The Radleys: A Novel by Matt Haig
The Radleys are the typical suburban family. They happen to be vampires, but not even the kids know that until their instincts take over. The daughter is at a party where a drunk boy comes on to her and won't take no for an answer. When he refuses to stop she ends up biting him. After tasting blood, she can't stop. Then the parents tell them they are "vegetarian vampires". They also invite over his brother, a not vegetarian vampire who can help fix things (or make things worse.) The novel covers dark material in a light-hearted manner. There are a few people that know about vampires (like certain police group). There are some interesting conflicts with vampires and humans that are appropriately managed, as well as some interesting vampire transitions. I liked the light tone for the vampire work.
The humans go out on a train ride to "civilization". Alas, they are really just going to be food for the vampire leader. Only a few survive. However, a few of these humans are the "origin" that have the cure for vampirism in their blood. They are extracted by the leader's advisor who is a human in disquise. He wants them to be a source of weapons to fight vampires. They are don't want to. However, the leader changes all that. He wants them to kill a vampire who knows about the human colony. This girl just happens to be "Ashley June" - the girl he knew that had recently turned into a vampire.
They go through a bunch of adventures, have some narrow escapes, and turn help cause a large amount of human and vampire death. He solves his "love triangle". They then find out the truth about "duskers" and "heapers" and go to start their own new world. The end is an interesting twist. They also feel "morally obligated" to go through extensive effort to save many people. However, this all backfires, with everyone they try to save dying. However, the experiences do become useful as they create a world of their own.
Prey is the second book int he Hunt trilogy. Vampires dominate the world. A few humans escape the vampire world, and set sail to freedom. They eventually find some instructions and find other humans. (It turns out they are part of a "plan" with multiple redundancies.) The humans have their own little society. They say they are guarding the frontier. However, it seems they are operating their own little sex cult. It turns out there is no "outer world", but they are just breading humans for the vampires to eat. Alas, vampires catch on and chase them down. We also get a little love traingle between a human that has turned into a vampire and a couple humans. The humans also just happen to be part of the "cure" for vampirism. However, they don't find out how until the very end. The book is an interesting twist on the vampire storyline. However, the narration on the audiobook doesn't quite seem to do the story justice.
The Hunt is a vampire book in reverse. It is told from the perspective of a human who has managed to live incognito in a vampire society. The vampires are people, while humans are seen as primitive "hepers". He had grown up with his human family. However, they were gradually picked off by vampires, leaving him alone. He had learned to behave like a vampire, adopting their peculiar mannerisms, and taking care to groom himself so as not to expose body odor or hair, so that he would not be caught.
After reading the second Strain book, I was eagerly anticipating this one. However, I forced myself to read a few other books first. Alas, by the time I started reading, Night Eternal, I was disappointing. Troll Hunters essentially had the same story with a much lighter tone. This book is very dark. Many of the "good guys" die. People struggle against each other and themselves before finding a way to eliminate the vampires. In the end, the vampires are just nuked out of existence. You know it will happen, making some of the tension feel forced. There is a ton of mythological and religious background to explain things. However, most just serves to delay the outcome.
The Strain starts with an airplane that lands in New York City and then just stops. All power goes out and there is no sign from anybody. They call in many government agents, including the CDC. Everyone appears dead - ecept for 4 people. They are taken to the hospital, and seem to have a full recovery, even though there body is showing some weird vital signs. The government tries to bury the news by having it released just before a total eclipse over Manhattan. An old man who knows about the vampire tries to talk to the CDC man. We learn that this has been a vampire infestation and part of a battle among vampires where humans are mere pawns. The dead passengers wake up and attempt to go to their homes, vampirizing everybody, including the UPS guys. They have plenty of vampire battles. We also have the human interest side. The CDC guy is trying (unsuccessfully) to get custody of his boy. He misses an important court date to attend to the plane. Later he warns his ex to get out of town with his son. However, her boyfriend doesn't want to go and they say. Eventually both die, but the son remains. (How convenient!) Our "heroes" also come really close to getting killed by vampires. However, they manage to always escape just in time. (Wouldn't it be interesting if the main guy died in a book and then it had to switch over.)