Night Road

"Hemovore (HEE muh vohr): A human who feeds exclusively on blood; not to be confused with the fictional vampire of popular legend." Though he still appears to be a young man of eighteen, Cole has been a hemovore for nearly 200 years. That's long enough to know what it takes to survive: self-discipline and self-reliance; a sort of drifting through endless life without strong emotions, attachments or connections. Burdened by an incident from his early days as a heme, Cole has cut himself off from the other members of The Colony, choosing to spend endless years alone on the road - mindlessly moving from one town to the next - over living in the comfort and security of The Colony's safe house in Manhattan. When The Colony's leader recalls Cole and asks him to undertake the training of a new heme named Gordo, Cole is wary. He's not sure he is prepared to take on the task of making a resentful new heme safe. Jenkins has created an original, mesmerizing society completely apart from traditional vampire legend and, as Cole educates Gordo and tries to give him the skills he will need to survive, the reader is drawn ever deeper into the mystery and tragedy of Cole's own past. An engrossing read, delivered at an enthralling, hypnotic pace.

Three "hemovores" (don't call them vampires!) go on a road trip to teach the newest member of their ranks, young redneck Gordon, the finer points of how to survive. Johnny, the leader of the hemovores, runs a safe house for blood-drinkers in Manhattan. He insists that Cole, who is quite a loner, take on the project of helping new hemovore Gordon adjust. Gordon is having enormous difficulty accepting and dealing with matters, longing to reconnect with his family and girlfriend, and has a lot of trouble seeing past his small-town hickish ways. Cole and Gordon are accompanied by fellow heme, Sandor, who provides comic relief. Light-hearted and jolly ambisexual Sandor is accidentally responsible for having created Gordon after a mugging. Cole, on the other hand, is tightly wound to a degree that would make Felix Ungar look sloppy. Events unfold that help Cole come to terms with unfortunate mistakes made when he himself was newly transformed. The vampires -- excuse me, hemovores, must avoid sunlight and must drink human blood fairly frequently. Typically, they are able to hypnotize their victims, and quickly draw a small amount of blood, enabling them to feed without killing. When being taught how to pick suitable targets, Cole and Sandor despair of ever making a proper hemovore of Gordon. Gordon insists on taking unnecessary risks, gravitating to cute girls, even when more likely targets are available. My favorite scene is when Sandor begs Cole to get Gordon a dog - to cheer him up, to make it easier to start small talk with humans (aka omnis), and of course, if he gets desperate, he can always eat the dog! There's a very dark and twisted humor at work here. While I love a good series, Night Road is a stand-alone book, with a highly satisfying ending, but the door could easily be open for a sequel. The writing is tight, with well-thought out characters, pacing and plot. I enjoyed it enormously.

NIGHT ROAD A.M. JENKINS Contemporary YA Rating: 4.5 Enchantments Cole leads a lonely existence. It's not enough that he's unlike other humans, or omnivores; he's a hemovore, someone who feeds exclusively on blood. Sunlight is to be avoided at all costs, but Cole even goes so far as to avoid other humans unless he needs to feed. He's a traveler, so he never stays in one place for long, and he prefers to be alone, away even from other hemovores like him. However, when an old friend Johnny, the leader of the Colony of hemovores, requests Cole's presence in Manhattan, Cole obliges. He doesn't know why he's being summoned yet he goes all the same. It turns out that there's a newly created heme who needs to be trained and protected, and Johnny things Cole it the best man for the job. But training Gordon is more difficult than Cole expects even with the help of a fellow heme traveler Sandor. Gordon doesn't seem to want to accept that he's not a normal human anymore, making him a potential threat to the secrecy and safety of the Colony. Cole understands that should Gordon commit too large of a mistake he'll have to dispose of the new heme, but he also refuses to think he could let that happen. This is a journey that will change both of them--for better or worse. I must first begin by saying I loved the idea of hemovores. It is a huge twist on the myth of vampires which actually makes it seem more realistic. NIGHT ROAD is both a physical and emotional journey, and one I felt was very well-written. Cole's character is relatively easy to understand and yet at the same time he retains an air of mystery and dark secrets that haunt him but are gradually revealed. The switches between Cole's present journey and past memories were coordinated well and easily flowed together. Gordon's and Sandor's characters were also well developed although not to the extent of Cole's. I did think that Cole's background could've been more clarified and its effect on his life written to be more evidently significant, as I felt it should've been. The action part of the plot is never too exciting and the most promising part of that was left off at the end. However, I felt the most important part of the story was Cole's and Gordon's emotional growth, which were really what defined NIGHT ROAD as such a beautiful story. A.M. Jenkins has authored several other young adult novels including the award-winning REPOSSESSED. Rachael Stein Enchanting Reviews October 2008

Cole is a hemovore. A blood drinker, he must avoid the sunlight and feed off the blood of omnivores. Unable to die, they lead a meager existence, going from one meal to the next. That changes for Cole when he is called back home. Home is really a safe house, a house where the hemovores can live and feed in relative safety. There, he finds Gordon. Newly created by Sandor, Gordon is young and unable to accept his condition, unable to accept the "disease" that runs through his veins. Sandor and Johnny ask Cole to help Gordon, to help him acclimate to his new lifestyle. Cole agrees, taking him on a road trip so that he can learn how to fit in, how to feed, how to live as a blood drinker. On the road, Gordon eases into his new lifestyle but things go wrong when they meet a hemovore who likes to murder omnivores for fun. Gordon balks and goes on a hunger strike, trying to ignore a Thirst that may eventually kill him. And Cole? Cole is forced to examine everything he is, everything he does. He is forced to examine what is good and what is evil. But then something happens that changes his life forever... Night Road by A. M. Jenkins is a thrilling read and a welcome retelling of vampire mythology. It breathes new life in to a tired genre and manages to create it's own mythos, it's own rules. Instead of super human vampires, we are given a portrayal of those who are merely succumbing to necessity, who bleed and hope and dream like us. Gone is the ideal of the all powerful vampire. Instead, A. M. Jenkins gives us something a lot more human. Night Road is not only thrilling, it's an emotional and super charged race to the finish. Even though the book is about vampires, it really is a study in human nature, a study in what makes a human whole. It's a beautiful, gritty book that take a look at the dark side of human life, from a totally different point of view. Cole is the perfect protagonist to take us through a journey that even had this reader looking at himself differently at the end. Night Road is a quick, dark read that is the perfect bloody treat for summer. Why not start your summer off right by taking a walk down Night Road? You won't be sorry.

Cole isn't quite like most hemes--as in hemovore, one who devours blood. The soft life of those living in The Building in New York City, with willing omnis offering their blood in exchange for the high feeding gives them, makes him uneasy. But he's drawn from his solitary lifestyle when the leader of the hemes asks him for a favor. Cole's friend, Sandor, has accidentally created a new heme, and it's up to him and Cole to teach Gordon about the "disease" he must now live with: how to feed, how to avoid detection, and how to control the mind-warping Thirst. Cole, Sandor, and Gordon set off on a cross-country road trip, easing Gordon into his new life along the way. As Cole overcomes his frustration with Gordon and starts to feel sympathy for him, a long-buried guilt from his past starts to rise to the surface. When the trio encounters a stray heme with murderous tendencies, and Gordon goes on a hunger strike in an attempt to refuse accepting his condition, Cole finds himself questioning everything he thought he believed about himself and about what it means to stay human. NIGHT ROAD is a dark, thoughtful novel that will draw readers into its mysterious and often dangerous world. Its take on the vampire mythology is fresh and layered. Despite his predatory nature, Cole is both easy to relate to and likable in his doubts, his respect for the omni humans on which he feeds, and his attempts to do right by those around him without risking too much of himself in the process. Jenkins doesn't shy away from tough issues, like what might happen to hemes when they appear to be dead, whether they have souls, and how someone doomed to forever watch life passing in and out of existence around them can keep some semblance of humanity. The characters and ideas will stick with readers long after they've set down the book. Highly recommended, even for those who think they couldn't bear to read one more "vampire" book. Reviewed by: Lynn Crow