Deadly Assessments is the fifth book in the Fred, the Vampire Accountant series by Drew Hayes. The book was released 2018 by REUTS Publications, LLC, and the audiobook is narrated by Kirby Heyborne. It is a direct sequel to the other books and is, just like them, a paranormal comedy.
Fred is starting to learn what is needed to be a vampire leader of his own clan but he has one final trial left and it comes in the form of Debra, an ancient vampire sent out by the Blood Council, the leaders of the vampire community, to see if he is suitable to be a clan leader. He will have to face tests, learn from her along with keeping his wits about him to ensure that all his aces are showing before the final confrontation.
We see some character growth here with Fred as he is getting some hands-on experience and training of being a vampire. He is starting to learn what it means to be a vampire and what is needed of him to be a suitable one which he will need to accept instead of running away like he always does. This story is very focused on Fred, and much like the third book, the red thread is back. With the threat of being killed by the worlds most ancient vampires and each smaller part in the book is connected to that thread. Needless to say, I adore this setup far better as I think it gives us the most of the story.
Once again, the threat is a bit vague though, mostly coming from the people around Fred saying that the council is threatening that showing us that they are. It would have been easier for the author to have the council wipe out the rival vampire clan only to assess Fred to see if he is going to face the same fate. That way, we would have been shown that they were as strong as everyone says, but that is a smaller detail as it doesn’t affect the story. At least not in a substantial way.
We are getting more and more hints of the author that Fred’s resistance to silver isn’t normal, and that it has a greater meaning outside to be used by the author in a way to surprise stronger opponents. Which I like, I would want Fred to be something more than a good person who is quick to run, not that it happens in this book but it gives me hope that it might happen in the future. I understand that the author wanted a main character who isn’t great at fighting or quick to do so, but in world filled with physical people, he cannot be lucky every time to fix the problem by using someone else or solving it by talking.
All in all, I liked this book. Not as much as the third book, but this one is definitely close to that book. It has a great structure, we see the main character evolve, the story is focused, and there isn’t as much characters to steal the main characters spotlight. All in all, I would say this one is a 10 out of 10, making it the same rating as the third book. It doesn’t lose to the third book, I just prefer that story, but this one has a solid base, great expansion on the vampires and an introduction to a vampire who knows of the world. I would definitely recommend this book as it is one of the best in the series so far.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
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