Book Review: Touch of Madness

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Touch of Madness     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
C. T. Adams , Cathy Clamp
Class/Genre:   Romance   Paranormal   Vampire
Series: The Thrall # 2
Tor, Jun 2007, $6.99

Dr. Miles MacDougal invites the members of “Not Prey”, humans who survived a vampire attack, to attend a meeting at a Denver hospital. Among those coming to the session is courier Kate Reilly and Detective John Brooks, who both recently battled the Thrall of vampire Queen Monica and won; Kate destroyed the nest and killed the queen (see TOUCH OF EVIL). Kate attends only as a favor to her brother Joe who works here.

Miles introduces his colleague Dr. Samantha Greeley, who explains she has 100 parasite incubated eggs of the late Monica. This shocks everyone attending and most leave. Samantha becomes infected and disappears while videographer Mason Watts is killed. While someone steals the eggs and Kate’s significant other Tom the werewolf is having trouble with his pack as they want him to mate with one of their own and not a purebred human, the new vampire queen P. Douglas Richards and his top aid ex NBA superstar Lewis Carlton want Kate to discover who stole the eggs.

Readers will root for the strong heroine as she searches for the missing eggs and struggles in her personal relationships with her lover and her older brother, as both object to her independent nature. However, the key to the exciting second Thrall thriller is the werewolves and vampires seem real with their respective complex societal customs. Fans of enthralling supernatural thrillers will appreciate this fine stand alone tale, but reading the previous novel helps the audience better understand the mythos and relationships.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner