Dying Bites

Bloodhound Files, Book 1

By: D. D. Barant

Narrated by: Johanna Parker

Her job description is the "tracking and apprehension of mentally-fractured killers". What this really means in FBI profiler Jace Valchek's brave new world - one in which only one percent of the population is human - is that a woman's work is never done. And real is getting stranger every day.

Jace has been ripped from her reality by David Cassius, the vampire head of the NSA. He knows that she's the best there is in the business, and David needs her help in solving a series of gruesome murders of vampires and werewolves. David's world - one that also includes lycanthropes and golems - is one with little knowledge of mental illness. An insane serial killer is a threat the NSA has no experience with. But Jace does.

Stranded in a reality where Bela Lugosi is a bigger box office draw than Bruce Willis and every full moon is Mardi Gras, Jace must now hunt down a fellow human before he brings the entire planet to the brink of madness. Or she may never see her own world again....

©2009 Johanna Parker (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Barant's well-developed world offers intriguing enhancements to mythology and history. Jace is remarkable, strong-willed and smart, and she sets an unstoppable pace. Look for the Bloodhound Files to go far." ( Publishers Weekly)

Great Series

Jace is a special FBI agent who is recruited by the authorities of a parallel universe to hunt and capture a sociopathic serial killer. In this new parallel world humans make up the minority of the population, with the majority consisting of vamps, weres and gollums. As mental illness is almost exclusively a human condition, this world finds itself ill equipped to deal with the problem of a human serial killer targeting the other races. Jace, a specialist in this field, has been recruited from earth and cannot return until the killer is caught.

This was a great read with equal amounts of action and fantasy and just a dash of romance. Jace is a witty 'bad ass' heroine who kept my interest in her story right through out. The narrator did a decent job and there were no annoying distractions or odd quirks which detracted from the story. All in all it was a good audio and, as the second book in the series has been published in book form for a while now, hopefully the series will continue in audio soon.

It was okay, but definetly needs some work!

Can't even decide if I liked the book or not.

The story takes place in an alternate universe where the main character gets pulled out of her world to solve a series of crimes. I just kept asking myself throughout the book why would a universe run by centuries old vampires and other magic creatures, find it necessary to pull a young human FBI agent into their world, at great cost, to solve a series of crimes in a world they were totally unfamiliar with? Too many questions that are intricate to the plot are left unanswered or brushed aside.

The "bad guy" was one of the more interesting/likable characters in the book, but the crimes he commits are absolutely atrocious, so I had to keep reminding myself not to like him. The main character tries really hard to come off as a total bitch by being obnoxious to everyone around her, yet she just goes along with the fact that she has been kidnapped like its no big deal. Did not like her at all.

Haven't decided if I will go any further with this series. I think the author could redeem the series with better character development, toning down the torture murders, and explaining the world and the choices that were made a little better.

An EXCELLENT New Series!

When I saw Johanna Parker was narrating this new series, I read the synopsis, listened to the preview and decided I had to give it a try. Glad I did! Interesting characters and story line and great narration. I hope Audible will pick up the rest of this series as audiobooks!

Hard to swallow the parallel world.

A little bit confusing at first, but I was a bit sidetracked with other things. Humorous a couple of times and I like the heroine, but she didn't really do anything but go to crime scene after crime scene and not know what was going on. The world building has potential, but falls short on the details. Is it a parallel world with pires and thropes (vampires and lycanthropes), and with supposedly half the people in our world are in it, only they are different. Why is she not in this world too as her parallel self. The same history as ours was used with enough of the same real details, but things have changed understandable, but what is weird is the things that are the same youtube for example. In my opinion the author could not pull off the world building. There was no romance to this story. The story does hint that there may be some romance later in the series, but with who is unknown since she has a weird connection to at least four different guys. I would classify this book as a urban fantasy. The storyline and the heroine are enough to finish the book, but I just didn't accept the world that was built, I don't believe I will be continuing on with the series. I do love the narrator she has read many series that I have enjoyed.

almost 4 stars

i want to like this book, i think i like this book - the narrator was great but i'm on the fence. The bad guy is good, i like our main heroine but for some reason i can't do a full 4 stars. i'm going to see how book 2 is and go from there.

Reread

I haven't read this in a very long time and I remembered liking it so I picked it up. I don't recall feeling. As annoyed with the protagonist as I did this time around. Her standoffish nature can often be more frustrating than edgy. Ah, well! On to the next one in the series, though!

meh...

It wasn't a bad book, not a great one either. The reading, I felt, was a little overreactive and undereactive than the character should've been at times. Instead of feeling like she was a top notch agent it felt more like she was fresh out of highschool, a bit immature.

One complaint in an otherwise good story

Where does Dying Bites rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Good enough for now in my search for a new series i will love

What did you like best about this story?

I love paranormal stories!! especially with Lycan's

What about Johanna Parker’s performance did you like?

Fantastic voice acting, but with how many people i see complain about other voice preformers idk if that means much.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

no extreme emotions for me. I listened to the whole story in one day, don't like breaks much.

Any additional comments?

The Main Character was a little on the very annoying side. Some of the outbursts she gets into feeling are out of the blue. That got really annoying really fast, almost stopped listening completely when she gave her first outburst. but a few months later i restarted it, it is an interesting story.
Personally i prefer more romance in my stories.

FUN!!!! AND!!!! FABULOUS!!!!

There just aren't enough exclamation points for me to express how much I loved this. It had everything that makes a good story for me

- MC with a good sense of humor- CHECK
- New/Unique concept of supernatural creatures- CHECK
- A Boy to love OR love to hate- CHECK
- Potential for more books- CHECK (I already have the next 2 queued and ready)
- A WANT to read the rest of the books, and NOT because of some stupid cliffhanger- CHECK

I know I know, that last one is a little snobby- but all of my favorites have this.

Entertaining Story

Enjoyed the book. Is it the best I have ever read, no, but enjoyable just the same. Will read the rest of the series.