A review by aliasaurora
The Lost Vampire Journals: Book 1 by Helen Allan

3.0

This was a quick read that ends on a cliffhanger and felt unfinished. The FMC encounters a lost journal written by a vampire and reads it, mistaking it for a work of fiction, and just as she finally realizes it's not, the story ends; I was expecting a lot more cat-and-mouse. Don't judge a book by its cover; this is not a romance, although the FMC does have a behind-closed-doors situation with a police officer, it's not the focus of the novel. The FMC never meets a vampire face-to-face. In light of the fact it's supposed to be a bit of a mystery/suspense, FMC is surprisingly incurious when the vampire's victims are named and their deaths reported in his journal. Even when they are seemingly very Google-able socialites, she doesn't look them up, which would've given away the game much sooner. It's not like she had to immediately come to the conclusion that vampires are real just because the deaths are real--as the police officer points out, the mundane explanation of a delusional serial killer documenting his creepy crimes makes a lot of sense considering what the FMC knows. Nevertheless, she doesn't figure it out until the very end, and then we get the aforementioned cliffhanger.

The story takes place in Boston, Massachusetts but is obviously written by a British writer, and to her, I would suggest watching a bit more American TV, because it's quite noticeable when an American says "I will phone the police" instead of "I will call the police," for example. But points for effort; e.g. calling the FMC's place an "apartment" instead of a "flat."

I think I might wishlist the other books in the series to see if they go on sale, but I cannot say that it's a "gotta know right now" feeling.