Philadelphia, Pennsylvania & Clare’s Point, Delaware - Present Day

There is a killer loose in the small town of Claire’s Point, Delaware. The townspeople are frightened, as they should be, because this sadistic killer has beaten and cut off the head and feet of one of their own. But this is not just any killing. This is the possible work of a vampire slayer because Clare’s Point has been a haven to a vampire clan for centuries. Their only answer for being safe again may be FBI Special Agent Fia Kahill.

Fia is also a vampire, who has left her family and made a life in Philadelphia, working with the FBI. Fia has been called in on this case and, because it has happened practically in her own backyard, she will do everything she can to find this killer. What she doesn’t expect is to have a partner, and he happens to be human. And to make matters worse, he is the exact duplicate of her human lover from long ago. Fia lost her heart and almost her life to another human male who used her to try to kill everyone in the town. Her people killed him but, almost four-hundred years later, FBI Agent Glen Duncan arrives and everyone is in shock. Fia can’t understand how this can be, and she can’t seem to deny her attraction to Duncan.

As Fia and Duncan investigate her family and friends, two more bodies are found, and it becomes even more personal for Fia as one of the dead was a friend. No one is safe, and Fia is no longer certain she can control the town elders from becoming vigilantes and wanting blood. Fia is also reverting back to her old ways by trolling bars and taking the blood from anonymous men. As she tries her best to protect Duncan, she can no longer deny her attraction to him. Duncan starts to feel the same about Fia and wants to be more than just her partner.

ETERNAL is a wonderful crime drama with a touch of the paranormal. The vampire myths readers are so used to are very much changed in this story. V.K. Forrest has taken an old legend and made it her own. I really got the sense and the atmosphere of what a small town is like, especially with Fia visiting local haunts from her youth, such as the various bars and restaurants, as well as hanging out with old friends. Other than Duncan trying to get Fia into his bed, she has many other men who wish to do the same, such as Arlan, an old “friend with benefits,” and another past lover, Joseph, who wants back into Fia’s life and who has a bad addiction to draining his victims dry and almost killing them.

There are also many secondary characters who add to the story, such as Fia’s Uncle Sean, who is Clare’s Point's Sheriff and Kaleigh, a teenage vampire who has been reborn and used to be one of the clans’ wise women. Kaleigh has secrets that could destroy the case and allow the gruesome killer to never be found.

I was surprised by the killer's identity and absolutely had no clue who it could have been, which shows how great a writer Forrest is. She has an excellent way of building the tension around Fia and also the simmering passion between her and Duncan. Because I have never really read a story quite like ETERNAL, I wouldn’t be surprised if V.K. Forrest becomes the author to read whether she writes crime suspense or paranormal romance.

Kate Garrabrant