Department 19 (Department Nineteen) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was lucky enough to recieve this book as an ARC from librarything.com
Everyone knows that vampires are the big trend these days. So picking up Department 19, one might be subject to believe that it is just like all the rest. But Will Hill's debut novel is far from unoriginal. He leaves no plot holes, but leaves the reader craving more. His characters feel realistic and it's not hard to get sucked up in the story.
Jamie Carpenter's life is ripped apart first when is father is killed for allegedly betraying the country, and then again when his mother is kidnapped by mysterious creatures and he is hauled off to Department 19, the government's most top secret agency. He is about to learn that he has a stronger tie to Department 19 than he knows.
One of the greatest things that the book did for me was the vampires themselves. They drank blood, they were ruthless, they burned in the sun, and they were the disturbing monsters that I would expect vampires to be. Hill reverts his vampires back to how they used to be, which is fresh and a nice change of pace from all the other vampire novels out there.
As a lover of Dracula, I found the tie-in to the classic novel in Hill's book delightful. Dracula can leave a lot of people wondering what happened next after the book was finished, and Department 19 fills this gap. Hill manages Stoker's characters well, and it is clear he did all of his research before writing his book. Even if someone has not read Dracula, it is easy to pick up on what happened in the story, and what it means for Department 19. And as for those who have, it is a nice treat to revisit Van Helsing and the rest of the gang and find out what happened to them.
I hope that Department 19 and the following books in the series really take off. The story takes a classic story, throws in some original characters, and takes the reader to a hidden war that has been going on for decades. I hope Department 19 does not get bogged down and lost in all of the other vampire books, and reaches its potential. The book is unafraid of itself and isn't afraid to go into the gory details. I would highly recommend it to anyone, even those who do not normally read vampire or fantasy stories. I for one will be picking up the next book as soon as it hits shelves.

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