Love Like Blood by Marcus Sedgwick
Jul. 27th, 2014 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
In 1944, just days after the liberation of Paris, Charles Jackson sees something horrific: a man, apparently drinking the blood of a murdered woman. Terrified, he does nothing, telling himself afterwards that worse things happen in wars.
Seven years later he returns to the city – and sees the same man dining in the company of a fascinating young woman. When they leave the restaurant, Charles decides to follow …
It’s 1944. Recently graduated doctor, Charles Jackson is a Captain in the medical corps’ Hygiene Section. When his CO suggests some R&R in the newly liberated Paris, Charles is delighted but while out for a walk he stumbles upon a bunker where a man’s apparently drinking the blood of a murdered woman. Terrified by what he’s seen, he stumbles away but the events of that night continue to haunt him.
In 1951 Charles’s invited to Paris to speak at a haematology conference. In a restaurant he sees a beautiful young American woman eating with the same man he saw drinking blood 7 years earlier. Seeing a chance to put right his earlier failure, he follows them and slowly forms a friendship with the vivacious, brilliant Marian and learns of her relationship with the Margrave Verovkin …
Marcus Sedgwick’s first ‘adult’ novel is a disappointingly leaden vampire horror with a dull, reactive and self-pitying main character. Jackson’s romance with Marian is stilted and obviously one-sided, his friendship with Hunter only exists for plot purposes, even his marriage is dealt with in a couple of pages and only when it comes back to the main theme of blood. I could have forgiven this if Jackson was consumed with his search for Verovkin but he isn’t – finding him more by accident and then failing to follow up when chased off. Ultimately, this all makes for a flat and uninteresting read and while I’ll continue to read Sedgwick’s children’s and YA fiction, I’m not going to rush to read his next book for adults.
Charles Jackson is a miserable, pathetic character. Supposedly an intelligent man who becomes a consultant haematologist by the age of 31, he never acts in a believable manner, making a series of stupid decisions that only seem to exist for the purposes of keeping the plot moving. At one point he goes off to have sex in public with a beautiful young Italian girl he’s only just met and then seems shocked when later discovers that he’s photographed and it’s used to blackmail him. There’s no battle of wits here between Jackson and Verovkin, just a series of monologues about Jackson’s growing obsession with blood. All this combined to make for a disappointing book that left me bored and as such, I won’t rush to read his next book for adults.
The Verdict:
Marcus Sedgwick’s first ‘adult’ novel is a disappointingly leaden vampire horror with a dull, reactive and self-pitying main character. Jackson’s romance with Marian is stilted and obviously one-sided, his friendship with Hunter only exists for plot purposes, even his marriage is dealt with in a couple of pages and only when it comes back to the main theme of blood. I could have forgiven this if Jackson was consumed with his search for Verovkin but he isn’t – finding him more by accident and then failing to follow up when chased off. Ultimately, this all makes for a flat and uninteresting read and while I’ll continue to read Sedgwick’s children’s and YA fiction, I’m not going to rush to read his next book for adults.
A LOVE LIKE BLOOD was released in the United Kingdom on 27th March 2014. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.
In 1944, just days after the liberation of Paris, Charles Jackson sees something horrific: a man, apparently drinking the blood of a murdered woman. Terrified, he does nothing, telling himself afterwards that worse things happen in wars.
Seven years later he returns to the city – and sees the same man dining in the company of a fascinating young woman. When they leave the restaurant, Charles decides to follow …
It’s 1944. Recently graduated doctor, Charles Jackson is a Captain in the medical corps’ Hygiene Section. When his CO suggests some R&R in the newly liberated Paris, Charles is delighted but while out for a walk he stumbles upon a bunker where a man’s apparently drinking the blood of a murdered woman. Terrified by what he’s seen, he stumbles away but the events of that night continue to haunt him.
In 1951 Charles’s invited to Paris to speak at a haematology conference. In a restaurant he sees a beautiful young American woman eating with the same man he saw drinking blood 7 years earlier. Seeing a chance to put right his earlier failure, he follows them and slowly forms a friendship with the vivacious, brilliant Marian and learns of her relationship with the Margrave Verovkin …
Marcus Sedgwick’s first ‘adult’ novel is a disappointingly leaden vampire horror with a dull, reactive and self-pitying main character. Jackson’s romance with Marian is stilted and obviously one-sided, his friendship with Hunter only exists for plot purposes, even his marriage is dealt with in a couple of pages and only when it comes back to the main theme of blood. I could have forgiven this if Jackson was consumed with his search for Verovkin but he isn’t – finding him more by accident and then failing to follow up when chased off. Ultimately, this all makes for a flat and uninteresting read and while I’ll continue to read Sedgwick’s children’s and YA fiction, I’m not going to rush to read his next book for adults.
Charles Jackson is a miserable, pathetic character. Supposedly an intelligent man who becomes a consultant haematologist by the age of 31, he never acts in a believable manner, making a series of stupid decisions that only seem to exist for the purposes of keeping the plot moving. At one point he goes off to have sex in public with a beautiful young Italian girl he’s only just met and then seems shocked when later discovers that he’s photographed and it’s used to blackmail him. There’s no battle of wits here between Jackson and Verovkin, just a series of monologues about Jackson’s growing obsession with blood. All this combined to make for a disappointing book that left me bored and as such, I won’t rush to read his next book for adults.
The Verdict:
Marcus Sedgwick’s first ‘adult’ novel is a disappointingly leaden vampire horror with a dull, reactive and self-pitying main character. Jackson’s romance with Marian is stilted and obviously one-sided, his friendship with Hunter only exists for plot purposes, even his marriage is dealt with in a couple of pages and only when it comes back to the main theme of blood. I could have forgiven this if Jackson was consumed with his search for Verovkin but he isn’t – finding him more by accident and then failing to follow up when chased off. Ultimately, this all makes for a flat and uninteresting read and while I’ll continue to read Sedgwick’s children’s and YA fiction, I’m not going to rush to read his next book for adults.
A LOVE LIKE BLOOD was released in the United Kingdom on 27th March 2014. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.
