It’s November, a month when there is more darkness than light and what light there is is assualted by storms and mocked by heavy rain and incessant cold. That sounds like vampire weather to me. So I went looking for vampire books that I missed first time around and found two books that sound original and fun.

Double Dead sounds like the ulitlmate confrontation of vampire versus zombie, except that there’s only one vampire and lots and lots of zombies.

The Coldest Girl In Coldtown sounds like a vampire-lite story, pitched at the YA market but with a quest structure that I think I’ll enjoy.

I’m hoping that they’re both books that will light a fire in my imagination that pushes winter back into the shadows.

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‘Double Dead’ by Chuck Wendig (2011)

I don’t know how I missed Double Dead when it came out. Everything about the marketing of the book appeals to me.

Look at that cover. Very Dirty Harry Does Vampire. And the premise – a vampire protecting humans from zombies so that he can preserve his food source – how cool is that? And the title. OK, I had to look that up, but once I found out that Double-Dead meat is a filipino terms for meat comes from pigs that died from disease which are illegally cut up for sale, I just had to read the book.

Double Dead is my first Chuck Wendig novel. I picked it up in an omnibus edition called Total Double Dead which includes Double Dead (2011) Wendig’s debut novel and a Bad Blood (2016) a novella with the same vampire as the main character. If I love Double Dead as much as I hope I will, Bad Blood will follow (should that be flow?) soon after. Chuck Wendig has already published another six series of books and three standalone novels, including his latest book Black River Orchard which came out this year, so I’ll have plenty to follow up in 2024.

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‘The Coldest Girl In Coldtown’ by Holly Black (2013)

I’d been hearing good things about Holly Black’s books, especially the Curse Workers Trilogy so I bought her standalone novel The Coldest Girl In Coldtown to see if I liked her work. I loved the cover and the title and the reviews were positive. That was back in 2018 and I’m only now getting around to reading it. Even that was prompted by Holly Black publishing her first non-YA novel Book Of Night this year. I wanted to buy it of course but I showed just enough restraint to hold off until I’d read the book I already have on my shelves.

So, I’m hoping for one of those YA books that I can lose myself in that has characters I can cheer for, strong world building and a quest plot.

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