Oliver Nocturne: Blood Ties by Kevin Emerson

Scholastic, 2009.
Sitting in the principal's office with his parents on the last day of school, Oliver is not pleased to hear his teacher give him a load of extra maths work to do over the summer holidays before he goes to high school in the fall. They are all off to Morosia, the underworld vampire city where some of his relatives live, and he cannot get there soon enough. Meanwhile he visits his friends, Dean and Emalie, and they are on a quest to find Selene, who may be able to help them find out about Emalie's mother, who has disappeared.
A trawl through all the spirits and wraiths surrounding vampire lore, Oliver Nocturne is a series about Oliver and his life as a vampire, and what is expected of him in the future. Bringing in all the stories at once is a bit overwhelming, and the number of characters sometimes confusing, and some of the stories within the novel are quite scary. I was often reminded of The Munsters (the 70's TV show) as the story shows the vampires at home, going about their daily routines, and there will be an audience for this series with the predominance of vampires stories being published of late, but I think there are better books around to spend the limited library budget on.
Fran Knight,