Jonathan Harper spends his schools days trying to avoid being bullied by the O’Keefe brothers and their gang. Everyone including the teachers are afraid of them, but Jonathan is a favourite target of theirs. One day, they catch him hiding with his friend Giles and after being assaulted, finds all his books damaged and that the bag has been urinated on and worse leaving him the butt of the jokes for the rest of the day. With their target chosen, no-one else is going to say anything. Thorn is a true-blood vampire in London who sets herself up to be attacked only to turn the tables on the two muggers who assault her. But her night goes from good to bad, when she is ambushed by her bitter enemy Carmella, a vampire who was turned into an undead monstrosity. Thorn is captures and when she wakes, finds herself in a laboratory. There she will be experimented on to find out what secrets she truly holds.

This quickfire short story that introduces the main characters in the ensuing novels. The plot is split into two parts, the first part covers Jonathan and sets up his less than happy life. The second covers Thorn and provides some of the supernatural background to the story. The characters don’t meet or appear in the same section, and yet you get the feeling that the next book will remedy this. As the two protagonists are very different, this split in the story neatly brings each one to life without having to tie them together and it also allows each of them to fill out the background that each character has to face, whether mundane or supernatural. The writing surprised me, switching well between the school and the nightlife without missing a beat, able to bring both scenes to life, regardless of the change of style between them. While Jonathon and his troubles are quite relatable, Thorn is far more the stunning type of sexy vampire that most novels use. It will be interesting to see how she becomes a more interesting character in future stories, including how she received her name. But as both characters have the same thoughts in mind by the end of the story, how the intertwine does seem to be where the story s going. Formatting wise, the story is fine, I didn’t see any grammar or spelling errors to take me out of the story, although a neater break between the two halves would have been appreciated.

Overall, this short story works in setting up two people from different lives, the backgrounds they have and the secrets they may hold in preparation for when they meet and the full story can begin.

Worth it for fans of the genre and if you are looking for a new author to follow and excellent chance to check out the style and see if it is for you.