've never encountered before! For probably the first half I found myself having to slow down to work out who was actually speaking and it got quite confusing. Eventually I got the hang of it, but it definitely made this a slightly slower read for me than it otherwise would have been.
A lot of these characters are pretty awful (plenty of hooligan behaviour, aggression, drinking and people generally making terrible decisions). Some of it I found hilarious, while other moments were a little jarring (guess it just reminded me of too many people I'd bump into on nights out lol).
Underneath all of that chaos though, there's a much darker side to Freddie's story. He goes through A LOT. As the grief and pressure builds, he turns more and more towards alcohol to cope. Watching him spiral made me really start rooting for him to somehow pull himself back out of that dark place.
This was completely different from the type of fantasy I normally read, but it really surprised me. It's violent, messy, gruesome and unapologetically British, with a lot of dark humour thrown in, and I found myself thoroughly entertained by it.
I'm very intrigued to see where the South London Gothic series takes us next!
Thank you to Tor/Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read Blood Drunk early in exchange for an honest review.
October 6, 2026
Blood Drunk is a…violently British gangster novel about a vampire hunter in South London. I’m not going to lie, I nearly DNFd this at first. It took me a couple of chapters to gain my footing with the writing style, but once I did, I was hooked. It also helped to have a British friend translate some of it for me (thanks, Phil!), because I’m not familiar with some of the slang or much of the culture over there (not the book’s fault; that’s on me).
We follow Blood Drunk’s MMC, Freddie, as he learns he has a supernatural power that lets him kick vampire ass. He goes through an academy for people like him, then on to the “real world” where organized crime and shady deals abound. He mostly wants to be left alone, but that won’t happen when the head of the vampire organization is watching his every move.
Surprisingly, I ended up really enjoying this. It’s very dark and violent, and you can practically smell Freddie (and the hell holes he tends to live in) off the pages. Vampire hunting is a complicated business, and I loved how the different magic systems came into play here. Freddie is a complicated, intelligent man, even though he tries not to come across that way. It was interesting (and somewhat frustrating) seeing him interact with his family members, the various acquaintances who would love nothing more than to see him fall, and his fellow vampire hunters. Apparently, this is the start of a series (South London Gothic), and now I’m impatiently waiting for book 2.
Recommended for fans of gritty, dark vampire-hunting novels.
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the gifted copy.
We follow Blood Drunk’s MMC, Freddie, as he learns he has a supernatural power that lets him kick vampire ass. He goes through an academy for people like him, then on to the “real world” where organized crime and shady deals abound. He mostly wants to be left alone, but that won’t happen when the head of the vampire organization is watching his every move.
Surprisingly, I ended up really enjoying this. It’s very dark and violent, and you can practically smell Freddie (and the hell holes he tends to live in) off the pages. Vampire hunting is a complicated business, and I loved how the different magic systems came into play here. Freddie is a complicated, intelligent man, even though he tries not to come across that way. It was interesting (and somewhat frustrating) seeing him interact with his family members, the various acquaintances who would love nothing more than to see him fall, and his fellow vampire hunters. Apparently, this is the start of a series (South London Gothic), and now I’m impatiently waiting for book 2.
Recommended for fans of gritty, dark vampire-hunting novels.
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the gifted copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
Sometimes you read a book and you feel that you recognize the dna of the story. You can spot the stories that inspired an author. Sometimes it’s a letdown and sometimes it doesn’t matter because the author takes the parts and makes something new and entertaining.
In this case it’s easy to spot the building blocks. Some Hellblazer, Dresden files, a lot of Vampire: the masquerade and a large helping of British gangster stories a la Guy Ritchie and the sadly forgotten gangster epic The smoke by Tom Barling.
Mix all this together and add a blood soaked version of the classic magIc school stories and you get Blood drunk. Is this your cup of tea or more appropriately your pint of lager? It’s totally mine! This is vampire goodness combined with good lore and interesting characters.
I hope we get more books about Freddie Burns and his misadventures in the London Underground and I actually wouldn’t mind a rpg adaptation. This would be a fun world to play in.
Sometimes you read a book and you feel that you recognize the dna of the story. You can spot the stories that inspired an author. Sometimes it’s a letdown and sometimes it doesn’t matter because the author takes the parts and makes something new and entertaining.
In this case it’s easy to spot the building blocks. Some Hellblazer, Dresden files, a lot of Vampire: the masquerade and a large helping of British gangster stories a la Guy Ritchie and the sadly forgotten gangster epic The smoke by Tom Barling.
Mix all this together and add a blood soaked version of the classic magIc school stories and you get Blood drunk. Is this your cup of tea or more appropriately your pint of lager? It’s totally mine! This is vampire goodness combined with good lore and interesting characters.
I hope we get more books about Freddie Burns and his misadventures in the London Underground and I actually wouldn’t mind a rpg adaptation. This would be a fun world to play in.
Read
September 24, 2026Blood Drunk is a vampire crime fantasy following South Londoner, Freddie Burns. He’s primed to learn the ropes of his gangster father figure before he stumbles into his magic. At which point he’s begin training with his cohort and leans about the secret vampire society, his own death magic and the organisation that polices them all. It’s gritty, violent, scuzzy and involves lots of binge drinking.
I enjoyed the journey Freddie went on and how little interest he really had in it. He does it because it’s something to do that’s different but he refuses to conform to the rules and falls into a different sort of chaos afterwards. Goldburn was a highlight and he relationship with Freddie and what that meant for him. And it was interesting seeing more of the truth of the vampire society without the strictures of life with Hawkins. Freddie sees in from the inside and it’s just as messy and flawed as everything else. He’s lost and hurting and ultimately the story of about discovering what, if anything, he can do about that, that isn’t drinking.
I would have loved to dive deeper into the vampire society or to get to know other non human people that we come across as the vampires feel more background until part 3. Mostly it’s about Freddie’s experience and the decisions he makes and how they impact him. And the epilogue was really interesting with the feeling it left me with and how it left Freddie.
It has such a different original feel compared to the usual vampire books which I really liked. And Freddie makes for a compelling - if difficult, ornery, messy - character. It’s dark humour and the rawness of old gangster movies mixed with shadowy alliances , vampires, bleak moments, violence, lies, into one unpredictable easy-to-read story.
Thank you Bookbreak for the review copy. All thoughts are my own
I enjoyed the journey Freddie went on and how little interest he really had in it. He does it because it’s something to do that’s different but he refuses to conform to the rules and falls into a different sort of chaos afterwards. Goldburn was a highlight and he relationship with Freddie and what that meant for him. And it was interesting seeing more of the truth of the vampire society without the strictures of life with Hawkins. Freddie sees in from the inside and it’s just as messy and flawed as everything else. He’s lost and hurting and ultimately the story of about discovering what, if anything, he can do about that, that isn’t drinking.
I would have loved to dive deeper into the vampire society or to get to know other non human people that we come across as the vampires feel more background until part 3. Mostly it’s about Freddie’s experience and the decisions he makes and how they impact him. And the epilogue was really interesting with the feeling it left me with and how it left Freddie.
It has such a different original feel compared to the usual vampire books which I really liked. And Freddie makes for a compelling - if difficult, ornery, messy - character. It’s dark humour and the rawness of old gangster movies mixed with shadowy alliances , vampires, bleak moments, violence, lies, into one unpredictable easy-to-read story.
Thank you Bookbreak for the review copy. All thoughts are my own
Did Not Finish
August 26, 2026
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
When it comes to vampire novels I’m more of a traditionalist, so this wasn’t for me. I found it to be confusing and a bit of a hot mess. Could I have plodded through a little more in hopes of finding the 4 star book others read, perhaps, but it was just too much work. DNF it is.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pan MacMillan for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
When it comes to vampire novels I’m more of a traditionalist, so this wasn’t for me. I found it to be confusing and a bit of a hot mess. Could I have plodded through a little more in hopes of finding the 4 star book others read, perhaps, but it was just too much work. DNF it is.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pan MacMillan for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
September 27, 2026
In his acknowledgments, the author calls this ‘a neo-gothic-pulp-horror-urban-fantasy thing about vampires, magic and fighting’ and I honestly can’t come up with anything better to describe it.
It’s got the football-fighting-for-fun that you get from Green Street Hooligans, the lone wolf/snarky hothead feel from The Dresden Files, with the organized crime blood & violence of Goodfellas.
Our MMC Freddie is not a hero, not even one of the ‘good guys’. Of course, the black and white of Good Guys vs Bad Guys blends and blurs into a murky grey along the way. We follow Freddie from his days as heir to an organized crime empire, to Hogwarts from Hell (after he discovers his magic), to freelancer using death magic to fight rogue vampires.
Freddie is crass, and crude, and vulgar, and rash and brash and every other word you can think of that a polite British granny would say as she clutched her pearls. He also has questionable hygiene, is either drunk or hungover 95% of the time, and is aware that he doesn’t always smell great. But, you can’t help but root for him as he is repeatedly kicked by his world, and then kicked again while he’s down.
This was a super fun new spin on vampire lore and hoping to read more in this world.
*Thank you Grand Central Publishing for the gifted review copy. All opinions are my own.
It’s got the football-fighting-for-fun that you get from Green Street Hooligans, the lone wolf/snarky hothead feel from The Dresden Files, with the organized crime blood & violence of Goodfellas.
Our MMC Freddie is not a hero, not even one of the ‘good guys’. Of course, the black and white of Good Guys vs Bad Guys blends and blurs into a murky grey along the way. We follow Freddie from his days as heir to an organized crime empire, to Hogwarts from Hell (after he discovers his magic), to freelancer using death magic to fight rogue vampires.
Freddie is crass, and crude, and vulgar, and rash and brash and every other word you can think of that a polite British granny would say as she clutched her pearls. He also has questionable hygiene, is either drunk or hungover 95% of the time, and is aware that he doesn’t always smell great. But, you can’t help but root for him as he is repeatedly kicked by his world, and then kicked again while he’s down.
This was a super fun new spin on vampire lore and hoping to read more in this world.
*Thank you Grand Central Publishing for the gifted review copy. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy
I really enjoyed how different Blood Drunk felt from the usual vampire books. It’s gritty, bloody, chaotic, and packed with dark humor. Freddie is messy and definitely not your typical hero, but honestly, that’s part of what makes him so entertaining.
The world Ben Shepherd created is just as wild, with gangsters, vampires, magic, secret organizations, and plenty of violence all thrown together into one unpredictable story. There’s a lot going on, but it makes for a really fun and unique read.
If you’re looking for a vampire book that steps completely outside the usual box, Blood Drunk is definitely one to check out. It’s dark, weird, violent, and a whole lot of fun!
The world Ben Shepherd created is just as wild, with gangsters, vampires, magic, secret organizations, and plenty of violence all thrown together into one unpredictable story. There’s a lot going on, but it makes for a really fun and unique read.
If you’re looking for a vampire book that steps completely outside the usual box, Blood Drunk is definitely one to check out. It’s dark, weird, violent, and a whole lot of fun!
September 29, 2026
Absolute guff. Imagine a vampire novel told through the eyes of Phil Mitchell. A Phil Mitchell that can do magic by the way. It's about as entertaining and fun as your average EastEnders episode. First 200 pages was just explaining the same shit over and over again. I got how the magic system worked the first time I did not need endless pages explaining how the characters did the same test but killed different animals. I can not stress how much of a waste of time this book is.
August 18, 2026
A promising debut novel in urban fantasy mixed with British gangsters Guy Ritchie would be proud of, dark academia and vampires. The novel is a bloody good time. Not a masterpiece, but I look forward to reading more novels by this author in the future. I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher Grand Central Publishing for this Arc in exchange for an honest review.
Our protagonist, Freddie, with his boss Uncle Jim, and other hoodlums have kidnapped a rival gang member, Tony, and are going to execute him for killing their colleague. Before Uncle Jim provides their captive his sentence, he wants answers. Uncle Jim is going to make his captive suffer by torturing him. As Uncle Jim’s methods of torture became more and more extreme, he becomes more and more upset as his captive seems to be enjoying himself more and more as he is bruised and teeth broken. But Uncle Jim does get his answer and realizes he made a mistake kidnapping Tony. Tony is a vampire and wreaks bloody havoc on the crew that kidnapped him. As Freddie’s crew die, Freddie feeds off their deaths and builds up energy within his body that he has no control of and releases it in a huge blast. Freddie is the only survivor. He has just realized he is a conjurer of death magic.
Freddie is recruited with a handful of others by a mysterious man, Hawkins, to learn how to harness death magic. Think magic school, but a more elitist secretive school learning how to using magic that only comes from the death of living creatures. Those students that graduate from this school will have an opportunity to join The Firm, a small group of enforcers that will protect the Covenant, a set of rules that vampires live by to live in harmony with humans. The Covenant allows vampires to drink blood only of willing participants and restricts only sanctioned turning of humans into vampires. When these laws are violated, The Firm is responsible for hunting down rogue vampires. If one does not want to join The Firm at graduation, the individual is free to go, but signs a contract that they will not use their magic for unlawful means, never have relations with another practitioner of death magic, will only use their magic when authorized or only for self preservation. And more than anything, the skills learned may not be revealed to outsiders. Breaking these rules is a death sentence, enforced by the Firm.
Freddie, the narrator and the protagonist, is average looking, overweight and likes a good scrap with his football buddies. He at times is not likable, but by the end he was quite endearing. The first person narration through Freddie brings lot of British humor and color to the character. The reader may not always agree with Freddie’s actions, but the reader does feel Freddie’s emotions when Freddie makes mistakes.
Not to get into deals regarding how death magic works and how Freddie learns how to use his skills, as there will be no spoilers, but these were some of the most entertaining parts of the novel. Also, a forbidden romance, between Freddie and one of his school mates is believable and full of quiet sadness.
This take on vampires without the limitations of old legends or not being able to walk in sunlight and avoidance of crosses and garlic gave the novel a more realistic feel.
The other portions of the novel were enjoyable as we learned what happened to Freddie after the graduated from Death Magic school, but not as entertaining as the first part of the book at the Academy.
My biggest complaint, while the epilogue stayed true to our main character, the novel ended on a disappointing note. Not to get into details, but it was long and was leading up to something and then it just left the reader with a “huh”. It felt like an added on short story and didn’t add to the novel as a whole. To be honest I am not a fan of epilogues in general, but as a reviewer I will read every world of novel I am lucky to get an ARC of.
Overall, this was a fun urban fantasy vampire novel set in the London underworld. It was a pleasant surprise and once again shows what a joy it is to discover new authors. I look forward to this author’s next novel.
Our protagonist, Freddie, with his boss Uncle Jim, and other hoodlums have kidnapped a rival gang member, Tony, and are going to execute him for killing their colleague. Before Uncle Jim provides their captive his sentence, he wants answers. Uncle Jim is going to make his captive suffer by torturing him. As Uncle Jim’s methods of torture became more and more extreme, he becomes more and more upset as his captive seems to be enjoying himself more and more as he is bruised and teeth broken. But Uncle Jim does get his answer and realizes he made a mistake kidnapping Tony. Tony is a vampire and wreaks bloody havoc on the crew that kidnapped him. As Freddie’s crew die, Freddie feeds off their deaths and builds up energy within his body that he has no control of and releases it in a huge blast. Freddie is the only survivor. He has just realized he is a conjurer of death magic.
Freddie is recruited with a handful of others by a mysterious man, Hawkins, to learn how to harness death magic. Think magic school, but a more elitist secretive school learning how to using magic that only comes from the death of living creatures. Those students that graduate from this school will have an opportunity to join The Firm, a small group of enforcers that will protect the Covenant, a set of rules that vampires live by to live in harmony with humans. The Covenant allows vampires to drink blood only of willing participants and restricts only sanctioned turning of humans into vampires. When these laws are violated, The Firm is responsible for hunting down rogue vampires. If one does not want to join The Firm at graduation, the individual is free to go, but signs a contract that they will not use their magic for unlawful means, never have relations with another practitioner of death magic, will only use their magic when authorized or only for self preservation. And more than anything, the skills learned may not be revealed to outsiders. Breaking these rules is a death sentence, enforced by the Firm.
Freddie, the narrator and the protagonist, is average looking, overweight and likes a good scrap with his football buddies. He at times is not likable, but by the end he was quite endearing. The first person narration through Freddie brings lot of British humor and color to the character. The reader may not always agree with Freddie’s actions, but the reader does feel Freddie’s emotions when Freddie makes mistakes.
Not to get into deals regarding how death magic works and how Freddie learns how to use his skills, as there will be no spoilers, but these were some of the most entertaining parts of the novel. Also, a forbidden romance, between Freddie and one of his school mates is believable and full of quiet sadness.
This take on vampires without the limitations of old legends or not being able to walk in sunlight and avoidance of crosses and garlic gave the novel a more realistic feel.
The other portions of the novel were enjoyable as we learned what happened to Freddie after the graduated from Death Magic school, but not as entertaining as the first part of the book at the Academy.
My biggest complaint, while the epilogue stayed true to our main character, the novel ended on a disappointing note. Not to get into details, but it was long and was leading up to something and then it just left the reader with a “huh”. It felt like an added on short story and didn’t add to the novel as a whole. To be honest I am not a fan of epilogues in general, but as a reviewer I will read every world of novel I am lucky to get an ARC of.
Overall, this was a fun urban fantasy vampire novel set in the London underworld. It was a pleasant surprise and once again shows what a joy it is to discover new authors. I look forward to this author’s next novel.
Review of advance copy
Peaky blinders but make it vampires !!!!
This book was so much more fun than I thought it would be. It was gritty South London gangster vampires, violence, dark magic. I absolutely loved the main character whose solution to just about everything seem to be a punch at first and ask questions later.
Freddie Burns is the type of morally grey character who is just chaotic. He’s rough around the edges drinks way too much gets himself into situations that at times are just absolutely ridiculous and then manages to stumble into the secret world of vampires.
I love having this book it’s The typical peaky blinders era gangland setting but then you also have the dark and vampire world which actually blends seamlessly together. For me this story was fast-paced dark violent but at the same time there was plenty of humour waving throughout it and it just made Freddie’s story and journey so much fun.
When I started reading this, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I have watched the peaky blinders series and absolutely love that era and I’ve always been quite intrigued by the Kray Brothers and that sort of time. Add on the fact that I have always loved anything to do with vampires and this book through a curveball and gave me a story that I didn’t know I needed.
I absolutely flew through this book and loved Freddie’s chaotic story and what a menace he is
This book was so much more fun than I thought it would be. It was gritty South London gangster vampires, violence, dark magic. I absolutely loved the main character whose solution to just about everything seem to be a punch at first and ask questions later.
Freddie Burns is the type of morally grey character who is just chaotic. He’s rough around the edges drinks way too much gets himself into situations that at times are just absolutely ridiculous and then manages to stumble into the secret world of vampires.
I love having this book it’s The typical peaky blinders era gangland setting but then you also have the dark and vampire world which actually blends seamlessly together. For me this story was fast-paced dark violent but at the same time there was plenty of humour waving throughout it and it just made Freddie’s story and journey so much fun.
When I started reading this, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I have watched the peaky blinders series and absolutely love that era and I’ve always been quite intrigued by the Kray Brothers and that sort of time. Add on the fact that I have always loved anything to do with vampires and this book through a curveball and gave me a story that I didn’t know I needed.
I absolutely flew through this book and loved Freddie’s chaotic story and what a menace he is
Did Not Finish
September 26, 2026I knew within about 5 pages that this wasn’t going to be a good match for me.
The writing style was incredibly jarring, particularly the lack of speech punctuation. I found it really difficult to stay immersed in the story because of it.
I’m absolutely not opposed to swearing; I swear plenty myself! But there was SO much of it here, and a lot felt unnecessary, which made it more distracting than anything.
The whole thing felt like Green Street meets Guy Ritchie, but with vampires. And that just isn’t for me.
I can see this working really well for the right reader, but I’m clearly not that reader. I DNF’d at 15%, rather than forcing myself through it just to leave a negative review for a book that I’m clearly not the target audience for.
The writing style was incredibly jarring, particularly the lack of speech punctuation. I found it really difficult to stay immersed in the story because of it.
I’m absolutely not opposed to swearing; I swear plenty myself! But there was SO much of it here, and a lot felt unnecessary, which made it more distracting than anything.
The whole thing felt like Green Street meets Guy Ritchie, but with vampires. And that just isn’t for me.
I can see this working really well for the right reader, but I’m clearly not that reader. I DNF’d at 15%, rather than forcing myself through it just to leave a negative review for a book that I’m clearly not the target audience for.
September 30, 2026
Ben Shepherd writes about vampires with none of the regular complications. They handle sunshine and crosses. However they are subject to a compact that limits their numbers and they can get Blood Drunk(hard fromGrand Central Publishing). Aspiring gangster Freddie Burns discovers them when one of them eats his boss. He also discovers that he is one of the rare people able to use death magic. Freddie decides to go on his own after mandatory training, Then his brother disappears and that throws him into a danger he hadn’t expected and that reveals how the supernatural world works. I had a lot of fun with this dark and violent tale and expect sequels shortly.
October 13, 2026
'Blood Drunk' was a new twist on vampires that I really enjoyed seeing it play out. Set in London in the late 20th century, the book takes the reader through the South London crime syndicate and then through an unknown world to our main character.
The magic system in this was a really interesting one with them fueling off of death around them for their powers. A dark gritty journey that kept you on the edge of your seat.
The magic system in this was a really interesting one with them fueling off of death around them for their powers. A dark gritty journey that kept you on the edge of your seat.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Think Snatch meets classic vampire lore. Former South London gangster Freddie Burns gets thrown into a magical underworld of bloodsuckers and sorcery—and he is ready to throw hands. Gritty, hilarious, and action-packed!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
🩸 'It's always castles with these fuckers. No imagination. Maybe they get a little handbook, when they're turned: What to Expect When You're Exsanguinating: 'Chapter 6: Home and why it's got to have a bastard great moat.' 🩸
Blood Drunk was a wild ride, from start to finish! 🖤 I haven't read anything even a bit like it before, and doubt I will again. I think the one word that would most accurately sum up this book is feral. It was absolutely chaotic but in the best way! 😂
This book was not the typical vampire story that you normally read- vampires are more like what I imagine they would be like in real life. They are people like you and I, who need to feed on blood, but not half as much as you think. Blood makes them live a lot longer and makes them stronger, but not invincible- they can still die by any of the means any other person could. They are also working with the government- the government can't wipe their species out, so they give them the power to manage themselves and keep eachother in line. No unsanctioned killings, no turning people, no feeding off of humans that haven't agreed in writing kind of thing. If they step out of line, if vampires go rogue, people will be sent in to sort them out.
That's where the death magic side of things comes in- practitioners and their death magic is the only thing that can really equally match a vampire, that can discard of them if need be. 🗡️
I really enjoyed reading about the way that vampires and the practitioners coexist in society- it made for a really interesting story with the politics and the way the different gangs operated. It felt like so much happened all the way through the book, so much action and never a dull moment!
🩸 'People, are not caterpillars, as you are doubtless to say. I agree. We grow by stages, through trial and error, mistakes and failures. We are never perfect. Some waste a lifetime seeking a moment of perfect rebirth, when they can spread their wings and dance on a breath of wind. They do not find it.' 🩸
As much as this book is gritty, funny and lighthearted in a chaotic and almost twisted kind of way at points, it was also deeper than this. It was a story of navigating grief and loss, of carrying the expectations of your friends and family and even people that you don't even know that well. Of needing to meet these expectations in order to be good enough, worthwhile in your own mind. To feel powerful. How even if you have a carefree, I don't care attitude like Freddy, there is always something that you care about, that means something to you. It is also a story about friendship, of finding friends in unlikely places. Of brotherhood. I like that the story has these things of meaning hidden throughout- it gives Freddy's actions a lot more context and added a realism and depth to his character! 🖤
🩸 'For some people, being alone becomes a habit, an addiction. They harden themselves so completely against a life that does not love them, that love itself becomes a threat. It is... sad. Perhaps the saddest thing of all. But it is not forever.' 🩸
I think because of its nature, this book would appeal to specific kinds of people. So be aware, this book has a LOT of swearing, more than I've honestly ever read in a book, a lot of gore and fighting and talk of fighting and has characters that are very British. Like football, brawling, drinking and dark blunt humour kind of British. But all these things are necessary to really bring Freddy, the other characters, and this world to life, exactly in the context that the book is written. The characters did feel very alive- we get a true sense of who Freddy is, down to his core, and all of these things definitely amplify this. So this is something to note before picking the book up.
Saying that, this isn't normally the kind of book I read and I tightly doubt I'm the target audience Ben Shepherd wrote this book for, but I enjoyed it because of how different it was! 🖤
🩸 'There is nothing more sad to me than books that are too clean. They want to be read. It's their only purpose.' 🩸
I did enjoy this book, but as for the reasons I didn't rate it higher- was because honestly the swearing and some of the things about drinking etc felt a bit too much at times. Almost like fillers between the actual action taking place. Also animals being killed for death magic felt sad to read, even though I agree it should be in the book. It's just what comes with me not reading much neo-gothic/ pulp horror before so that's just personal. 😂
Also, the epilogue confused me a little- it didn't feel the same way as epilogues I've read in the past have been. It didn't really wrap the story up in the way I expected or think it should, more really told a new story in this section and showed a link from then to the start of the book. I would have liked more of a conclusion for the book, I still have so many answers! I hope there is a second book to come of this so I know where this goes! I'd definitely read it! 🩶
Tropes:
🧛🏻♀️ gritty South London setting
🧛🏻♀️ urban fantasy
🧛🏻♀️ gangsters & organised crime
🧛🏻♀️ vampires vs practitioners
🧛🏻♀️ death magic
🧛🏻♀️ morally grey/ morally black characters
🧛🏻♀️ brotherhood
🧛🏻♀️ found friendships
🧛🏻♀️ grief & loss
🧛🏻♀️ violent, flawed antihero
🧛🏻♀️ high stakes
🧛🏻♀️ unlikely alliances, allies of convenience or force
🧛🏻♀️ dark humour
🧛🏻♀️ gruesome horror
🧛🏻♀️ other supernatural people
Overall, I enjoyed this book! If you would enjoy a unique take on a vampire story, like gruesome, bloody and pretty feral pulp/ neo-gothic horror books, a rough around the edges, very British, morally screwed main character, and a story with action that never stops, Blood Drunk may be for you! 🖤🗡️
Thank you so much to Pan MacMillan for sending me a copy of Blood Drunk in return for my honest review. It was a super unique read that I enjoyed a lot! ☺️
Blood Drunk was a wild ride, from start to finish! 🖤 I haven't read anything even a bit like it before, and doubt I will again. I think the one word that would most accurately sum up this book is feral. It was absolutely chaotic but in the best way! 😂
This book was not the typical vampire story that you normally read- vampires are more like what I imagine they would be like in real life. They are people like you and I, who need to feed on blood, but not half as much as you think. Blood makes them live a lot longer and makes them stronger, but not invincible- they can still die by any of the means any other person could. They are also working with the government- the government can't wipe their species out, so they give them the power to manage themselves and keep eachother in line. No unsanctioned killings, no turning people, no feeding off of humans that haven't agreed in writing kind of thing. If they step out of line, if vampires go rogue, people will be sent in to sort them out.
That's where the death magic side of things comes in- practitioners and their death magic is the only thing that can really equally match a vampire, that can discard of them if need be. 🗡️
I really enjoyed reading about the way that vampires and the practitioners coexist in society- it made for a really interesting story with the politics and the way the different gangs operated. It felt like so much happened all the way through the book, so much action and never a dull moment!
🩸 'People, are not caterpillars, as you are doubtless to say. I agree. We grow by stages, through trial and error, mistakes and failures. We are never perfect. Some waste a lifetime seeking a moment of perfect rebirth, when they can spread their wings and dance on a breath of wind. They do not find it.' 🩸
As much as this book is gritty, funny and lighthearted in a chaotic and almost twisted kind of way at points, it was also deeper than this. It was a story of navigating grief and loss, of carrying the expectations of your friends and family and even people that you don't even know that well. Of needing to meet these expectations in order to be good enough, worthwhile in your own mind. To feel powerful. How even if you have a carefree, I don't care attitude like Freddy, there is always something that you care about, that means something to you. It is also a story about friendship, of finding friends in unlikely places. Of brotherhood. I like that the story has these things of meaning hidden throughout- it gives Freddy's actions a lot more context and added a realism and depth to his character! 🖤
🩸 'For some people, being alone becomes a habit, an addiction. They harden themselves so completely against a life that does not love them, that love itself becomes a threat. It is... sad. Perhaps the saddest thing of all. But it is not forever.' 🩸
I think because of its nature, this book would appeal to specific kinds of people. So be aware, this book has a LOT of swearing, more than I've honestly ever read in a book, a lot of gore and fighting and talk of fighting and has characters that are very British. Like football, brawling, drinking and dark blunt humour kind of British. But all these things are necessary to really bring Freddy, the other characters, and this world to life, exactly in the context that the book is written. The characters did feel very alive- we get a true sense of who Freddy is, down to his core, and all of these things definitely amplify this. So this is something to note before picking the book up.
Saying that, this isn't normally the kind of book I read and I tightly doubt I'm the target audience Ben Shepherd wrote this book for, but I enjoyed it because of how different it was! 🖤
🩸 'There is nothing more sad to me than books that are too clean. They want to be read. It's their only purpose.' 🩸
I did enjoy this book, but as for the reasons I didn't rate it higher- was because honestly the swearing and some of the things about drinking etc felt a bit too much at times. Almost like fillers between the actual action taking place. Also animals being killed for death magic felt sad to read, even though I agree it should be in the book. It's just what comes with me not reading much neo-gothic/ pulp horror before so that's just personal. 😂
Also, the epilogue confused me a little- it didn't feel the same way as epilogues I've read in the past have been. It didn't really wrap the story up in the way I expected or think it should, more really told a new story in this section and showed a link from then to the start of the book. I would have liked more of a conclusion for the book, I still have so many answers! I hope there is a second book to come of this so I know where this goes! I'd definitely read it! 🩶
Tropes:
🧛🏻♀️ gritty South London setting
🧛🏻♀️ urban fantasy
🧛🏻♀️ gangsters & organised crime
🧛🏻♀️ vampires vs practitioners
🧛🏻♀️ death magic
🧛🏻♀️ morally grey/ morally black characters
🧛🏻♀️ brotherhood
🧛🏻♀️ found friendships
🧛🏻♀️ grief & loss
🧛🏻♀️ violent, flawed antihero
🧛🏻♀️ high stakes
🧛🏻♀️ unlikely alliances, allies of convenience or force
🧛🏻♀️ dark humour
🧛🏻♀️ gruesome horror
🧛🏻♀️ other supernatural people
Overall, I enjoyed this book! If you would enjoy a unique take on a vampire story, like gruesome, bloody and pretty feral pulp/ neo-gothic horror books, a rough around the edges, very British, morally screwed main character, and a story with action that never stops, Blood Drunk may be for you! 🖤🗡️
Thank you so much to Pan MacMillan for sending me a copy of Blood Drunk in return for my honest review. It was a super unique read that I enjoyed a lot! ☺️
July 1, 2026
An 18+ version in the vein of Rivers of London but with a lot more profanity, generally I don’t have a problem with this as long as it doesn’t distract from the story sadly I found the constant swearing jarring and struggled to finish this book
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
7 / 10 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com...
'Like the first time you have sex, I think,' she said. 'For a woman'
I coughed out a half-laugh of smoke.
"The penis inside you, for the first time,' she said, 'if he is big, it can be not nice. But also very nice, at the same time.’
I felt a rush of heat in my cheeks.
'Yeah,' I said, my voice coming out a bit high. ‘Maybe’.
Christ.
'Magic, she said, 'it fucks you, I think?'
—
Okay so, first off, this is a violent, swear-laden book. F- and C- bombs abound. If you’ve any issue with my blurb or the above quote then you should skip it—seriously, these were tame compared with the actual book itself. That said, there honestly wasn’t as much sex as I would’ve expected, but that number isn’t “none”. If you skip the prologue and epilogues, however, you can cut it by half.
Not like either adds very much to the overarching plot. The prologue helps introduce the world, I guess, though it establishes a timeline we never return to. The epilogue does even less, reading more like cut content that the author decided to tack on at the back because it was already done.
The characters… well, there sure are some. Even though some of them had grown on me by the end, I didn’t much care if any lived past the conclusion. The cast runs the gauntlet between mean motherfucker and right prick. There were a select few whom I might save if they were afire, but only if I didn’t have to go too far out of my way. As such, it was hard to relate to or root for anyone. As for development… well, there is some, but for most of the plot Freddie just does whatever the fuck he wants. Which mostly sees him falling into the same patterns and instincts. And while he still overcomes this from time to time, it’s difficult to say just how much of this is really growth. Honestly, it’d be a little clearer if I’m allowed to throw out the aforementioned pro- and epilogues. And yet, I actually enjoyed my time with Blood Drunk, which is mostly down to the setting and the story itself.
Yeah, it’s a darker, courser, more violent London I’m used to seeing in other urban fantasies (Benedict Jacka and Ben Aaronovitch’s series spring to mind), but that doesn’t mean it bad. I mean, fat thug he may be, but Freddie’s still more interesting than Stephen Oakwood, and he spends at least a quarter of the book in a drunken stupor. The fate of the world may not exactly be on the line, but Freddie’s fate in it very much is, and he’s not going to take it lying down. Namely he’ll try to fuck shit up instead—though it is often bookended by getting pissed. As with most series, our protagonist is given one of two options. I think the attraction here is that instead of either of the two, Freddie prefers a third option, even if he can’t often tell you exactly why. And even if it often just involves him fucking off and/or hitting things.
The story itself is interesting, immersive, entertaining, despite my issues with its characters. Yeah, Freddie may not be the best lead, but he’s probably the right one for this tale. It’s dark, violent, and often down to the pick of only terrible options, something Freddie’s specific brand of thuggery excels at. As such, the foul, often crass tone actually works quite well with the story. Some people will doubtless find it distasteful, or find it a disqualifying factor, but I found that it actually added to the tale the author set out to tell. Also, I enjoyed how the author fully acknowledges that the character he created is a right prick. Honestly, I found the coarseness actually added credence to the tale, making the whole thing seem just that much more realistic. This extends to the romance, such that it is. I mean, Some people have quite terrible taste in partners; seems to happen quite a lot, too. After all, what’s more likely: a storybook romance, or two morally flawed fucks going at it in portaloo? Might be depressing, and yet…
TL;DR
Blood Drunk is a crude, vulgar glimpse into what a South London gangster might do if they suddenly discovered a talent for death-magic. Violent and swear-laden, powered by booze and cigarettes, Londonisms and football, there is actually a method to author Ben Shepherd’s madness—though it’s often hidden behind getting pissed and hunting for punters. There’s character development somewhere in this morass, though it can be hard to find at first. The cast itself is mostly hateful, but somehow more real because of it. It was difficult, even impossible to relate to Freddie, so while I enjoyed the story, it was often difficult for me to truly care about his campaign. Still, at some point I became quite immersed in the tale, and genuinely enjoyed it through to the end. That said, the prologue and epilogues I found basically worthless, only good for introducing the world and its workings—thus the book started and ended on the wrong footing. So, yeah, many caveats, but still somehow a decent read. Maybe check it out. And I’ll be keeping my eye out for Book #2, sometime int he not-too-distant future.
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com...
'Like the first time you have sex, I think,' she said. 'For a woman'
I coughed out a half-laugh of smoke.
"The penis inside you, for the first time,' she said, 'if he is big, it can be not nice. But also very nice, at the same time.’
I felt a rush of heat in my cheeks.
'Yeah,' I said, my voice coming out a bit high. ‘Maybe’.
Christ.
'Magic, she said, 'it fucks you, I think?'
—
Okay so, first off, this is a violent, swear-laden book. F- and C- bombs abound. If you’ve any issue with my blurb or the above quote then you should skip it—seriously, these were tame compared with the actual book itself. That said, there honestly wasn’t as much sex as I would’ve expected, but that number isn’t “none”. If you skip the prologue and epilogues, however, you can cut it by half.
Not like either adds very much to the overarching plot. The prologue helps introduce the world, I guess, though it establishes a timeline we never return to. The epilogue does even less, reading more like cut content that the author decided to tack on at the back because it was already done.
The characters… well, there sure are some. Even though some of them had grown on me by the end, I didn’t much care if any lived past the conclusion. The cast runs the gauntlet between mean motherfucker and right prick. There were a select few whom I might save if they were afire, but only if I didn’t have to go too far out of my way. As such, it was hard to relate to or root for anyone. As for development… well, there is some, but for most of the plot Freddie just does whatever the fuck he wants. Which mostly sees him falling into the same patterns and instincts. And while he still overcomes this from time to time, it’s difficult to say just how much of this is really growth. Honestly, it’d be a little clearer if I’m allowed to throw out the aforementioned pro- and epilogues. And yet, I actually enjoyed my time with Blood Drunk, which is mostly down to the setting and the story itself.
Yeah, it’s a darker, courser, more violent London I’m used to seeing in other urban fantasies (Benedict Jacka and Ben Aaronovitch’s series spring to mind), but that doesn’t mean it bad. I mean, fat thug he may be, but Freddie’s still more interesting than Stephen Oakwood, and he spends at least a quarter of the book in a drunken stupor. The fate of the world may not exactly be on the line, but Freddie’s fate in it very much is, and he’s not going to take it lying down. Namely he’ll try to fuck shit up instead—though it is often bookended by getting pissed. As with most series, our protagonist is given one of two options. I think the attraction here is that instead of either of the two, Freddie prefers a third option, even if he can’t often tell you exactly why. And even if it often just involves him fucking off and/or hitting things.
