Blood Oath

Blood Oath is the best vampire book I have ever read. It is a thrilling paranormal adventure, oozing with action and intrigue. Nathaniel Cade is cursed, or to be more precise, is committed with a blood oath to serve and protect the president and defend the United States. Cade's past cases are the stuff of legends. Literally. Conspiracy theories barely scratch the surface of what he's faced. Zach, Cade's new liaison to the president, is completely authentic. His words and actions completely match what I believe I would say and do in the same situations.The president is, well, presidential and the vice president is skin-crawlingly obnoxious. Griff, Zach's mentor and Cade's previous liaison is surprisingly lovable. Blood Oath is a wild, fast paced ride. It's intense, funny, gripping and emotional. I couldn't ask for anything more. I desperately hope there is a sequel. Or a movie. Or a TV show. Or a comic book. Anything to get more of Christopher Farnsworth's amazing novel. This is history and politics like you've never experienced them before I cannot express my love for this book strongly enough. This is THE book of 2010, an absolute must read.

In 1867, the crew of a fishing boat was stalked by a vampire. One of the crew members attacked did not die...instead he also became a vampire, and began killing his crewmates. When the boat docked, this newly made vampire was captured, tried, and sentenced to hang for his crimes. President Andrew Johnson intervened with a pardon, and the young vampire, Nathaniel Cade, became 'The President's Vampire', sworn to serve Johnson and subsequent presidents in the service of the country. I loved this book! Just literally could not put it down! The story moves fast and the characters are full of surprises. I can only hope this is the first in a series and there will be many more books detailing the adventures of Cade and his (current) partner, Zach.

Since 1867 Nathaniel Cade has been the ultimate secret weapon in service of The President of the United States. He is a vampire sent on special missions in the care of a handler. When his latest handler's cancer comes back Cade is assigned a new handler. Twenty-five year old Zach Barrows successfully helped the current president win his senate race and delivered 3 states during the presidential campaign. Cocky and sure of himself he has no clue what his next assignment will be. The shock of meeting Cade is enough for him to wet his pants. But soon the pair have a new assignment and it's one that includes reanimated soldiers who are almost impossible to kill...again. Wowee! This was a non-stop page turner. The premise is awesome. A presidential vampire that goes on secret missions to save the world. Genius! Zach is funny and loveable all at once and Cade is just like an onion with layer upon layer of mystery to be unraveled. Part paranormal and part suspense thriller, Blood Oath is the beginning of what I feel will be a long series of books featuring Cade and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a great action book.

Once I started reading this book, I did not want to put it down - it is fabulous! It could be described as sort of a vampire meets James Bond meets Charles Stross' Laundry (On Her Majesty's Occult Service), but with a few twists all of its own - such as the fact that the author uses actual events from the history of the US as a base for the book! (See The President's Vampire: Strange-but-True Tales of the United States of America and Oval Office Occult: True Stories of White House Weirdness for just two of the books he references). Zach Burrows has been working hard in the White House - he is ambitious and has plans to go places and be someone. Then, to his surprise and chagrin, he finds himself relegated to a top secret position as the partner to the president's secret weapon - a vampire named Nathaniel Cade, who was pardoned from a death sentence 140 years ago contingent on taking a blood oath to protect the President (then Andrew Jackson) and those under the President's orders. Cade and Burrows are there to tackle the sorts of problems that most people don't even know exist - and probably wouldn't believe exist if they were to find out. Keeping in mind that what I was reading was a bound galley, I also have to comment that this is the cleanest text I have seen since ... I can't remember when. I didn't notice any typos, grammatical issues or continuity errors (that's not to say there weren't any, just that they weren't obvious enough to catch my eye), and this on only the galley - I'm impressed. If only more books were this clean when they were published in the FINAL form! That said - this is the first book in a promised series, and I for one can NOT wait to see where it goes. I'm hooked already - write fast, Mr. Farnsworth - write like the wind. You have one die-hard fan here already!

This book is the most fun I've had reading so far this year. Really. As fantastic as a 140 year old Secret Service vampire who has been sworn to protect the President story can sound, nothing about this story was fantastic. Except it WAS fantastic! If you're looking for that "holy crap this book has everything book" book, then I can not recommend this book more. The action is in this book's DNA, the blood and gore are its red blood cells, but the oxygen that keeps it alive is the story. At the beginning of most of the chapters we are treated to small bits (sorry for the pun) of the `Presidents Vampire Manual'. Here we learn about the secrets, the history, the strengths, and the weaknesses of Cade. Utterly fascinating! We first meet Cade in Kosovo battling terrorists for the US. I know, I know, you've heard it all before. But ooooooh my dear reader you couldn't be MORE wrong! We quickly learn that terrorists are BY FAR not even in the same breath of evil as some of the things Cade has had to fight. 99% of the time I shy away from books that deal in the supernatural because I just don't like it. But there is that 1% that makes me a believer. `Blood Oath' is in that 1%. And what would a Presidential Vampire be without a nemesis? And we get a good one y'all. Konrad. That name means nothing to you if you haven't read this book... but it will when you wake up screaming, begging the imps of hell to put you out your misery. The author does a magnificent job of telling a stunning story that will drag you kicking and shrieking well past your bedtime. This is one of those "real" vampire novels here people. Nothing frilly or lacy here. Testosterone abounds a-plenty and wimpy can only be found in one of them red, blue and green books. As bad as I want to go on, I feel if I say anymore I'll just be gushing... and since I'm not a young girl on prom night... (ok, one more thing: I loved everything about this book. There. I'm done)!