London, 1910. Bram Stoker's Dracula had made barely a ripple in the pool of human consciousness, and it would be another 12 years before Nosferatu breathed life into a vampire on the big screen... but even then, in human society, vampires existed. Like a seam of gold running through the coal, they were there, but you had to look for them. Doctor Connor became a vampire, and had been dead for one hundred years. But, will I survive the next one hundred? He was not so sure. The London of 2010 was a Vampire Hive. Immortality resembled a tightrope walk over the Grand Canyon, and the difference between having a prune or a plum for a brain was the hydration that could only happen when a vampire slept. Like all true predators, vampires evolved, learning how to 'sleep' one compartment of their brain at a time. The down side was, that like the victims of a multiple personality disorder, although vampires were always conscious, they were not always in control. As though that were not enough, Mother Nature stepped in and dealt a cruel blow. An influenza epidemic killed most of the human population, created a food shortage, and forced vampires out of the shadows. Fifteen years had passed and humans have become a protected species, imprisoned, farmed as cattle and siphoned for their blood. The biggest cloud on the vampire horizon was that humans age, and choose to die rather than condemn their unborn children to a life sentence of blood-letting. Suddenly, immortality had an expiration date. Doctor Connor's blinkered existence was thrown into disarray when he treated a 'vampire girl' and alarm bells inside his head were set ringing. The penny dropped that she was a 'free range' human, and that hiding her would be considered as 'threatening the food supply' and carried the death penalty...it really should be a no brainer. And yet. Against every instinct he had, he felt compelled to return her safely 'home', risking his own life and killing his own kind in the process. When Connor gripped Rebekah's arm, her thundering heartbeat resonated through him. His stagnant existence shattered as he embraced the tingling joy of how it felt to be alive once more, and his journey into madness began. Admiration for the human spirit punched a hole in his shell of indifference. Rebekah could not escape without the doctor's help. Her fear of vampires tilted on its axis when Connor became her safe haven. Outwitting the vicious intent of a vindictive councilor, surviving attacks by the vampire councils' guardsmen, and being sentenced to locked-in syndrome were never in Connor's wildest imaginings and falling in love with a human girl was something he never expected. Flying in the face of everything he should do, Connor risks everything and embraces the exhilaration of saving Rebekah and her group. Awakening is the first in a series five vampire books set in post-apocalyptic England. His mundane existence is shattered as he embraces the feeling of being alive once more. Outwitting the vicious intent of Councillor Serge, surviving attacks by the council's guardsmen, and being sentenced to 'locked in' syndrome were never in Connor's wildest imaginings...and falling in love was never something he expected. Awakening is the first in a series five vampire books set in post-apocalyptic England. | Awakening by Karen Payton Holt, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters