Being Human: Bad Blood by James Goss

Plot

The third Being Human book sees Denise, an old friend of Annie's, arrive on their doorstep. What's more, she can actually see Annie. Denise proceeds to take Annie, Mitchell and George on wild nights out because she thinks they need some more excitement in their lives [Hahaha a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost needing more excitement]. In a bid to get Annie out of the house more Denise makes Annie join an organising committee for a local bingo night.

There's also a nice sub-plot with Bristol's vampires. There seems to be something in the air that's attracting their attantion. This leads to an nice climax.

Writing

This is definitely the best written of the three Being Human books. It's the truest to the show and it just comes alive on the page. This is the only one of the books that I could see working as a part of the series, either on page or on screen.

I also love the writer, I've come across him before (Torchwood novels) and while I enjoyed his books they didn't grip me. I'm sad to say that it was exactly the same with this one, I had to keep putting it down.

Characters

The Characters are at their best in this book, but even with that compliment I have to be honest and in places I still had problems imagining how the characters dealt with some of the situations, George in particular suffers because of this.

The character created specifically for this book, Denise, is such an amazing character, she had so much life and even though she wasn't from the show, she was easily the strongest character in the book.

Overall

Overall, this i san enjoyable book with a good plot and good characters. It has it's flaws, for example, it's difficult to just sit and read it, I personally kept feeling that I had to step away from it. That might just be me though.

The biggest problem for me is the fact that the book can only be described as good. Everything's good but it's not fantastically mindblowing and that's what made me deny this book it's final star. Still 4 stars is more than respectable and Denise alone made it more than worth reading. Although I will say this about all three Being Human books, don't read them unless you've seen series 1 and 2 otherwise there'll be some spoilers.

ps. Annie if you're reading this, they're coming to get you. They won't rest untill they have you with them. Beware Annie.

Being Human: Chasers by Mark Michalowski

Plot

In the second of the Being Human spin off books, George is approached by his lesbian friends Kaz and Gail who want him to be the surrogate father of their baby. Mitchell and Annie aren't impressed with the idea and George is hesitant, due to the fact that he doesn't know if his werewolf genes are hereditary. Will George accept or decline?

Meanwhile Mitchell has met Leo, a patient at the hospital where he works. They hit it off and end up going on a night out with George and Annie. Leo can see Annie and he also seems to have a few secrets of his own. Why is he after Mitchell and just what is that he wants?

Writing

The writing in this book is okay I've come across this author before as he's written some Doctor Who novels and to be honest I think he's better at them.

The Being Human books all seem oddly distant from the show and you have trouble imagining the characters. Normally I don't find that a problem but this book shouldn't be like that because you've got a connection to the characters before you've even turned to page 1.

Characters

The characters were awful. There was none of Mitchell's sexy bad boy, none of George's rambling and barely anything of Annie at all.

The characters that were made up for the book particularly special and the situation between Mitchell and Leo was slightly altered and used in series 3. I don't really have much to say about the characters, so I'm just not going to bother.

Overall

It's an okay book. It's a lot better than the first which was abysmal but it lacks something that the show has. I'm not sure that this is the author's fault though, it may just be one of those series' that doesn't translate well on to the written page.

I gave this book the benefit of the doubt and 3 stars. I'm only going to recommend it if you're a die hard Being Human fan, otherwise just don't bother.