Donor (Samhain Publishing)
Review by Mari Lynne Rupp
Author: Elena Hearty
I've been reading vampire and horror novels for most of my life, and every now and again, there's one that will blow my mind...."Donor" is that very book. I found it by chance on the Samhain Publishing website, read the synopsis, and took a chance. The synopsis is that modern-day vampire Richard, with his partner Paul, look to goth clubs and outsiders to be willing "donors" to their bloodthirsty appetites. It's an arrangement that is not without risks to both parties and when unsuspecting Lenore walks into a feeding gone wrong, it is decided she should be the next donor. Albeit unwilling, it beats the alternative, and Lenore's survival instincts kick into overdrive, complicated by a pill addiction which uptight Richard must keep her in supply of if he wants to keep her as his donor. The relationships develop, and get complicated as Paul befriends Lenore and becomes an unlikely ally. But the audience is left to wonder, is he really Lenore's friend? Or just toying with his future prey? In the hands of a less talented author, this premise would fail badly, sound hokey or just insult the readers' intelligence, but Ms Hearty takes the challenge and makes good.
Judging from the Samhain publishing website, this is Ms Hearty's first novel, and I do pray it is not her last. Her writing style is far from highbrow, but she still shows a great command for dialogue and tense situations. Paul's morbid humour throughout the novel is very reminiscent of tongue-in-cheek humour from Anne Rice's Lestat character, and the cat-and-mouse scenes build up tension as Lenore interacts with both her captors. Neither character touch Lenore physically in anyway, but during conversations and scenes of the actual feeding, the sexual tension and intimacy is so present, you can taste the blood on your own tongue. There's no overtly descriptive scenes and the graphic violence is mostly implied, but that doesn't take away from the desperation of Lenore's position or the psychotic intentions of Richard's true nature.
As the novel progresses, we are introduced to Charles, Paul's "Renfield" character so to speak (yes, they use that very term!) who sees Lenore as an obstacle to his ultimate goal, which is the promised reward of becoming a vampire like Richard and Paul, becoming another threat to Lenore's survival.
To break the monotony and alleviate his own isolation, Paul takes Lenore to an all-night greasy spoon every other week so that Richard can "supplement" and gives us chilling scenes of sneaking Lenore's blood into coffee mugs, sipping it as casually as Lenore sips her own coffee while discussing the finer points of being kidnapped by vampires. Such scenes I can imagine on a big screen, directed by Quentin Tarantino. If anyone could make this into a worthy film, I'm convinced it would be either him or Robert Rodriguez. I really do beg Ms Hearty that she write, if not a sequel, then a novel with a hint of what may have happened after the complicated ending of this first book. It wasn't explosive or satisfying, but you didn't come away feeling cheated by a cop-out ending. It felt rather like the natural progression to the past events.
Richard and Paul are another brand of bad-ass vampires, neither of them nice, neither of them sexy or "sparkly" but with all of their sadistic pleasures, bloodthirsty appetites and character flaws, you'd still want to hang out with them....If you ask me, that kind of charisma and pull are what would be the most evil of all vampire powers.
10/10.