The Nightlife; Moscow by Travis Luedke

Synopsis 

Vampires Aaron and Michelle have landed in Moscow, on the prowl. In the company of a misfit pack of mercenary werewolves and Urvashi, a fallen angel, the vampires are forced into the violent, decadent underworld of Russian mafia, drugs and blood slaves.
This time the hunters have become the hunted.

Dmitri, a Russian vampire billionaire, sends his mafia hit men to the streets, gunning for the wolf pack. Now they must bring the fight to Dmitri and face the ultimate battle for survival.
Experience the violent, sensual underbelly of Nightlife Moscow, as Aaron and Michelle mix up a wicked blend of sex, chaos, mayhem, and vengeance.

Review

We find Michelle, Aaron, Urvashi and the werewolves arriving in Moscow, ready to hunt down Dimitri another vampire. This time Dimitri knows they’re coming and he’s hunting them down in a bid to illuminate them before they kill him. What is different in this book, is we see the two vampires planning their violent assault, where previously in other books, most of the violence has been reactive to the situations they’ve got themselves into, this time it’s premeditated.

 What I like about Aaron is his ability to fall into trouble, like a magnet he pull calamity towards him, yet he always gets the girl or two or three at the end and usually embroiled in sexual activity with them! I also think it’s his naivety that makes him so endearing, he has no idea how to get out of dangerous activities without leaving his DNA all over the place like a white flag waving Aaron was here all over the death scenes he leaves behind him, just waiting for the clues to be put together. He also seems to attract the biggest baddist mafia groups, like the Albanians, Russians and Columbian cartels to name a few, he doesn’t do things in half measures.

 Aaron just wants to live the quiet life with Michelle, but by the end of the book he has his own personal harem of blood slaves and a young girl he becomes guardian for along with Michelle, Urvashi and his pet werewolf Katya. What is he to do with all the women he collects “accidently” in his life!

 Urvashi may be a fallen angel, but she definitely has friends in high places as she organises bribes, helicopters and all the weapons any one could need. She also has Aaron on a tight leash ensuring he does as she bids. In this book we see more of Urvashi’s abilities and a glimpse of what lies underneath under the façade of the Kim Kardashian look alike. We also see Urvashi leading from the front as they proceed with the attack. Yet she always keeps Aaron in the dark, feeding him only titbits of information on need to know basis. On the whole she remains a mysterious character which has many more miles left to go.

 What I also really liked in the book was the ancient vampire Dimitri’s links to Russian history especially how he manipulated the downfall of Rasputin and the Russian royal family. Linked to this was a great twist revealing Rasputin was the alpha mail of the werewolf pack that Ivan and Katya are part of, giving the killing of Dimitri a more personal touch for some of the characters. The other twist that came in the London book and followed through into this book was how Ivan and Katya were part of the pack of wolves that attacked Michelle during world war two. This leads to a lot of mistrust and anger between the vamp and the wolves. Travis is great at pulling out the little threads he left in earlier books and padding them out to feature in the later books.

 This book is fast paced, with lots of action and violence intermingled with the great sex scenes the author is so good at writing without making them feeling gratuitous. We have Dimitri with his own personal army and a boundless power base bought in a country where bribes are the name of the game. Then we get the involvement of the local Russian Mafia who set Aaron up after he interjected when they went too far with one of the blood slaves. The icing on the cake is the involvement of the American CIA black ops. This could lead the series to go in many directions if Travis is to continue with the series, which I hope he does.

This book along with the others are a great easy read, the author doesn’t require his readers to concentrate heavily trying to follow the plot, like others do. It pulls you into another world full of intrigue and away from everyday life. The series is a roller coaster through some of the major cities in the world, and I hope there’s more to come.

 

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