Redlaw

Thriller writer Lovegrove (The Age of Zeus) delivers a plot-driven, action-packed urban fantasy trilogy launch. Armed with a crucifix necklace and his trusty Cindermaker, aging John Redlaw is the “poster boy for the Night Brigade,” aka SHADE (Sunless Housing and Disclosure Executive), which is tasked with keeping the peace between London’s vampires and mortals. Like refugees in exile, vamps are warehoused in “Sunless Residential Areas,” camps where the antivampire “Stoker” gangs can’t reach them. But businessman Nathaniel Lambourne is building a new kind of SRA called Solarville that will make his company billions and give him absolute control over the fate of London’s vampire population. Only Redlaw, apparently the only honest cop in SHADE, and his upper-class vampire ally Illyria Strakosha stand between Lambourne and the murder of thousands. The breakneck pace and the mix of crime and horror elements make the story almost as entertaining as it is predictable. (Oct.)