All You Can Eat

Though readers will meet a variety of blood sucking monsters in his debut novel, Miller is determined to steer clear of the v-word, which today connotes teen heartthrobs, frightening werewolves, and ferocious love scenes. Instead, Miller's characters break from the vampire stereotypes, in particular the protagonist Darius, an alcoholic, conservative outsider in Spokane who just wants to live a normal, happy life. However, Darius must regularly arrange a few murders to guarantee good health, and searches for lonely women on Internet dating sites. Darius is thrust back into the vampire life when his longtime partner in crime and fellow fiend, Luke, suddenly locates him and needs him to participate in a botched scheme. To make matters worse, Darius has become smitten with one of his online paramours. Facing physical and emotional fiascos, this quiet vampire must figure out how to escape unscathed. While Miller's plot and characters are spot on, jumps in point of view become tiresome and difficult to follow. Minor adjustments to the layout of this book would pay dividends, making it one of the more refreshing alternatives to the been-there, done-that genre of vampire novels. (Oct.)