The Vampire Shrink : Book Review
The Vampire Shrink
Author: Lynda Hilburn
Published by: Jo Fletcher Books (25 Aug 2011)
Kindle version ASIN: B005IHBWDE
Hardback: ISBN-13: 978-0857387196
Blurb
Kismet Knight is a young psychologist with a growing clinical practice, and she’s always looking for something to give her the edge in her chosen career. When her new client turns out to be a Goth teenager who desperately wants to become a vampire, Kismet is inspired to become the vampire shrink, offering her services to people who believe they are undead. Kismet herself, as a scientist, knows it’s hokum, but she’s looking at it in a purely psychoanalytic light, already imagining the papers she’s going to write on this strange subculture. That’s until she meets the leader of a vampire coven, a sexy, mysterious man who claims to be a powerful 800-year-old vampire, and she is pulled into a whirlwind of inexplicable events that start her questioning everything she once believed about the paranormal.
Review
If you’re a Brit, get the Kindle version because it contains British spelling and punctuation, making it an entirely ‘gotten’ free zone. Yay! I hate the word ‘gotten’ so much I can’t tell you. And there’s another thing about The Vampire Shrink; it is so witty that at times the reader can believe the author is a Brit. Oh, boy, the American vampires will be after me now!
Seriously, this is one of the funniest books I’ve read for a long time. The self-deprecating MC, Kismet the psychologist, is brilliant. She gives us a clever sideways look at the uptight materialistic USA of today, as well as poking fun at her own kind.
“It seemed he’d had a close encounter with a protester – I couldn’t imagine what anyone would protest about at a Star Trek convention..”
And when the vampire presents her with a collection of exquisite gowns: “What is this? Vampire Cinderella?”
“There was blood all over my living room. A trashed office and a living room that smelled like a used sanitary pad.”
There are plenty of vampires, lots of blood letting and some well-written sex scenes. Is it horror? Nope. This isn’t going to have you pulling the duvet up tight around your neck or stringing garlands of garlic across the windows. But I don’t believe that was ever the author’s intention.
I loved it and recommend it. Was there anything to pick at? Well, the final big scene, the ritual, I felt was rather mechanical and lacked the sparkle of the rest of the book, but it’s a small point in an otherwise commendable debut novel. Stars out of 5? Oh, go on: 4.5 and well deserved.
Steve Emmett 
Looks like a lot of fun!
It is, Cat!
That sounds very cool. I’ll wishlist that one.
You won’t regret it, Elin.
Steve: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing my book. I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
I loved it, Lynda. It really made me smile and feel good. Thanks for dropping in, I appreciate that.