The story itself is interesting, immersive, entertaining, despite my issues with its characters. Yeah, Freddie may not be the best lead, but he’s probably the right one for this tale. It’s dark, violent, and often down to the pick of only terrible options, something Freddie’s specific brand of thuggery excels at. As such, the foul, often crass tone actually works quite well with the story. Some people will doubtless find it distasteful, or find it a disqualifying factor, but I found that it actually added to the tale the author set out to tell. Also, I enjoyed how the author fully acknowledges that the character he created is a right prick. Honestly, I found the coarseness actually added credence to the tale, making the whole thing seem just that much more realistic. This extends to the romance, such that it is. I mean, Some people have quite terrible taste in partners; seems to happen quite a lot, too. After all, what’s more likely: a storybook romance, or two morally flawed fucks going at it in portaloo? Might be depressing, and yet…
TL;DR
Blood Drunk is a crude, vulgar glimpse into what a South London gangster might do if they suddenly discovered a talent for death-magic. Violent and swear-laden, powered by booze and cigarettes, Londonisms and football, there is actually a method to author Ben Shepherd’s madness—though it’s often hidden behind getting pissed and hunting for punters. There’s character development somewhere in this morass, though it can be hard to find at first. The cast itself is mostly hateful, but somehow more real because of it. It was difficult, even impossible to relate to Freddie, so while I enjoyed the story, it was often difficult for me to truly care about his campaign. Still, at some point I became quite immersed in the tale, and genuinely enjoyed it through to the end. That said, the prologue and epilogues I found basically worthless, only good for introducing the world and its workings—thus the book started and ended on the wrong footing. So, yeah, many caveats, but still somehow a decent read. Maybe check it out. And I’ll be keeping my eye out for Book #2, sometime int he not-too-distant future.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This was a very different vampire novel to what I was expecting, and if I could give half stars on Goodreads I would give it 4.5 stars. But for the sake of this review, I’m giving it 5 because the second half really made up for the first!
First things first, if you’re looking for a polished, morally good protagonist to root for, this probably isn’t the book for you. Freddie is a football hooligan through and through. He’s rough, foul-mouthed, deeply flawed, and the author absolutely leans into that. It’s also very sweary, so I’d bear that in mind before picking it up if bad language isn’t your thing.
The dialogue also isn’t marked by quotation marks, which took me a while to get used to and sometimes made conversations a little harder to follow. That said, by the end I could completely see why it was written that way - the whole story feels like Freddie casually recounting everything that happened, so the writing style ended up suiting both the character and the tone much more than I expected at the beginning.
For the first half of the book, I was enjoying the magic system, but I wasn’t really convinced about where the story was heading or whether it was going to be the kind of vampire novel I usually enjoy. I also found it quite a heavy read at times - Freddie’s world is violent and bleak, and spending time in his head was pretty draining - it felt intentionally grim, but it did mean I found myself needing to take breaks from it every now and then...
But somewhere around the 50% mark, everything started to really get going and I found myself unable to put it down.
From that point on, I genuinely had no idea where the story was going. There were twists, deception, political manoeuvring, unexpected alliances, and a really fresh take on vampire lore that felt completely different from anything I’ve read before. The ending pulled everything together so well, tying up loose ends while still leaving me wanting more (truly, I’d happily read another book following Freddie through more of his questionable life choices!)
What I loved most about this, though, was just how original it felt - there are sooooo many vampire books out there, but this manages to carve out its own identity with a unique magic system, a gritty London setting, and characters who constantly keep you guessing.
Having read the acknowledgements at the end, it also made me really happy to see that this book is finally making it into the world after years in the making. You can tell how much work and heart went into it, and I’m really glad the author stuck with it because the second half especially was an amazing read. I’ll definitely be picking up the sequel, if there is one!
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC!
First things first, if you’re looking for a polished, morally good protagonist to root for, this probably isn’t the book for you. Freddie is a football hooligan through and through. He’s rough, foul-mouthed, deeply flawed, and the author absolutely leans into that. It’s also very sweary, so I’d bear that in mind before picking it up if bad language isn’t your thing.
The dialogue also isn’t marked by quotation marks, which took me a while to get used to and sometimes made conversations a little harder to follow. That said, by the end I could completely see why it was written that way - the whole story feels like Freddie casually recounting everything that happened, so the writing style ended up suiting both the character and the tone much more than I expected at the beginning.
For the first half of the book, I was enjoying the magic system, but I wasn’t really convinced about where the story was heading or whether it was going to be the kind of vampire novel I usually enjoy. I also found it quite a heavy read at times - Freddie’s world is violent and bleak, and spending time in his head was pretty draining - it felt intentionally grim, but it did mean I found myself needing to take breaks from it every now and then...
But somewhere around the 50% mark, everything started to really get going and I found myself unable to put it down.
From that point on, I genuinely had no idea where the story was going. There were twists, deception, political manoeuvring, unexpected alliances, and a really fresh take on vampire lore that felt completely different from anything I’ve read before. The ending pulled everything together so well, tying up loose ends while still leaving me wanting more (truly, I’d happily read another book following Freddie through more of his questionable life choices!)
What I loved most about this, though, was just how original it felt - there are sooooo many vampire books out there, but this manages to carve out its own identity with a unique magic system, a gritty London setting, and characters who constantly keep you guessing.
Having read the acknowledgements at the end, it also made me really happy to see that this book is finally making it into the world after years in the making. You can tell how much work and heart went into it, and I’m really glad the author stuck with it because the second half especially was an amazing read. I’ll definitely be picking up the sequel, if there is one!
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC!
October 17, 2026
Much like every trad pub book I've read this year, 'Blood Drunk' is OK, not terrible, not great, just sort of there, with enough good bits to counterbalance the not-so-good bits. It's a first novel by Ben Shepherd and it shows, but there's some genuinely cool ideas lurking that will likely get me back for a second installment, if there is one.
'Blood Drunk' is sort of Vampire Academy mixed with Harry Potter by way of Guy Ritchie. Throw in a bit of Slow Horses and Mobland and you've got the picture. Unfortunately, it sounds a lot cooler than the book actually is. Our narrator is Freddie Burns, a chav gangster wannabe who finds out he has the ability to practice death magic. When something dies, it's energy is released and there are a small number of people who are able to use that energy to do magic. There are also vampires, and other supernatural beings in this world, and it's the job of The Firm, a secret organisation of death magic practitioneers led by the mysterious Hawkins, who keeps everyone adhering to the Covenant, an official agreeement that vamps, death magicians and every other creature not human must adhere to.
The story starts in the present and then rapidly shifts to the past, becoming an origin story for Freddie, as he discovers his powers by accident and then gets recruited to the Academy and spends a good chunk of the book in school with his fellow magic users. The book slows to a crawl here and I almost put it down a couple times, but pushed on, and it does pick up as Freddie graduates and starts searching for his lost brother, which brings him into the the Queen's orbit, a near legendary vampire that wants to destroy the covenant and create a world which she presides over. And she needs Freddie to do that. Even this part is slow, and not all that interesting, and it's a credit to the strenght of Shepherd's voice that I kept going. His writing style pulls you through even when you're not that interested in what's happening on the page. The ending is a wet fart and the epilogue is a complete waste of time, sort of a set-up for the next one that fizzles out when it should be firing up.
There's enough here - the Guy Ritchie gangster stylings, the Mob Land touch, the coolness of death magic - that I'm interested in seeing where Ben Shepherd goes with the next book, and I'm really hoping that he puts more effort into the pace and plot if it does come to pass.
'Blood Drunk' is sort of Vampire Academy mixed with Harry Potter by way of Guy Ritchie. Throw in a bit of Slow Horses and Mobland and you've got the picture. Unfortunately, it sounds a lot cooler than the book actually is. Our narrator is Freddie Burns, a chav gangster wannabe who finds out he has the ability to practice death magic. When something dies, it's energy is released and there are a small number of people who are able to use that energy to do magic. There are also vampires, and other supernatural beings in this world, and it's the job of The Firm, a secret organisation of death magic practitioneers led by the mysterious Hawkins, who keeps everyone adhering to the Covenant, an official agreeement that vamps, death magicians and every other creature not human must adhere to.
The story starts in the present and then rapidly shifts to the past, becoming an origin story for Freddie, as he discovers his powers by accident and then gets recruited to the Academy and spends a good chunk of the book in school with his fellow magic users. The book slows to a crawl here and I almost put it down a couple times, but pushed on, and it does pick up as Freddie graduates and starts searching for his lost brother, which brings him into the the Queen's orbit, a near legendary vampire that wants to destroy the covenant and create a world which she presides over. And she needs Freddie to do that. Even this part is slow, and not all that interesting, and it's a credit to the strenght of Shepherd's voice that I kept going. His writing style pulls you through even when you're not that interested in what's happening on the page. The ending is a wet fart and the epilogue is a complete waste of time, sort of a set-up for the next one that fizzles out when it should be firing up.
