Sink your teeth into a terrifying horror novel just dripping with mystery, action, scare and bloodthirsty vampires thousands of years old. This second installment after The Death Collector, Justin Richards pumps out another fabulous young adult book that will keep you on the edge of the seat from start to finish.

Parliament of Blood is set in Victorian London and keeps the same cast of players that started out in The Death Collector. Eddie the adorable street urchin pickpocket, George and Sir William who work secretly in an underground room of the British Museum investigating unusual and paranormal artifacts, and Liz Oldfield, George’s wannabe girlfriend, all return for another round of fun and fear as they soon learn that vampires are not just a thing of storybook legend.

Chapter one opens up with an intriguing and puzzling conundrum when the unveiling of an Egyptian mummy turns into a sudden freak show. An assistant on stage accidentally gets cut with a knife and the blood begins to pour into the mouth of the mummy still lying in his coffin. Within seconds the mummy comes alive and chaos and panic run rampant leaving hundreds of viewers running for their lives through the streets of London. Thus the mystery begins and as the story unfolds, chapter after chapter leaves the reader biting their nails and feeling chills as pandemonium breaks loose and Eddie, George and Sir William rush to save Liz from becoming a vampire herself after she has been taken captive.

I read a lot of vampire stories, both for adult in horror and romance, and have also tried out some of the teen vamp books as well. This is high-end; all adults would enjoy this as well as teenagers and would consider it a top-notch well-written novel. Truly scary, the vampires are vividly real and DO bite, blood runs profusely and seeps drop by drop through each page as you devour them in terror. With corpses by the thousands rising up from their graves and popping up from the underground ready to prey on the living, man-eating vampire bats ready to drain you dry, skeletons driving a coach-and six, and an Egyptian mummy missing his heart, you will not want for ingredients that make up for a fabulous read.

I have read many of Justin Richards’ teen books and he is still my favorite young adult author. He is extremely creative, doesn’t write down to kids, and provides his readers with a quality story you never forget. You don’t just read Justin Richards, you collect him. I highly recommend the first book in this promising series, The Death Collector, and found his Chaos Code, and the first four of The Invisible Detective series books beyond excellent. This author can’t get higher praise from me, I think he’s the best in this genre. Two thumbs up for the Parliament of Blood and I sincerely hope that there will be a third book in the series to come. ( )

In Victorian London, after discovering that vampires really do exist and plot to end the human race, friends George, Liz, and Eddie join Sir William Protheroe in an increasingly desperate effort to find ways to stop them from overthrowing Parliament and, eventually, taking over the world.