Review: Drink Deep by Chloe Neill

Title: Drink Deep (Chicagoland Vampires #5)
Author: Chloe Neill
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Heat Index: 2 out of 5, not really any sex scenes to speak of.
Release Date: November 1st
Word/Page Count: 352 pages
Format: Purchased

Clouds are brewing over Cadogan House, and recently turned vampire Merit can’t tell if this is the darkness before the dawn or the calm before the storm. With the city iself in turmoil over paranormals and the state threatening to pass a paranormal registration act, times haven’t been this precarious for vampires since they came out of the closet. If only they could lay low for a bit, and let the mortals calm down.

That’s when the waters of Lake Michigan suddenly turn pitch black-and things really start getting ugly.

Chicago’s mayor insists it’s nothing to worry about, but Merit knows only the darkest magic could have woven a spell powerful enough to change the very fabric of nature. She’ll have to turn to friends old and new to find out who’s behind this, and stop them before it’s too late for vampires and humans alike.

Arai's Review:

First thing outright, there are going to be spoilers for this book. If you have any familiarity with the Chicagoland series, particularly the end of the fourth book, you know exactly what potential spoiley spoiler I’m referencing. I apologize in advance since I usually don’t like to have spoilers, but I feel like I can’t accurately write a review for this book without doing so, especially given how divided other book blogs seem to be in their reviews for “Drink Deep.” I also apologize for the length of this review; I might have gotten a little wordy.

Right off the bat, I want to start the review by saying this: Chloe Neill is one damn ballsy woman. I love it. It was a daring move for Chloe Neill to kill of Ethan at the end of “Hard Bitten,” especially given the fan reaction to such a loss. To be honest, it was a move I liked because it shot straight to the heart of the reader. It didn’t matter if you were angry or sad; the writer accomplished a major feat of writing an event that evoked a big emotional response. I was also intrigued to see where she was going to go with this storyline. Would she bring him back? Would he be gone permanently? How does this change Merit?

In this book, we finally get our answers. We have an opportunity to share in Merit’s grief and to see how she is without Ethan in her life. Because, let’s be honest, even when she wasn’t dating Ethan, he still had a very commanding presence not only in her life, but also in the book. One of Neill’s biggest challenges would be not only replacing that charisma and presence in the pages of her book, but also doing it in a manner that didn’t offend the reader and make them grab their pitchforks to defend the memory of Ethan.

You could definitely feel the lack of Ethan when reading, and that changes the balance of the book, but I wouldn’t say that it takes away from the book. If anything, Merit gets to explore and expand herself, taking charge of situations that she would normally be conversing with Ethan over. It was a opportunity for Merit to grow into herself more and I’m glad that Neill took it.

Speaking of the memory of Ethan, I liked the way that Neill handled Merit’s grief and morning. It was realistic, with the grief coming in waves but life still goes on. I normally hate to read books where a character dies, not because of the emotions it evokes in me, but because of how it almost always seems to mean the main character is going to be worthless the rest of that book or lashing out at everyone because they’re so “grief-stricken” and they take everything personally and it was all their fault and blah blah. It cripples the novel and Neill does a good job of making sure it doesn’t happen here while still maintaining the expected emotions and responses from a person who has lost someone close. I didn’t feel cheated out of being able to mourn the loss of Ethan along with Merit as there were plenty of opportunities in the novel where an event would tug painfully at your heart as a reminder of him.

One of the ways to try and make up for the loss of Ethan’s charisma is to step up the presence of Jonah, the Guard Captain of Grey House and RG member. I like Jonah, but I like him better as a friend rather than a potential romantic complication. We managed to get a little more of his history, but it does bother me that there was a line of questioning brought up about how Jonah and Merit’s grandfather know each other that was dropped and forgotten for the rest of the novel.

Mallory and Catcher. To be honest, through most of the novel, I kind of wanted to slap them both for sucking at life. As much as Mallory annoyed and pissed me off, I can appreciate the way Neill portrayed a friendship that is still at odds, where you’re too worried to push on issues that you would have pushed on previously because that might be the piece to make it all fall apart. I saw it as a realistic interpretation of a friendship trying to find its feet after something or some event irrevocably alters it. Some might complain about Merit’s actions towards Mallory (which has a big spoiler linked to it that I’m not going to tattle here), but I think it fits in with her interpretation of what their friendship has become.

One thing I did have an issue with was the way the receiver, Frank Cabot, handled his investigation of Cadogan House. Some of the things just felt a little too much like they were from the pages of Harry Potter, particularly the posting of House Rules (Educational Decrees) on the wall and the rule against groups larger than a certain number congregating. Still, he served his purpose of first creating discord in the house, then unwittingly putting them back together.

This book ended with nearly as big of a punch to the gut as the previous one, which, personally, I’m excited to see how it plays out.