Susan Sizemore, I Thirst For You

I Thirst For You

Susan Sizemore

Pocket, June 2004, $6.99, 352 pp.

ISBN 0743467434

He's running from his captors in the Arizona desert when vampire Marcus Cage stumbles upon Josephine Elliot who is camping there. She is a sensitive empathic pilot struggling to cope from a crash that killed five passengers. A crazed Marcus, weakened from the drugs he was forced to take and the rays of the sun thinks running into Jo is a miracle. Marcus drinks Jo's blood until she becomes unconscious. Marcus needs to protect his Breed, but he also believes that meeting Jo is a miracle because she is his soulmate.

Marcus keeps her captive until he realizes that Jo being with him is dangerous to her so he walks out on her. The local sheriff persuades her that Marcus is crazy and needs to be found for his own protection. She finds him, but they are handed over to the Patron and his followers at a top secret laboratory. They want the secret of immortality and thinks Marcus can give it to them. When the vampire gets over being angry at Jo for leading his enemies to him, they work together to find a way to escape.

Flat, sizzling and erotic are only some of the words that describe the relationship between the vampire and the empath. The author is so good at world-building that readers find themselves believing that vampires are living in this world hiding in plain sight. There is a lot of action in I THIRST FOR YOU but it is the characters who make this vampire romance such a compelling and enthralling reading experience that it will satiate readers thirst for a tale with a bite.

Harriet Klausner