Thirst

by Michael Cecilione

When Cassandra Hall's new lover turns out to be a vampire, she is forced to confront the dark side of her own sexuality. Original.

Genres: Horror, Vampires, Fiction, Romance

480 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Heather ~*dread mushrooms*~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a weird little vampire novel. I bought it because the back synopsis sounded super cool (as do all of this author's books). It was a bit long-winded, with chapters alternating between the past and present that made the book seem so much longer than it should have. So much was crammed into these paragraphs, and all these unnecessary words obscured an interesting story. Cassie starts out as an average New Yorker, working a cool but stressful job, having a gay best friend and a roommate she's friendly with but not particularly close to. Then she meets the suave Julian, who is very odd but gives her orgasms without demanding anything in return. Eventually she finds out what he is, and from there the book descends into S&M territory. Because OBVIOUSLY vampires are into S&M. Anyway, shit doesn't work out as happily as she'd hoped, because Julian has peculiar loyalties, and in the end Cassie has kind of lost her mind and commits the egregious crimes of killing another vampire (Julian's sister, with whom he has an incestuous relationship), which puts her on the run from the alien vampire law enforcers. Then she meets up with the random dude from a hotel she ended up not killing because he was handsome and had a family, and he's desperate to be her boy toy. THEN there is some bizarre religious stuff, which was strange because Cassie was all "Religion is dumb." A random cop comes to save her before she finishes this ritual, and he recruits her to work for the government, where her job will be killing the worst criminals.

There were several amazing scenes, but I didn't enjoy this as much as I'd hoped, because of the aforementioned longwindedness and also because I never warmed to Julian as a love interest. He was too removed as a character, he didn't show Cassie enough affection, and he was too submissive to his sister. Also, what was up with his utterly lackluster death? What a waste.

I'm looking forward to the other Cecilione books I have in my possession, and hopefully they'll be better than this.

[Laura Ruetz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirst is a book about vampires, sex and blood. There is no bones about it. However, if you are looking for something that reads like erotic fiction, this isn't it. While it might start off that way, it quickly turns into a bloody S & M sadistic romp. The story is told both in present day and flashbacks, and it works well. It is written well, and you can track the progression of the character as we learn about her past and how she got to where she is today. The ending felt rushed though but overall, if you are looking for a decent vampire novel, this fits the bill.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very graphic. Almost like...if Twilight and 50 Shades Of Grey weren't such shite...and if the hypothetically better versions of them had a baby. But it was still way better than either of them?
It was ok. I'll pass it on to a young friend who should enjoy it much more than my 3 stars.

[Rick Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one more than I expected. The way the chapters shift back and forth in time, is hard to pull off in any book, but the author does an impressive job. A strong character dynamic, with a few twists that surprised me. I, for one, am burned out when it comes to vampire literature and how they have been depicted in the last 10-20 years, but this was a refreshing read. Reminds be a bit of Nancy A. Collins Sonja Blue character from her Sunglasses After Dark series of books, but more sexually explicit in nature.
Kept my interest and enough erotica without overdoing it, and the storyline flowed. A bit convoluted near the end, but nothing to affect the flow and tied things up nicely.
Recommended.

[Eli (Potterhead) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is still one of my favorite books. It is more than just a typical vampire book. It shows more about real life and the poetry of death.