Author: Stephen Lee Cummings

ISBN: 0595399134

The following review was contributed by:  Manuela Pop, To read more of Manuela's reviews CLICK HERE

A fresh vampire tale

Stephen Lee Cummings is a sharp and talented writer. His first novel “The Bitten,” is a contemporary story of vampires, that feed on people’s blood but live like humans.

Mark and Jack, the two main characters, were bitten by vampires when they were young and then were sheltered by the leader, a very rich and old vampire with lots of good connections. Ravenscroft takes care of all his vampire family, making sure they are kept in secrecy and their murders are covered up.

Mark and Jack run away from their leader when their young adults and continue to live their lives as fugitives, moving from town to town, leaving dead bodies behind, which will always be classified as unknown deaths. Mark detests what he is and denies that he has to kill for existence. He wants to live his life like a real human and goes on without killing for very long periods of time. One day he meets Lisa and they fall in love.

Ted Hawkins comes in the picture as the one who wants to kill them all. He is after the one who killed his daughter. Ted has a powerful sixth sense and can spot the vampires and hear their thoughts.

The story turns into a twirl of unexpected events, all leading to a blazing story ending. The plot is captivating and well calculated, the characters perform intriguing roles and there are plenty of well thought hooks in the story to keep you guessing on what will happen next. Overall, the book is well written and provides good character development: all the personages are very well described and they are all linked in the intelligent and intense plot.

I thought the author to be brilliant and he makes a strong debut with this novel. The book needs editing, but reading the captivating story, makes you forget about the writing errors. I definitely recommend this story to everybody who is interested in vampire tales or gothic genre.