Product Description

Dr Jane Whitcomb, leader of a cardiac trauma team, is about to leave the medical centre for the night when an emergency is brought in - a man with a gunshot wound to the heart. As she examines him, however, she begins to suspect that her dangerously sexy new patient is not entirely human.One night, while he's still in recovery, this tattooed stranger reaches out to her. He seems soothed by her presence. And she is oddly captivated by his.She will soon learn that he is Vishous - V for short - the smartest vampire in the Black Dagger Brotherhood. But his tortured past has left him avoiding intimacy. It is against V's nature to let anyone see his vulnerable side. Except Jane. He has the oddest sense that she understands.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8812 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Synopsis
Dr Jane Whitcomb, leader of a cardiac trauma team, is about to leave the medical centre for the night when an emergency is brought in - a man with a gunshot wound to the heart. As she examines him, however, she begins to suspect that her dangerously sexy new patient is not entirely human.One night, while he's still in recovery, this tattooed stranger reaches out to her. He seems soothed by her presence. And she is oddly captivated by his.She will soon learn that he is Vishous - V for short - the smartest vampire in the Black Dagger Brotherhood. But his tortured past has left him avoiding intimacy. It is against V's nature to let anyone see his vulnerable side. Except Jane. He has the oddest sense that she understands.

About the Author
J.R. Ward lives in the American South. Visit her and the Black Dagger Brotherhood at www.jrward.com.

Customer Reviews

One of her best
I loved this book.
Until I read Lover Enshrined this was by far my favourite, now it's a tie between the two of them.
In this book J.R. Ward really takes the series to another level that won't be to the taste of all readers but for me just made the series better.
The book was well written, as all of hers are, and I found that I could really connect with the characters. She has a way of writing that really makes me feel what the characters are feeling and there are some wonderfully angsty parts of this book.
This book is definitely a page turner, I couldn't put it down.
This book takes the Black Dagger Brotherhood out of the league of other paranormal romances and into one of it's own, making it by far the best paranormal romance series I have ever read.

Plot? Hmm...not so much.
Although other readers of the Black Dagger Brotherhood may disagree - and even feel slightly offended, so I apologise in advance - these novels are really a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I do love vampire novels, but I come very much from the Anne Rice school, and as a consequence I'm slightly conflicted about JR Ward, and never more so than with this, the fifth novel.

It's not difficult to summarise the plot, because it's effectively the same as all of the other books: vampire meets girl, circumstances are engineered in order for them to spend time together, a bond forms between them which the vampire resists due to his traumatic past, girl breaks down vampire's defences, fate intervenes to separate them, hand of God comes down and saves the day. Oh, and they get married.

It's not the formulaic nature of the story I have an issue with, however; nor is it the slightly clumsy writing. Firstly, I found it hard to care particularly about Vishous, which surprised me as I've always been fond of him - but, as another reviewer pointed out, there was little evidence of his "wicked smart" intelligence in this book. I also felt Jane was somewhat insipid, but the female characters always strike me as being rather weak - with the possible exceptions of Beth and Bella. Perhaps it's understandable that they should be overshadowed by the vampires, as it's clear that where the author's own heart lies (especially with Zsadist).

I didn't feel particularly that JR Ward bottled out of the BDSM element of the book - I didn't expect her to go very far with it, these being primarily romance novels - but what I did find INCREDIBLY frustrating was the intervention, again, of the Scribe Virgin. I'm sorry, but this is a deus ex machina that Ward uses far too often - every time she gets her characters into a mess they can't get out of, here comes this goddess-like figure who can solve things for them. I struggled with the solution to the "Butch issue" in the previous book, but I was pretty disgusted with the conclusion here. It's the equivalent of writing, "and then V woke up and discovered it was all a dream".

I was also disappointed by the lack of a worthy enemy in this novel. It feels to me as if Ward is so involved in the romantic (and, to a certain extent, spiritual) world of the Brotherhood that she's forgotten that they're actually supposed to be fighting for their civilisation. The lessers were barely present in this book, and I can't help feeling that if they're this hopeless and disorganised, why didn't the Brotherhood wipe them out centuries ago?

However, I will be reading the next one, but in great part because of the reviews I've read of it on Amazon, and the promise that it's quite different from this. To potential readers, I'd say, if you liked the last four, you'll enjoy this - but how much does depend what you want from it. Romantic escapism? Well, there's some of that. More of the Brotherhood? Definitely a lot of that. Substantial plot? Hm ... not so much.

My favourite so far!
I absolutely loved this book- by far my favourite out of all of the J R Ward books. I felt the characters were much stronger in this than any of the others and the history and past of the characters was much more detailed and explained than the others. Don't get me wrong, I love the entire series and looking forward very much to the insiders guide, but this one WAS my favourite and I would definitely suggest this to anyone into paranormal romance books as one of the strongest series I've so far come across. Definitely worth a read.