Book Review: In The Blood

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

In The Blood     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Stephen Gresham
Class/Genre:   Fantasy   Horror   Vampire
Pinnacle, June 2001, $5.99, 381 pp.

Soldiers’ Crossing, Alabama is home to Trackers, a dysfunctional extended family bound by blood and family ties. Some say the Trackers are cursed, that their blood is tainted because in the Antebellum South, their ancestors were cruel to their slaves. There were even Trackers who would return runaway slaves to their masters.

The family mansion of Sugar Gum is being torn down, releasing an evil that reaches out to blood. The Trackers are turned into vampires, but one of them warns Jacob Tracker before committing suicide. He and some of his kin kill the vampires but not before another Tracker is turned into a creature of the night. Franklin Tracker intends to turn every Tracker into a vampire but Jacob is just as determined to stop him.

IN THE BLOOD is a horror novel in which the good versus evil theme is given new meaning. Stephen Gresham has written a compelling novel that is impossible to put down until the last page is turned. The characters seem very real, especially the vampires, who are very different from one another because some still retain shreds of humanity. Fans of vampire lore are going to love reading this horror novel.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner