Book Bytes

I picked this book up for the first time when I was on a family vacation to see relatives in Florida. I’ve always been rather adept at tuning out my parents and siblings with the aid of a good book and I was not disappointed when I took a chance on Thirsty. I may or may not have mentioned my love of all things vampire-y and I know that you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but this little paperback was destined to become a part of my ever-expanding personal library. It had me at the fangs.

Our protagonist Christopher has a problem. (don’t most of them, though?) In addition to all the changes that adolescents experience during puberty, he realizes that he is slowly (but surely) becoming a vampire. Talk about a sucky problem! In the world of this book, vampires are very much real and are commonly dispatched of during public executions. Vampires are such a tangible threat that the people of Christopher’s town perform an annual ritual to make sure that a particularly dangerous vampire lord does not return to wreak havoc. After beginning to experience symptoms of his imminent change, Christopher is approached by a being named Chet who claims to be part of the “Forces of Light” and supposedly possesses the ability to cure his “condition”. All Christopher has to do to get better is foil the local vampires’ plan to release the evil Tch’muchgar out into the world by wrecking the ritual. Simple? Not so much. 

I don’t want to give too much away, but the ending of this book is something that you’ll be talking about to anyone who will listen. The character of Christopher is extremely well-written and you truly are on his side through his tumultuous adventure. As with any of Anderson’s books, the dark humor that comes through in his dialogue and general writing style is something that I highly enjoy.

Whether you’re a vampire fan or not, this story of internal struggle about making the right choice when no choice seems like a good one will keep you turning those pages until the end and get you talking about this book when you’re finished.

I’d recommend this book for grades 7+.