I don’t know what in the wide wide world is going on but I seem to be on a roll with good books at the moment and Ben Tripp’s Fifth House of the Heart is no exception.

The story revolves around a central character known as Asmodeus Saxon-Tang – thankfully everyone calls him Sax for short!  Sax specialises in obtaining and selling antiques.  This is a business that he not only excels at and has a huge store of knowledge that guides him to pick and choose which pieces are the best to acquire but he’s also grown filthy rich in the process and has gained a certain level of fame (or notoriety).

At the start of the story Sax is bidding on an antique clock, a clock which whilst he started with fairly ambivalent feelings towards it is now growing in interest as he is matched bid for bid by an attractive newcomer who seems very anxious to make it’s purchase.  Of course Sax wins the lot but in doing so he may have just bought himself some very unwelcome attention.  Nonetheless he’s a bit puzzled as to why this rather unassuming clock seems to have generated such interest – well, he’s puzzled right up until somebody breaks into his warehouse and steals it from him, killing his night watchman in the process and giving him an unwelcome trip down memory lane and a cold jolt of realisation!

Basically Sax is in danger.  This is definitely a world in which monsters go bump in the night and the monsters in question are vampires.  Fortunately – most people remain blissfully unaware of their existence as death usually follows swiftly on the heels of those who get wise to their existence.  Vampires are solitary creatures.  They tend to live very isolated existences locked in their mansions and chateaus, brimming with antiques and antiquities many of which are believed to have been lost to the world.  They put you in mind of dragons, sitting atop their wealth, sleeping but always keeping one eye alert to possibilities.

Now, realising his predicament Sax decides to take action – action being the best form of defence.  He’s going to search out his predator but before doing so he pays his favourite niece a visit.  He’s feeling a little guilty about potentially leaving her unprotected and wants to give her the heads up.  Obviously she thinks he’s a little crazy but she listens to his stories and I’m so glad she did because they make for interesting reading.  I won’t elaborate on them here other than to say they’re both different, set in different environments, totally compelling and both with vampires that appear to be entirely different in nature.  The vampires here are unlike those in the myths we already know of.  There is a thin veneer of similarity but there are also some very intriguing new developments – the biggest of which is that vampires are not the undead!   Having regaled his niece with stories to give her nightmares and gifted her a strange object that turns out to be a vampire weapon he leaves.  Sax is gathering about him a crew of mercenaries and having been granted permission by the Church and accompanied by a priest the ‘hunted’ is about to become the ‘hunter’.  At least that’s what he hopes!  Vampires tend to be one step ahead usually, they have all the time in the world so the end game is their ultimate goal.

I really found this an entertaining read.  I liked the characters – well, Sax in particular just steals the show.  The surrounding cast are a little more flimsy but still provide good support and anyway it would be impossible to upstage Sax.  Put simply he’s a flamboyant, outrageous and self absorbed man and an unashamed coward to boot.

So, what did I really enjoy.  Well, the writing is really good.  Tripp manages to set the scene perfectly either from dusty chateau, damp and creepy cave to vampire laboratory!  Yep, be intrigued.  There are some great scenes where the mercenaries hide from hideous vampire hunters and a grand finale where the tension mounts and on top of this Tripp manages to inject humour here and there which prevents things becoming too heavy.  Plus a twist at the end that I certainly didn’t see coming.

A great mash up of olde worlde vampire a la Dracula, meets Indiana Jones (albeit wickedly flamboyant) surrounded by evil and assisted by a motley crew of odd misfits.

There is definitely potential for more from this world and I seriously hope there will be further additions.