To call Rachel Harrison a horror author would be stating the obvious. To say that she has created some of the most unique depictions of strong female characters in various horrific circumstances would be far more accurate.

SO THIRSTY follows Harrison’s successful formula with a book that almost anyone would guess deals with vampires. What you don’t get are the kind of scares you might find in a haunted house or a demonic possession tale. The result is a novel about two best friends who are fast approaching middle age and challenging each other to break away from whatever is holding them back so they finally can embrace life.

"SO THIRSTY is an outstanding, insightful read by a modern master of horror who continues to give us supernatural tales with characters we care about."

Little do Sloane and Naomi realize at the start of the book that in order to make their dreams come true, they literally will need to give up everything about themselves and start over as something new yet better. Naomi joins Sloane at a cabin on the Finger Lakes in upstate New York during the height of winter for a mini-vacation to celebrate the latter’s birthday. More importantly, Sloane’s philandering husband, Joel, will not be there nor will Naomi’s partner of 10 years, Levi, with whom she travels around the globe in support of his band.

The Waterfront Collective resort, retreat and spa does not have a lot to offer, and the same can be said for its small, run-down town. This is why their only option on night one is to have the resort shuttle drop them off on Main Street so they can see if there is anything worth enjoying. They settle on the only bar in town, and the night would have been nothing more than standard had not the over-achieving Naomi struck up a conversation with a dark and mysterious man, Ilie, with whom she exchanged numbers.

On the second night, the eve of Sloane’s birthday, Naomi has a surprise planned for her. Ilie comes by to pick them up and escort them to a creepy-looking gated mansion on the outskirts of town where he promises a party like they have never experienced before. Upon entering, Naomi is intrigued and excited, while to Sloane it looks like a typical orgy. Sloane’s evening might have been a total loss had she not run into a character with an accent that sounds British at times. Henry proceeds to take her upstairs for a game of Truth or Dare. Having caught Joel cheating via the doorbell camera on their home, Sloane has moved on from him and is open to Henry’s advances but on a rather timid level.

Sloane eventually shies away from the curious Henry and makes her way back downstairs to find Naomi and leave the strange gathering. Sadly, her actions are just a little too late as they are met by a horrifying skeletal creature that attacks them and appears to feed on their blood. This grisly situation is dealt with, but not before the other members of the household make a quick decision to “save” Sloane and Naomi and take steps to ensure their eternal stay with their new best friends. It calls to mind the classic Kathryn Bigelow film Near Dark, but instead of redneck vampires, we have Eurotrash ones.

You might think you have seen this a thousand times before, but in the able and unpredictable hands of Rachel Harrison, you would be very wrong. She does a great job of telegraphing the vampiric turning of Sloane and Naomi with scenes involving a bloody cut in the mouth or a desire for some red-colored food. What we get next is the thirst that new vampires go through, and it is here where the transition period takes the story on its final arc. Along the way, Harrison condemns certain assumptions about vampires, such as aversion to daylight, the skin burning when hit by the sun, the ability to change into bats, and, most surprisingly, that their bodies are still filled with blood in their veins and they can be wounded and killed as a result.

SO THIRSTY is an outstanding, insightful read by a modern master of horror who continues to give us supernatural tales with characters we care about.