The Becoming

by Jeanne C. Stein

$7.99, Ace Fantasy, 293pp

Anna was a Bounty Hunter before she became Vampire. And her life hasn’t changed…much. She’s hunting the vampire who created her - a rogue by vampire society standards. So Anna has the mentorship and assistance of a powerful 300-year-old vampire who wants to protect his own. Trouble is, Anna can’t figure out who exactly the bad guys are. She’s not even sure she isn’t one as well; despite her best intentions. She worries that she won’t be able to restrain her need to feed when with her mortal DEA-agent boyfriend. She worries about the irresistible attraction she has to her mentor and she worries about his motives. On top of all that are the Revengers, a group of highway patrolmen who hunt vampires.

The good news first: this was a fast and entertaining read. The writing is very good, the plotting was good and the characterization of our heroine was good. The bad news is that there just wasn’t any depth to the story. As you can tell from the brief synopsis, this is a very formulaic story. It was kinda like watching a TV movie. But sometimes that’s okay – as long as you know what to expect, you won’t disappointed. I’ll probably pick up the next book because I liked the heroine and I want to see how the loose ends are tied up. - Catherine Book