Title:	Summer Girl/td>
	Author:	Kelly Vero
	Published:	2013, FeedARead
	No. of Pages:	86
	Cover Price:	$9.45 Paperback, $2.99 Kindle

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Jack Sant is a vampire living in Malta, who is helping the police solve cold cases in Summer Girl, the first in the Blood for Blood series. The cold case being investigated is one of a 14 year old girl who was raped and murdered in the early 1980s. Sant has information about the case, and two possible suspects who work for the island’s most notorious crime family have disappeared.

This is a very short novel - novella, if you may, and very dark. The prose is not easy to understand if readers aren’t concentrating, and it is not a light summer read as the title would suggest. Some reviewers have indicated that the writing is lyrical, but that may be a stretch. It just isn’t that easy to understand, and while Sant’s character is fairly well-defined, some of the others are not. Even for readers who have a fairly good handle on the characters, they will probably agree that these characters are not particularly likeable, and many may not care about what happens to them.

One of the helpful things in the novel is that there are links to definitions of things very Malta; these links are not only informative, but also help set the scene and help readers better understand what is most likely unfamiliar. It’s always nice to learn interesting facts that are laced throughout a fictional book.

All told, this is not a novel for everyone. While there are interesting events and happenings, as well as a suspenseful atmosphere throughout, it may be difficult for some readers to grasp the author’s intent. Since the novel is under 100 pages, it can be read in a couple of hours, but the events and storyline are not fast moving, and readers may feel frustrated at the lack of progress in Sant’s investigations. This is one for readers who thrive on weird.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

This book may be purchased at Amazon:
Summer Girl (Blood For Blood Book 1)