As a fan of any type of vampire books I can get my hands on, I was pleased to find that my brother in law had found a new series of books I had never heard of before, with this one being the second (so far) in the series.

The book in question is "The cross" by Scott G Mariani.

This review will contain spoilers for the first book in the series "uprising".

The cross of Ardaich that has been feared and revered by vampires for thousands of years, that was believe to have been destroyed in the midst of the bloody battle between the federation and rogue vampire Gabriel Stone has actually been found, though in pieces it does seem to still hold the power to destroy vampires.

Now begins the battle between agent Alex Bishop (a long time vampire and federation agent), newly "turned" police officer Joel Soloman and the Ubervampyr, which are the beginnings of all vampires, so great are their powers that to be able to harness the cross as well would mean the end of the human race as beings, and would end in them becoming a battery farmed creature, just for food!

I was really looking forward to reading this follow on book, as I enjoyed the first immensely, and this didn't disappoint at all!

The book is told from the third party perspective, following each of the four main characters in a chapter about, this made it much easier to follow as the book is pretty full on and intense from the first page, with there being a fair few characters and scenes to follow.

For vampire purists everywhere there is a real sense of menace with the book, none of the lovely dovey biting we had come to expect from vampire books in recent times, and at times is quite brutal and bloody to boot, though not always due to a vampire feeding frenzy either, this book also introduces a new character, that being a so called "vampire" serial killer, that is actually just a very disturbed young man, though his "talents" are soon harnessed by the rogue vampires, though soon find that the tables can be turned at any time!

This book is fast paced and full of action, and would appeal to fans of vampires and the horror genre alike.

Price wise this has the RRP of £6.99, but is available for less via www.amazon.co.uk

Thanks for reading x

ISBN 978-1-84756-213-5