J. K. Beck - When Darkness Hungers

FBI agent Alexis Martin knows that vampires exist -- because one of them killed her sister. Assigned to investigate a series of bizarre homicides in Los Angeles, Alexis believes the murders are the work of rogue vampires -- perhaps even the monster responsible for her sister’s death. Now she finally has a chance for retribution. Even better, Alexis receives unexpected help from a sexy stranger as hungry for rogue blood as she is.
Serge is a centuries-old bad boy who stays off the grid -- keeping his secrets, his hunger, and his heart safe from exposure. A new breed of vampire that feeds off other shadowers, Serge finds sweet torture in Alexis’s arms. Loving her is a chance to be free from the hiding, the loneliness, the secrecy. But the truth about what he is, and what he’s done, may banish him to the dark confines of his own private hell -- and destroy the beginnings of their love.

Comment: The 5th book in this series by JK Beck. Like always, a very correct writing although  think the author could use more emotion, more domestic or happy scenes to balance the general darker feel of the story.

This is the story of Serge, a vampire who's had many problems in the past because of his daemon and his hunger. Serge is also cursed and because of that, he takes the shape of the daemon he feeds of. His many troubles led him to feed of rogue vampires and people who harm others.

Alexis is a young woman trying to avenge her sister by killing as many vampires as she can, because she knows it was one vampire who murdered her sister. She decided to finish as many as possible until the day she can get her revenge at the one who killed her sister.

When these two meet, sparks fly but both are fearful of what it might mean and it takes a while for bot of them to acknowledge it, until they just can't.

I liked this book a thousand times better than the previous one. The 4th one was horribly boring but this one is full of adventure and forgiveness and discovering things aren't black and white. We have two people who see the other as a nuisance at first but slowly they discover the little things that matter and they start to bond. Like always, I thought that happened a bit too fast and it would be so good if the author could insert more scenes with them flirting or more sexual tension before they act on their feelings..I think it would give the impression of more time spent before the sex and thus giving a more sense of real emotion to their relationship.

The storyline has a crime that needs to be solved. I was actually interested in knowing how things would work out and this made the book easier to read, fluid and gave me the illusion I was reading faster...in fact, involving reads can be so much more interesting than boring ones simply because they make us read better.

I was glad to see many characters, some we've know and one or two that might have the potential to become protagonists...I haven't checked the author's plans to tis series, if she's eventually going to keep writing, but if she does, I'd feel happy to read the stories of those characters. I think it's smart of her to insert characters that immediately grab the readers attention.

In general, this book was good. I was entertained, I was curious over the plot and I wanted to see Serge happy because we've seen his tribulations in past books. I can't say it's one of the best I've ever read, but it's sufficient to make glad I read it.