UNDEAD AND UNDERMINED

Back from hell, a vampire queen assembles a motley crew to save the future.

In the latest dispatch concerning Betsy Taylor, Davidson’s vampire-queen heroine (Undead and Unappreciated, 2005, etc.) wakes to find herself in a Chicago morgue, toe tag and all. After reassuring herself that she’s still alive, or at least still undead, Betsy heads back to the mansion that’s her home base to reunite with her ragtag group of supernatural friends, only to discover that something is extra-abnormal. Apparently, Betsy returned from her latest sojourn in hell to some sort of time-traveled alternate universe where everything she knows and thinks she knows will be tested: who her friends are, what her purpose is, who’s living and who’s dead for good. In addition, she suffers a fate worse than undeath when she discovers that her shoe closet is full of clogs. Worst of all: Betsy hasn’t made this journey alone, and her cosmic hitchhiker’s intentions are anything but benevolent. Will the vampire queen manage to rally to protect her friends, or will her road to hell be paved with good intentions? Davidson (Me, Myself, and Why?, 2010, etc.) writes in a jocular voice with teenage attitude (think of a YA novel for mature audiences). Readers are likely to be divided between love ’em and leave ’em by an installment with too much back story for newbies to sink their teeth into.