I thoroughly enjoyed Nina Crofts first novella, Break Out, which was the introduction to this series. After reading Break Out I was looking forward to seeing how her writing talent developed, but wasn’t sure if a full length novel in this series was going to be in the cards, so I was delighted to have the chance to read the second in the series, over the moon to discover that Deadly Pursuit is a full length novel, and ecstatic to realized that Ms Coft REALLY can write.

Given a full novel to explore characters and plots Nina has used every page to its best advantage.

A mix between a paranormal and a sci-fi romance, with a healthy dose of good old fashioned adventure thrown in, Deadly Pursuit carries on from Break Out, in fact in starts a few hours after the ending, and although it could be read as a stand-alone, I think most readers would enjoy Deadly Pursuit so much more if they take the time to read the light novella first.

We’re on board the spaceship El Cazador, owned by the vampire Rico, a vampire originally from earth before earth was evacuated. Rico has recently become involved with Skylar, formally of the collective (think human Borg), immortals because of a highly expensive treatment the collective is one of the big players in intergalactic politics, and they're heavily armed (the other big player being the church, who provide immortality and everlasting life in heaven).

We have Tannis. Kick arse captain who wants to earn enough cash to take the treatment herself, Janny; she puts the bomb in bombshell, security expert and gorgeous babe. Al, stowaway come cabin boy. Daisy, co-pilot genetic hybrid, part human, part plant. And Jon, the assassin they've just rescued from maximum security prison, where he was facing execution by radiation poisoning in the mines.

[spoiler alert]
So it turns out that Al is really Alexia, runaway high-priestess of the church of everlasting life.  And she wants to experience a bit of life before she goes back to take up her priestess duties; and the hunky Jon is one of these experiences she'd quite like to try.

Alex is really the only downfall of this story, she just annoyed me. She was written well, but as a character she was whiny, sulky and annoying. She spent her life being protected and sheltered so it's not too unsurprising she constantly finds herself in stupid and dangerous situations. In fact, I'm not the only one who found this annoying, the crew commented about if too.

This is a light easy to read story that is well paced with believable (if not always likable) characters. It has an ongoing story arc, but each book is, so far ok to read as a standalone, and the story arc is written in such a way as to give us one conclusion that then leads on to the next section, so there's less fear if this turning into the series that never ends.

It's fresh and original, but with enough familiar elements to make if a comfortable read.

Nina just made it to my must read list.