The Vessel

by Peggy Christie

Nora is an average woman in an average job with an average life. She senses that she is destined for more. Nora has no idea how right she is.
A group of rogue Chinese vampires target Nora who, according to a centuries old myth, is the embodiment of the collective energies of all the souls that have ever or will ever exist. For the vampire who can possess her life force, that is infinite power. For Nora? Death. For the world? Oblivion.
Nora is forced to trust another sect of these vampires in order to stop the evil that will destroy all life as we know it.

326 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

I'm an author of horror and dark fiction. My work has appeared in dozens of websites, magazines, and anthologies. My horror fiction/art collaboration with Don England, Plague of Man: SS of the Dead, can be found through Amazon; short story collections, Dark Doorways and Hell Hath No Fury, from Dragons Roost Press; and vampire novel, The Vessel, from Source Point Press. I'm one of the founding members of the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers, as well as a contributing writer for the website of Cinema Head Cheese. Check out my webpage at themonkeyisin.com for more information on her other publications and appearances.

Peggy loves Korean dramas, dogs, survival horror video games, and chocolate (not necessarily in that order) and lives in Michigan with her husband.

Reviews

[J.M. Horn]

"The Vessel" by Peggy Christie focuses on s group of rogue Chinese vampires target Nora who, according to a centuries old myth, is the embodiment of the collective energies of all the souls that have ever or will ever exist.

The novel was well paced and kept me locked in from the opening chapter. There is a decent amount of action sprinkled through and things definitely picks up at the end.

I enjoyed the character development throughout the story as we get to see a good number of them grow as the story progresses.

I loved the direction she took with the vampires and the background setting of China melded perfectly.

I would be curious to see this story involve with other supernatural creatures discussed in the book.

[April]

This was a fun little thriller! I loved the main character and her cheeky nature, her quips and comments would fit very well in my circle of friends.

This was a different type of vampire story than I’ve read before.. I truly liked the concept. I did spend some time looking up proper pronunciation of names as I have little to no knowledge of Asian pronunciations..

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, not quite as dark as I expected but was very glad for it!

[Graham Oliver]

A very fun and quick read. Quite underrated as well. Very funny, truly unsettling at points (in a good way).

My only real problems with it are that the romance between Nora and Xin felt a little forced and at the very end I wasn't overly thrilled about Heng asking for permission from Nora so she would participate in the ritual.

Overall super solid and definitely worth your time.

[Haig Stoddard]

Tightly written, in that it moves along well. I liked that it also started right into the action, forgoing a lot of buildup and remained mostly face-paced. Definitely recommend it for readers who like horror or want to try the genre. It puts a slightly different spin on vampires, which made it more interesting – they can suck blood but have other ways to nourish themselves. There are other differences in the characteristics of the vampires in this book from the traditional profile in the classic stories and movies. There also are good and heroic vampires in this.
There is decent character development, and a good plot, with some twists, action, intrigue, history, and romance (a downside for me, which is a personal preference, but probably more of a positive for more open-minded readers). The horror tends toward graphically gory aspects, which a lot of horror readers will like (I think), but there also is some atmosphere and suspense.
While there is a solid plot, character buildup, action, twists, etc., I would have liked it better if a lot of those aspects had been fleshed out more.
One of my usual critiques, including for some of my favorite books that often I re-read, is they can get too wordy in places or there are parts that just don’t need to be there – titles I include under that umbrella are Dracula, Lord of the Rings trilogy and Moby Dick. However, this is one time the book could have been 100 pages longer. I would have liked more lore around the history of the vampires and even more depth to the characters. Sometimes characters were having realizations, philosophical transformations or coming to conclusions too fast (or too easily). Same with some of the transitional moments in the story.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author. Hopefully not too much of a spoiler, it does end in a way that could lead to sequels. However, I would like the author to revisit this book and beef it up. I think it could be more epic-like.
Bottom line is that it’s a worthy book and would make a good weekend read.

[Dan St-Love]

A whimsical contemporary tale by a talented author. Entertaining and breath taking page after page.