Musician Dan Ferry gets bitten by a bat-like creature and starts to feel different during the days that follow. He got nasty headaches. And, a buzzing feeling every time he touches another person. But the most worrying part his growing need for human blood...

I actually came to enjoy this book towards the end and that is more than I expected, especially since I was thinking of giving up on the book for a long while. I just had a damn hard time getting into the story, what made me keep reading was pure stubbornness and the fact that Dan and Ray's friendship throughout the book was really great. I just wish the story had been better. In the beginning, I listened to the book and then I went over to read it as an ebook and I was skimming a bit just to get through the boring parts. But somewhere along the way, the book got better and better.

Unfortunately, the beginning and most of the middle was just not that interesting. Dan got bitten by a "vampire bat" and started to change and get a taste for blood. Ray never gave up on his best friend and stayed by his side and helped him. Then, came the part when more and more people were attacked and suddenly the story takes a dystopian turn and that is when I start to really like the book. The ending is a bit sad.

I'm glad I never gave up on and continued to read the book. It may have been slow in the beginning, but towards the end, the story improved enough to make it enjoyable to read.

2.5 stars

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ( )

My original Suckers audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

I love this book! While not as horrific as some horror books I have read (my bar is set quite high), this was still great. It had a psychological horror that rose as the anticipation built.

The beginning of the book is about a band and the members are on tour. After a great evening two of the members are walking to their hotel when one of them is attacked by a flying object. The suspected it was some kind of vampire bat and although freaked out didn’t really think a whole lot about it. They did warn the other members to stay off of the streets and to get to the hotel as soon as possible, but that seemed to be the end of it.

For Dan, that was just the beginning. He starts hearing a buzzing noise, like a hive of bees were nesting in his head. The buzzing and headaches continued to get worse and he thought he was going crazy. Coming off of a tour would do that to a person!

The entire first portion of the book, a good 30% probably, is about the characters. Z. Rider really delves into how they treat each other, which is really important for later in the story. The plot would not make any sense if the reader did not understand that these guys treat each other like brothers. And that HAS to be known for what comes later. These guys will give their lives for each other! Maybe not quite literally, but nearly.

The narration was so good! Chris Vallancourt was able to create a main character who sounded on top of the world at the beginning of the story. When he starts to get really sick he sounds bedraggled at best! The emphasis on the “cold” was fantastic and very well done. I never guessed who was talking even though there are two main guys in this. And there are more guys as the story progresses. The audio was just as good and was very easy to understand. I think this would be one that would have done well with a full cast though. I would have loved hearing all of the voices and noises with this plot!

If you enjoy vampire stories, this is like Guillermo Del Toro’s The Strain. Very well done, good plot, great characters, and some gore but not too much.

Audiobook provided for review by the author. ( )

After reading the summary I expected more of a B-movie like novel with all the right ingredients: creepy creatures, vampires, blood. While the opening scene fed my expectations perfectly, the book turned out to be very different and so much better.

For the first half, 'Suckers' crawls along almost at snail pace, and had I stopped here I would have given only two stars. But then, after being lulled into a deep slumber, I was jolted awake by the sudden turn of events, and a so far unimpressive book morphed into a perfect story. At the end I found that I really loved 'Suckers' and I couldn't believe I ever even thought about tossing it aside.

The characters are well developed - also thanks to the slow start, but that I only realized afterwards). The donation part was weird, the donors being much stranger than our sucking main character, but it showed a great deal about friendship and loyalty (and I liked the funny ads).

If you can be patient for a while, you are in for a great story which is not so much about bloodsucking creatures but about real friends and how together they manage to go through it all.

(I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review) ( )

Review copy

Jaime & Ray Ford, and Danny Ferry are the musicians who make up "Two Tons of Dirt." You might think, what a cool band name, what's it mean? According to Ray - 'Cause that's how much they throw on your grave.

It's seems like they've been on tour for years, but it's finally winding down. Time to get back home and work on their next album. Just a few more dates. After a show in North Carolina, Dan and Ray decide to walk back to their hotel and take a shortcut through an alley. Uh, oh. Shortcuts, alleys, and horror novels are NEVER a good combination. This is where Dan is attacked and bit on the back of his neck by something.

"The thing smacked into the back of his neck like a softball, pitching him forward." Was it a bat? If it wasn't, what could it be? Before long, Dan is fighting headaches and then there's the buzzing, like bees, driving him to distraction. So much so, he winds up slapping his car, hard. Hard enough to slice the edge of his hand, drawing blood. When he shoves the cut in his mouth and sucks the blood to stem the bleeding, the buzzing stops and the headaches are gone. And so it begins.

Although, Dan and his band mates aren't the only ones affected, they do come up with an effective way of dealing with what is happening. Not everyone is so lucky, if you want to call what they have to do, lucky. While the world around them deteriorates, they gather together family and friends together and try to avoid venturing out after dark.

A lot of the story is about the band-mates and their relationships. The author did an exceptional job developing these characters and giving the reader the chance to truly get to know them. At times delightfully disgusting, Suckers is a completely original horror story and as crazy as the premise is, it certainly seems within the realm of possibility.

Available now, as a paperback and for the Kindle, through Amazon.com Suckers is one horror fans shouldn't miss.

Definitely recommended. ( )