The Wannabe Vampire by Alex Taylor

Synopsis: Michael Alexander is not your typical vampire. He has a house in a small coastal California city, a software development team in Mumbai, and a black Toyota Prius. He wants nothing more than to enjoy the pleasant life he’s crafted for himself and the friendship of Kari, his new next door neighbor. Unfortunately, Michael also has a stalker. 

Bruce is convinced that only the power of a vampire can save him from the ghost that haunts him. After a chance encounter in the grocery store, he turns to Michael for help. When Bruce’s entreaties are rejected, his unstable nature takes over. Trapped between a desperate and deranged man and his fantasies, Michael and Kari are caught in the crossfire. 

Review: I was attracted by the synopsis as soon as I read it. Michael is a vampire a little different from what we usually have in books. He only wants an only thing: to live in peace and not have any problems related to his condition. But when Bruce, a man haunted by a ghost, decides that our hero needs to transform him at all cost, the Michael’s life is going to turn into hell. Well it’s not that terrible when he meets with Kari, his new neighbor, a beautiful girl he is interested in.

The story between Kari and Michael is, I think, very touching. It’s difficult for them to do the first step and I really enjoyed that the decided to get to learn and understand each other before doing anything else. We can therefore learn more about them and see their relationship evolving slowly. And I have to say that our two protagonists are very determined and impulsive. It was more difficult to understand Bruce, he makes some contradictory choices and I confess I was waiting for a meeting with Agnes.

I enjoyed this book and I get easily into the story but I think it lacks many developments as well. Maybe not for the first part of the book as everything is very detailed and explained, but maybe more for the end. All the events happen a little too fast when it's about Bruce, but it’s possible I’m the only one who have this feeling. I would have loved to learn more to understand the Bruce’s life.

This first novel is a nice introduction to the Alex Taylor world and now that I met Kari and Michael, I’m curious to learn more about them.