The Reformed Vampire Support Group

Jinks, C. (2009). The Reformed Vampire Support Group. Boston: Harcourt.

Plot Description:  The worst thing you have to face as a vampire is that most of the people in the world want to kill you… for no good reason.  That is part of the reason why Nina and her fellow vampires have been attending a weekly vampire support group for the last thirty years. The other reason is so they stay “reformed” and stick to their diet of guinea pigs rather than humans.

You may think that Vampires are glamorous, attractive, and powerful, but being a vampire is nothing like that.  It’s like being stuck indoors with the flu, while watching TV forever and ever.  They have to wear dark glasses anytime they go outside, sleep in dark safe places, like bank vaults, basements, and meat lockers, and never go out during daylight hours. In order to escape her boring life Nina writes books about the sensational vampire Zadia Bloodstone and the crazy adventures she goes on.

One day on the way to their weekly support group Father Ramon receives a call from Dave indicating that he can’t get a hold of Casimir. Once they reach his flat and are finally are brave enough to search his apartment (did I mention that vampires are also scared of everything) they find a pile of ash, a stake, and a silver bullet in his coffin.  Casimir has been staked, but no one is particularly sad because he was the one that infected all of them in the first place!  After looking over the few clues in the coffin they decide that they must find the slayer before he tracks them all down!  They decide the safest place to stay is at Nina’s house, but Nina’s mom is not too happy about the situation.  After having a group meeting they decide the best plan of attack is to research the bullet and try to find out who bought it.  They obtain the customer list which has only five names.  They narrow their suspect list down to Barry McKinnon since he had order hundreds of bullets.  The group decides that they must go check him out and Nina and Dave reluctantly volunteer to accompany Pastor Ramon to Cobar.

Once they arrive at the McKinnon’s residence they witness a vicious pit fight in which they have to surrender their silver bullet as an entrance fee.  Barry becomes suspicious of the trio and locks them down in a dungeon.  They come to find out that the beasts in the pit fight are actually werewolves that turn back into people after the full moon.  One of them is Reuben who has been held captive by Barry and his son for the last five years.  Pastor Ramon, Nina, Dave and Reuben are able to escape from the McKinnon’s and safely arrive at Pastor Ramon’s house, but it doesn’t take long before Barry and his son catch up with them and recaptured Reuben.  The McKinnon’s are desperate to get him back because they are set to sell him to an American for $100,000 the next day.  It is up to Nina to convince the other vampires that they need to rescue Reuben.  Read along to find out if the vampires work up the courage for their rescue mission or let Reuben be shipped off to America where he will lead a life of slavery and pit fighting.

Genre: Fantasy, Mystery

Age Group: This book would be appropriate for grades 5-9.

Similar Books: Evil Genius, The Genius Wars, The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group (Apr 2011) all by Catherine Jinks.

Personal Thought:  This book is a great read for anyone that is interested in vampires and has a lot of ties to the Twilight Series.

Subject/Themes: Vampires, Werewolves, Support Groups

Reviews: School Library Journal, VOYA, Publisher’s Weekly Starred, Children’s Literature

Character Description: Nina is a fifteen year old vampire who has been going to a support group for vampires.  She stopped aging back in 1973 and when she was infected.  She writes books about vampires under a pseudonym in which the heroine is Zadia Bloodstone.

Sanford is a doctor and the assumed leader of the vampire group.  He is 140 years old and enjoys making rules for the rest of the group.

Gladys as infected when she was 24.  She is always complaining.  She looks like a hippie and is always using herbs and strange concoctions to help with her aches and pains. 

Bridget is a vampire that was infected when she was 82 and is always knitting.  She has bad hips and has trouble getting up and down stairs.

Casimir is the vampire that infected all the vampires in the support group.  Nina the rest of the group thinks he is creepy and has not reformed.  No one is upset when they find him staked.

Dave Gerace is only vampire in the group that can drive.  He already had his license when he was infected in 1973.  He is usually unassertive and squeamish.  He is secretly in love with Nina.

Father Ramon is a human that allows the vampires to use his church and drives them to the meetings.

Horace is another vampire in the support group.  He is always dressed in a gothic assortment of clothes and really stand outs. 

George is another vampire that isn’t the brightest crayon in the box.

Mrs. Harrison (Nina’s Mom) is 76 years old.  She allows all the vampires to sleep in her basement.

Nefley Irving is the man who killed Casimir and posed as the fangseeker on the internet.

Barry McKinnon is the prime slayer suspect due to the fact that he purchased hundreds of silver bullets.  He runs an illegal werewolf fighting pit and steals werewolves from their families.

Annotation: Vampires are powerful, beautiful creatures that have the strength to tear apart a person with a single swipe.  Well not in this book, they can barely walk and are always getting sick but they have to get creative if they want to catch the slayer and save their new werewolf friend Reuben before he is sent to America.