(Not suitable for readers under 18)
I have a new rule: No starting a Monica La Porta novel when I can't afford losing sleep. I opened up "The Lost Centurion" on my Kindle one evening, planning to read for half an hour. The half an hour turned into nearly an all-nighter.
Immortal Marcus has been relentlessly hunting Claudius, the vampire who had murdered his wife, for over two centuries. He gets a tip of the whereabouts of another vampire who can help him locate the killer. Marcus goes to meet the informant, Virgil, and finds himself in the middle of a tussle between Claudius's henchmen and Virgil, who had "turned" a human girl, Diana, without Claudius's permission. The penalty: death. Determined that his informant will not die before telling him Claudius's location, Marcus intervenes. He and Virgil manage to overcome his assailants, but not before Virgil has been mortally wounded. His last words are not the information Marcus is seeking, but an appeal to the Centurion to protect his vampling.
Frustrated, Marcus hides Diana, breaking the pact between the vampires and immortals, thus endangering his life too. The possibility that Diana might know Claudius's location is his only motivation for protecting her, revenge having made him myopic. However, his motivation shifts as he begins developing feelings for her.
La Porta has taken an overused subject in fiction-- vampires-- and has created a unique storyline involving the undead. I didn't feel like I was reading a book I'd read a hundred times before. La Porta is incredibly creative. Plus, I love her writing style. She is clearly a reader who doesn't like getting bogged down in lengthy or irrelevant description and doesn't subject her readers to them, either. Her stories clip along at a pleasant pace and she doesn't divert the reader down any rabbit holes, which is probably why I can blow through her novels. No "yawning" moments.
Be warned, though. If you read the Ginecean Chronicles, "The Lost Centurion" is racy. Intimate scenes are written tactfully, but are explicit. For readers seeking a steamy page-turner, you'll most likely be satisfied. Marcus is potent.