The Paperbackers

In comparison,My Love Lies Bleeding moves at a quick pace: Solange is a vampire-born and not turned. In vampire world,this is a rarity and other vampire clans want a piece of her. Her family of very good looking brothers and her best friend Lucky spend every chapter protecting her,and Lucky and the second brother Nicholas even find time to flirt and nibble at each other. The action is swift but Harvey is better at romance than at spilling blood.

Meanwhile,in the real world,two investigators are on the brink of a series each. British magazine journalist Tim Weaver has made an impressive debut with Chasing The Dead (Penguin,6.99 pounds),a crime thriller that introduces David Raker,a missing-persons investigator who signs up to locate a dead man,who might not be dead after all. Raker is not without his own ghosts,the memory of his partner Derryn haunts him and yet motivates him,helping him inch closer to unravelling the truth. In Vanished (Hachette,Rs 275),American thriller writer and Army Special Forces veteran Joseph Finder introduces Nick Heller,an international security consultant,who places family first. And in time too,as his brother Roger disappears without a trace. For a man with no enemies,the clues are tougher to find but Heller must locate his sibling before it is too late.