Black Blood
John Meaney
Bantam, Mar 2009, $24.00
ISBN: 9780553806717

Tristopolitan police lieutenant Donal Riordan saw Senator Blanz kill his beloved Laura with a shot to the head just before the legislative official murdered him. However, Donal awakes from death with Laura's black zombie heart beating inside his chest; put there by paramedic mages. He returns to work with one goal in mind: a vendetta to take down anyone associated with Laura's death to include the top secret invincible organization, the Black Circle.

There is trouble brewing in Tristopolitan as the powerful Unity Party incites normals to go after undead and inhumans including zombies and revenants. This group is infiltrating every level of power, private and government, in a campaign to disenfranchise the undead. As Donal investigates Laura's death, he finds a connection to a foreign government with a diabolical plan to all non-human beings regardless of sentience. That nation is harboring Laura's killers, which means if Donal is to enact vengeance, his only reason to live, he must travel to a place that might become his tomb.

This is a dark futuristic urban fantasy noir set in a world that uses bones as the prime energy source. Wraiths abound as the police solve paranormal murders and everyday people wear sunglasses inside while never venturing outside which is perpetually dark and dangerous. Zombies are citizens with the same rights as the normals, but the Unity Party wants that revoked while also pushing a final solution of extermination mindful of Hitler. With that background in a free society, readers can imagine what Donal will face if he follows the investigation to its foreign roots. As with BONE SONG, BLACK BLOOD is a compelling tale that places a gothic horror inside a police procedural fantasy.

Harriet Klausner