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They Drink Our Blood by Lucy Leitner

cover art for They Drink Our Blood by Lucy Leitner

They Drink Our Blood by Lucy Leitner
Blood Bound Books, 2025
ISBN: 9781940250700
Available: Paperback, Kindle edition
Buy: Amazon.com | Bookshop.org

 

They Drink Our Blood is another engrossing tale from this author, and it demonstrates yet another facet of her writing style.  Leitner has already proven adept at dystopian satire with Outrage Level 10 and Bad Vibrations, as well as detective stories featuring the lovable, bumbling private investigator Thor Cole in The Girl With The Lollipop Eyes.  However, They Drink Our Blood is a darker, grimmer tale of vampires, and a possibly confused reality.  After the reader is done, they likely still won’t be sure if the overarching narrative was as it was portrayed, or simply the protagonists twisting the evidence to fit their own version of reality.

 

Taking place entirely in a small, somewhat run-down section of Pittsburgh, it seems that vampires have been living in the USA for years, and are now starting to come out of the shadows, as a few grisly murders around the country seem to attest.  Lisa is a thirty-something, struggling artist living in Pittsburgh, and the murders inspire her to try to do something to protect the people of her neighborhood.  She’s a fascinating character, as we watch her transition from painter to crusader, which alters her whole perspective on her own life.  Before the vampires, she never really had any doubt about what she was doing, and her paintings were her entire reason for being. Once she perceives a threat to her town, her outlook alters substantially, as she finds she may have found her actual purpose.  That means confronting the possibility that all the paintings she did were pointless, despite her telling herself for years that people simply didn’t “get it” when it came to her work. There are a few very good monologues from Lisa throughout the book that help illustrate the character’s uncertainty home in terms of her career choice, and it gives the reader something to ponder over as well, when concerning the overall purpose of art.

 

Lisa’s few friends and bar buddies in her section of town eventually buy into the idea that the vampires are real and a threat, and decide they need to do something to fight back.  That’s the point where the real skill in the narration comes in, as the evidence for bloodsuckers is rather ambiguous.  Lisa has an Uber passenger and she can’t see his face in the mirror?  Good evidence, but it was dark and he was wearing a hoodie.  Murders with a torn throat, and maybe some bite marks?  Sure, but this is the USA, and there are some real weirdos out there, as we all know.  Besides, the bodies weren’t drained, were they?  Or maybe the cops didn’t reveal that part?  Garlic and silver, classic undead repellents, are suddenly hard to find in the neighborhood, but the author wisely does NOT say if the rest of the country is the same way.  She keeps the focus on one little area, which keeps the level of uncertainty for the reader at a high level, as well as making the story theme much more believable.

 

Eventually, the story does build to a messy climax, but true to form, it doesn’t resolve the big question: were vampires present and making their move for domination, or were Lisa and her friends part of some sort of mass psychosis, where they saw what they wanted to see?  Was it real, or all in their minds?  Did they just need a scapegoat for their own humdrum, unfulfilled lives?  That’s for the reader to decide, as Leitner plays her cards close right through the end, and never gives it away.  Another well-done tale from an author who is proving to be a chameleon when it comes to writing.  Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson.

Posted on April 2, 2026 by , Reply

Book Review: The Girl With the Lollipop Eyes by Lucy Leitner

The Girl With The Lollipop Eyes, by Lucy Leitner

Blood Bound Publishing, 2023

ISBN: 9781940250618

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:  Amazon.com

 

 

The back cover advertises this as a “detective adventure in slacker noir.”  I’m not sure what that means, but this type of book works well when read in an overstuffed recliner with a six-pack of wobbly-pops.  It‘s not the story alone that drives this, it’s mainly the characters and overall style.  No further doubt: Leitner has a unique writing style all her own and deserves more recognition.

 

This isn’t a horror novel, it’s a detective novel, in the style of the old Spillane ones.  But it’s written in Leitner’s offbeat, humorous way, and that makes it a lot more entertaining than anything Mickey wrote in the Mike Hammer series.  The book is carried start to finish by wannabe PI Thor Cole, his miscreant sidekicks, and the writing.

 

This is old-fashioned detective fiction, with plenty of pounding the pavement, talking to people for leads, and the occasional fight.  On the surface, there’s not much there.  That’s where Leitner’s skill comes in: she turns a simple plot into an addicting rush of a read.

 

You can’t help but love Thor Cole and his attempts to be a brilliant detective. He lives in a seedy Pittsburgh apartment, and things just never seem to go right.  He gets in trouble with his roommate Brittanie for using household appliances as weapons in fights and not replacing them (this guy should advertise for the George Foreman Grill).  He manages to bash himself in the head with a bicycle in a misguided attempt to prevent bike theft.  Somehow, most of his “detective” work has him winding up at bars and drinking too much.  He’s a perfect folk hero for the neighborhood, and his antics, and constant snarky way of looking at things, are what makes him such an engrossing character.

 

The sleuthing part of the book is simple enough. Cole and company are investigating a hit and run in their trashy neighborhood, and it’s a highly entertaining ride as they smash and crash their way through the case: subtlety is not in their vocabulary.  The case does evolve into a larger plot concerning the whole neighborhood and sleazy developers, but this is really all about the tone and style, and it’s perfect for the characters and neighborhood.  That’s what makes Cole great: he’s the kind of dude that ordinary, blue-collar people will love.  The story itself may not be new, but the writing certainly is, and keeps readers engaged right to the end.

 

Leitner also does a great job bringing Pittsburgh to life: she clearly knows Pennsylvania and its quirks.  You have to be a local to know about beer stores, swill brands like Iron City and Straub, the unofficial Steelers fight song (not a good choice), etc.

 

Bottom line: it’s a don’t miss.  Leitner has already shown a singular voice with her dystopian satires: add “multi-faceted” to the list with this “slacker noir” tale.  Hopefully, Cole will return, and isn’t put out to pasture: who needs a stylish Sonny Crockett for a detective when you have a banged-up, alcohol-chugging Thor Cole? Cole would have whipped him in a fight anyhow.  Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on March 20, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: Outrage: Level 10 by Lucy Leitner

cover art for Outrage: Level 10 by Lucy Leitner

Outrage: Level 10 by Lucy Leitner

Blood Bound Publishing, 2021

ISBN: 9781940250496

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com

 

Outrage Level 10 succeeds as both a thriller and a darkly humorous look at today’s overly sensitive “cancel culture” society taken to extremes.  It’s an exciting story, and the setting will force readers to ask questions about where we are headed as a society, and what we would consider a “perfect’” world.

 

It’s a strange future that Alex Malone, ex-head breaker for the now-defunct Pittsburgh Penguins (a hockey team) and now a cop, lives in.  There is no more government, just the Speaker, as the mouthpiece of the People; the Hammer, who is the People’s enforcer and… that’s it.  It’s all the will of the People in regards to policy, crime, and everything else, decided by popular vote of the citizens through their phones and various social applications.  Almost all crime consists of someone offending someone else.  Once it’s been posted online, if the outrage meter hits high enough through people commenting, the offenders face the Hammer, who most likely will condemn the perpetrators to the mysterious Maze, from which almost no one returns.  People do live much longer, since all diseases have been cured, or the causing substances banned, but is it worth the price?

 

That’s the world of Alex, and as a cop, he’s a member of an almost unnecessary profession (apparently “defund the police”  REALLY took hold) since everything is by popular fiat, and everyone is policing each other.  It doesn’t help that the few cops left are reviled by pretty much everyone.   Alex tries a new drug designed to treat his CTE, and the drug, through visions, pulls him into a mystery involving senior citizens disappearing from retirement homes.  As Alex soon finds out, it’s hard to solve a case that affects the few people left in power, and even harder when everyone is looking for an excuse, real or imagined, to take him down.

 

The plotline is an intriguing mystery and a tough nut to crack.  Alex makes an excellent protagonist, and is sympathetic as a person who really has no value in a politically correct society.  That is, until he remembers the old police motto, “to protect and serve”.  In Leitner’s world, protecting means eliminating anyone whom you disagree with, not helping for the common good.

 

Leitner”s vision of a world gone crazy provides the excellent story backdrop.  She wisely keeps her own views out of it, instead using her razon-sharp humor to get the point across, without coming off as preachy.  That’s the mark of excellent satire; the ability to write without tipping your own hand to the readers.  She’s shown this skill in other works like Bad Vibrations, and it’s on full display here.  Leitner has created a terrifying world, where people are condemned for accidentally serving the wrong food, since that can be seen as aggression or some sort of -ism.

 

Bottom line: another excellent work from one of the smartest writers of dystopian satire today.  Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

Posted on January 25, 2024 by , Reply
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