There's enough here - the Guy Ritchie gangster stylings, the Mob Land touch, the coolness of death magic - that I'm interested in seeing where Ben Shepherd goes with the next book, and I'm really hoping that he puts more effort into the pace and plot if it does come to pass.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
“A gritty pub crawl from the streets of South London to the hallways of vampire royalty. Blood Drunk is a pitch-black urban fantasy for fans of Slow Horses and Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.”
Blood Drunk by Ben Shepard follows the story of Freddie. Freddie starts as a South London gangster, working under his uncle Jim, who is destined to be in charge of Jim’s empire one day. Freddie’s world is turned upside down when uncle Jim gets… eaten. This catapults Freddie into a whole new world of crime - full of vampires and all things unimaginable. Tasked to master the magic he didn’t know he had, we follow Freddie’s story through The Academy and all the challenges that follow.
Set in London , the book is dark, grimey, and dirty. The location descriptions were fantastic and very visually transportive.
Although it was a vampire book, I felt that vampires actually had very little to do within the stories premise. I would have liked a bit more involvement or backstory into their role within the book and some of the other creatures mentioned. I did, however, enjoy the unique magic system. Usually when “blood magic” is involved you would assume it would be human blood etc, in this book though the primary source of blood tended to come from insects and rodents.
Although very gross and I don’t think I’d particularly like it in my own pocket, I thought it was interesting that whenever Freddie needed the magic boost, he would crush a pocket full of worms or a bag of drugged mice.
I also enjoyed a lot of the side characters. Tull, for instance, was very unique. Described as a resurrection man who has to take a new body every few decades to maintain the illusion, I found the sections where he was stressed so his body started to distort very unnerving.
Goldburn’s and Freddie’s relationship was one I particularly enjoyed too. Even with the bit of foreshadowing given by Goldburn early on, the twists and turns remained unpredictable.
Blood Drunk was outside of my usual book choices, so I was glad to try something new and that I wouldn’t normally pick up. Very grateful to TorBooksUk and ChloeDavies_publicity for sending me a copy of the book (and some worms) in exchange for my honest review!
Blood Drunk by Ben Shepard follows the story of Freddie. Freddie starts as a South London gangster, working under his uncle Jim, who is destined to be in charge of Jim’s empire one day. Freddie’s world is turned upside down when uncle Jim gets… eaten. This catapults Freddie into a whole new world of crime - full of vampires and all things unimaginable. Tasked to master the magic he didn’t know he had, we follow Freddie’s story through The Academy and all the challenges that follow.
Set in London , the book is dark, grimey, and dirty. The location descriptions were fantastic and very visually transportive.
Although it was a vampire book, I felt that vampires actually had very little to do within the stories premise. I would have liked a bit more involvement or backstory into their role within the book and some of the other creatures mentioned. I did, however, enjoy the unique magic system. Usually when “blood magic” is involved you would assume it would be human blood etc, in this book though the primary source of blood tended to come from insects and rodents.
Although very gross and I don’t think I’d particularly like it in my own pocket, I thought it was interesting that whenever Freddie needed the magic boost, he would crush a pocket full of worms or a bag of drugged mice.
I also enjoyed a lot of the side characters. Tull, for instance, was very unique. Described as a resurrection man who has to take a new body every few decades to maintain the illusion, I found the sections where he was stressed so his body started to distort very unnerving.
Goldburn’s and Freddie’s relationship was one I particularly enjoyed too. Even with the bit of foreshadowing given by Goldburn early on, the twists and turns remained unpredictable.
Blood Drunk was outside of my usual book choices, so I was glad to try something new and that I wouldn’t normally pick up. Very grateful to TorBooksUk and ChloeDavies_publicity for sending me a copy of the book (and some worms) in exchange for my honest review!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Blood Drunk by Ben Shepherd
Review by Yaibeji
Where to start? I finished this book in two days and mostly enjoyed it. The writing was vivid and captivating. I had to look up some of the slang but that’s because it’s set in the rough-and-tumble low-end criminal underworld of London and I’m an American English speaker. It’s different but that’s not a bad thing. Different how? Well, the vampires aren’t beautiful, sexy, or romantic. The magical academy is run down and stinks. Our hero doesn’t get the girl and doesn’t actually change all that much.
There aren’t werewolves but there are other magical beings. It’s almost an anti-romantasy. The main character at the center of this—to use the author’s own words—“neo-gothic-pulp-horror-urban-fantasy thing” carries us along and immerses us in his life which consists almost solely of brawling, drinking, magical hooliganism, and more drinking. He is believable within the rules of magic established in his world, which is more like the one we all inhabit than many of the alternative worlds popular in fiction these days. That said, if violence and killing--humans or animals--bothers you, this is not the book for you.
I found a little inconsistency at the beginning and places that dragged in the middle but those are minor quibbles (and may be caught by an editor by the time the manuscript goes to print). My biggest complaint is about the ending. Any ending other than the one we got would have been inconsistent with the rest of the book and what we know about our main character but for some reason I was still disappointed. Maybe I wanted to keep riding along. All in all, a great effort and well worth reading (again, if you can stomach violence).
Review by Yaibeji
Where to start? I finished this book in two days and mostly enjoyed it. The writing was vivid and captivating. I had to look up some of the slang but that’s because it’s set in the rough-and-tumble low-end criminal underworld of London and I’m an American English speaker. It’s different but that’s not a bad thing. Different how? Well, the vampires aren’t beautiful, sexy, or romantic. The magical academy is run down and stinks. Our hero doesn’t get the girl and doesn’t actually change all that much.
There aren’t werewolves but there are other magical beings. It’s almost an anti-romantasy. The main character at the center of this—to use the author’s own words—“neo-gothic-pulp-horror-urban-fantasy thing” carries us along and immerses us in his life which consists almost solely of brawling, drinking, magical hooliganism, and more drinking. He is believable within the rules of magic established in his world, which is more like the one we all inhabit than many of the alternative worlds popular in fiction these days. That said, if violence and killing--humans or animals--bothers you, this is not the book for you.
I found a little inconsistency at the beginning and places that dragged in the middle but those are minor quibbles (and may be caught by an editor by the time the manuscript goes to print). My biggest complaint is about the ending. Any ending other than the one we got would have been inconsistent with the rest of the book and what we know about our main character but for some reason I was still disappointed. Maybe I wanted to keep riding along. All in all, a great effort and well worth reading (again, if you can stomach violence).
October 10, 2026
The prologue and epilogue were the only good parts of this book. Okay maybe a bit of an exaggeration but it's not far off the truth.
I think my own expectations ruined this book. Reading the synopsis and the prologue had me fully invested, and I anticipated a Mobland/Peaky Blinders/Gangs of London/Guy Richie style experience but sadly none of that happened.
All the good will was thrown away in Part One. This was advertised as vampires meets London gangland, but that was sidelined for 200 pages of magical school sections. I didnt sign up for magic academia. Part Two had some redemption but again the vampire and criminal side of things was completely underutilised. We get some random, non-vampire creatures thrown in there who hold no plot relevance. Part Three very much felt like sequel bait which I'm still not sure will happen. But when you use the line "something big is coming" in dialogue, in the last 100 pages, I stop caring.
The Epilogue follows on from the events of the Prologue and I was so disappointed this wasn't just the main story because those two sections were EXACTLY what I wanted from this book and didn't get.
And yet the writing is so compelling and the characters feel like grounded, real people despite the situations they are in, especially Freddy. A brilliant protagonist. And I LOVED that pretty much no character in this has any redemption. I'm intrigued to see what this author does next
Had so much potential and it was completely wasted on a mediocre plot that didn't really do anything different, or do what it had advertised. Tried to implement too many ideas when it should have just been Gangsters VS Vampires and it would have been an easy 5 stars.
I think my own expectations ruined this book. Reading the synopsis and the prologue had me fully invested, and I anticipated a Mobland/Peaky Blinders/Gangs of London/Guy Richie style experience but sadly none of that happened.
All the good will was thrown away in Part One. This was advertised as vampires meets London gangland, but that was sidelined for 200 pages of magical school sections. I didnt sign up for magic academia. Part Two had some redemption but again the vampire and criminal side of things was completely underutilised. We get some random, non-vampire creatures thrown in there who hold no plot relevance. Part Three very much felt like sequel bait which I'm still not sure will happen. But when you use the line "something big is coming" in dialogue, in the last 100 pages, I stop caring.
The Epilogue follows on from the events of the Prologue and I was so disappointed this wasn't just the main story because those two sections were EXACTLY what I wanted from this book and didn't get.
And yet the writing is so compelling and the characters feel like grounded, real people despite the situations they are in, especially Freddy. A brilliant protagonist. And I LOVED that pretty much no character in this has any redemption. I'm intrigued to see what this author does next
Had so much potential and it was completely wasted on a mediocre plot that didn't really do anything different, or do what it had advertised. Tried to implement too many ideas when it should have just been Gangsters VS Vampires and it would have been an easy 5 stars.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Many thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Ben Shepherd for allowing me to listen to an ALC copy of this book.
First Line - "They say get the bad news out of the way first,so I'll start with the day that Uncle Jim got eaten."
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book, the narrator absolutely enhances the experience. The story is set in 1990s London, Freddie Burns is a tough, cynical young man who has been brought into a family organised crime racket. David John absolutely brought Freddie to life for me, his voice was perfect and his deadpan delivery of the black humour in unusual circumstances made me feel I was in the story.
This book is dark, graphic and gritty from the beginning. The world building was detailed, taking us into a London where magical and mythical creatures are real. Having just booked scaffolders to come round myself, I had a moment of anxiety. The magic system was a little gruesome to say the least, but it felt unique to me. The action really ramped up in the second half with twists and turns round every corner. The audiobook also included an interesting interview between the author and the narrator. I massively enjoyed this audiobook and will be looking forward to the next installment in Freddie's world.
4.5 stars
First Line - "They say get the bad news out of the way first,so I'll start with the day that Uncle Jim got eaten."
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book, the narrator absolutely enhances the experience. The story is set in 1990s London, Freddie Burns is a tough, cynical young man who has been brought into a family organised crime racket. David John absolutely brought Freddie to life for me, his voice was perfect and his deadpan delivery of the black humour in unusual circumstances made me feel I was in the story.
This book is dark, graphic and gritty from the beginning. The world building was detailed, taking us into a London where magical and mythical creatures are real. Having just booked scaffolders to come round myself, I had a moment of anxiety. The magic system was a little gruesome to say the least, but it felt unique to me. The action really ramped up in the second half with twists and turns round every corner. The audiobook also included an interesting interview between the author and the narrator. I massively enjoyed this audiobook and will be looking forward to the next installment in Freddie's world.
4.5 stars
September 17, 2026
*ARC Review*
Blood Drunk by Ben Shepherd, finished as my 430th book ever, and what a weird, fun one to land on.
The vampires here aren't Dracula-style types, they're tracksuit-wearing, thoroughly unpleasant guys who just happen to drink blood and live forever. No garlic, no mirrors, no flying. Instead of werewolves keeping them in check, you've got practitioners: people who absorb the magic released whenever something dies. Our guy Freddie is one of them, and he's spent his life hunting vampires who break the Covenant: the rulebook keeping this whole magical ecosystem from falling apart.
Fair warning: it takes about 200 pages / 16 chapters to get to the actual plot. Before that it's basically Freddie's personal chronicle, from Academy days to his backstory, everything. It's a lot, and the blurb barely hints at what the book is really about. But once it clicks into gear, it does not let up and the second half is plot twist after plot twist after plot twist, and I flew through it way faster than the setup. Once you get there, you will see that all the context was necessary too!
Recommended if you like urban fantasy and don't mind a slow burn. Push through the first 200 pages as they end up mattering more than they seem to at the time. Slow pacing, but the payoff earns it stars!
Blood Drunk by Ben Shepherd, finished as my 430th book ever, and what a weird, fun one to land on.
The vampires here aren't Dracula-style types, they're tracksuit-wearing, thoroughly unpleasant guys who just happen to drink blood and live forever. No garlic, no mirrors, no flying. Instead of werewolves keeping them in check, you've got practitioners: people who absorb the magic released whenever something dies. Our guy Freddie is one of them, and he's spent his life hunting vampires who break the Covenant: the rulebook keeping this whole magical ecosystem from falling apart.
Fair warning: it takes about 200 pages / 16 chapters to get to the actual plot. Before that it's basically Freddie's personal chronicle, from Academy days to his backstory, everything. It's a lot, and the blurb barely hints at what the book is really about. But once it clicks into gear, it does not let up and the second half is plot twist after plot twist after plot twist, and I flew through it way faster than the setup. Once you get there, you will see that all the context was necessary too!
Recommended if you like urban fantasy and don't mind a slow burn. Push through the first 200 pages as they end up mattering more than they seem to at the time. Slow pacing, but the payoff earns it stars!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Blood Drunk by Ben Shepherd really surprised me with how effectively it gets inside your head. What I liked most is that the horror doesn’t feel like it’s simply waiting around for the next big shock. There’s a steadily worsening sense that something has shifted and that the characters are losing their grip on what’s happening around them.
Shepherd is particularly good at making the unsettling moments linger. It’s the little details, the mounting unease, and the feeling that things are becoming increasingly difficult to control that got to me. I found myself reading faster not because I needed constant action, but because I wanted to understand just how far things were going to unravel.
There’s a nasty, claustrophobic quality to the story that worked really well for me. It feels uncomfortable in a way that stays with you rather than disappearing the moment you put the book down.
A genuinely creepy read, and one that left considerably more of an impression on me than I expected.
Shepherd is particularly good at making the unsettling moments linger. It’s the little details, the mounting unease, and the feeling that things are becoming increasingly difficult to control that got to me. I found myself reading faster not because I needed constant action, but because I wanted to understand just how far things were going to unravel.
There’s a nasty, claustrophobic quality to the story that worked really well for me. It feels uncomfortable in a way that stays with you rather than disappearing the moment you put the book down.
A genuinely creepy read, and one that left considerably more of an impression on me than I expected.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC
A minor league gangster from London encounters a vampire and then things get really weird. He discovers hitherto unknown magic powers. And so does a secret organization dedicated to training others with these powers. He enters into a clandestine world of vampires and magicians (amongst other creatures) looking to maintain or disrupt the balance of power in the world. One big problem: Freddie doesn't want any of it. He wants his drinking and his mates and really doesn't want the responsibility or to be told what to do. He really just wants everyone to f*ck off.
He has some head straightening and frankly some growing up to do. But he needs to do it al on his own terms
The first half of this book was great. It's funny and exciting and sad. It lays out the best description of the dilemma of the third drink. The climax with international vampires and intrigue fell a little flat for me .The last bit seems a little cobbled together and didn't hang together well
But I enjoyed the beginning so much I could forgive all the rest
A minor league gangster from London encounters a vampire and then things get really weird. He discovers hitherto unknown magic powers. And so does a secret organization dedicated to training others with these powers. He enters into a clandestine world of vampires and magicians (amongst other creatures) looking to maintain or disrupt the balance of power in the world. One big problem: Freddie doesn't want any of it. He wants his drinking and his mates and really doesn't want the responsibility or to be told what to do. He really just wants everyone to f*ck off.
He has some head straightening and frankly some growing up to do. But he needs to do it al on his own terms
The first half of this book was great. It's funny and exciting and sad. It lays out the best description of the dilemma of the third drink. The climax with international vampires and intrigue fell a little flat for me .The last bit seems a little cobbled together and didn't hang together well
But I enjoyed the beginning so much I could forgive all the rest
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