Book Review: Dead on My Feet

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Dead on My Feet     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
William Mark Simmons
Class/Genre:   Fantasy   Vampire
Series: Chris Csejthe # 2
Baen, Jun 2003, $24.00, 405 pp.

Over the past year Chris Csejthe has learned hard lessons about life or more precisely death. He realizes that it is all about the blood of who you know, but in his case the sera inside him changed by the transfusion from the Lord of the Undead is valuable to one and all. That very special blood type makes Chris the donor of first choice for most of the otherworldly populace and some of those still mortals. It also keeps the police busy interviewing him about a non- zoned gravedigger side business as corpses seem to grow on his front lawn like weeds in the front of Chez Klausner.

Chris just wants to enjoy life with his new squeeze, but fears his former were-woman might cause problems. Besides being the target of jealousy and the mark of every creature around, Chris is caught in the crosshairs of the development of a deadly virus. All in a day’s survival mode for the tyro bloodsucker except that now the Blood Countess Bathory has her own ideas how to use Chris’ rarest of blood types.

Readers who desire something off beat but humorous in their fantasy- horror literature will want to read DEAD ON MY FEET, an amusing tale that focuses on the misadventures of a vampire in a world that wants to borrow his blood. Chris remains the center of the Simmons universe while the human and inhuman populaces that graze within his spheres make for a fun tale. Though it would be beneficial to fans to read the prequel (see ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE) for a fuller flavoring, this book is fun.

Harriet Klausner

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