Darkness Comes This Way (review)

Darkness Comes This Way is the soon to be released debut novel by Pixie Lynn Whitfield. For full disclosure I will mention I know Mrs Whitfield, and she is a friend. This fact will not influence my review in any way. My review is of an ARC. I normally mention my criticisms first, but I am saving them for last this time To me this vampire story is both familiar and fresh on the surface there are no new ideas here, but the story presents them in some pretty original ways with some creative world building that made the suspension of belief easy. I cant give anything away, but I found the overall plot to be strong with good pacing and unpredictable but fair turns. Another thing I personally liked about the story is how it mixed elements of action and mystery. The characters are pretty strong too. They are well rounded, and I found them to be quite believable. Before the critiques I have a sort of in between area I liked and disliked, the descriptions. They were well done, but I felt a bit overboard at times. My critiques are on what I call a micro level, in the scenes. The first is I thought some of the verb usage was a little weak using passive voice at the wrong times and relying too much on ly adverbs. My other critique was the strategy in the writing of a few of the scenes. A few times I was told how the character felt during the scene after it was over instead of being shown during the "action." While the second critique did break me from the story a few times it was

always easy to get back in. I recommend this book for anyone who likes vampire books and/or a good urban type adventure/mystery/fantasy. I give *** three stars