Publisher's Weekly Review
In an introspective debut, Moulton weaves a lightly scary murder mystery that explores themes of acceptance and family as experienced by a pair of vampire siblings. Ten-year-old Adam and his older foster brother Victor, 14, live with their ancient adoptive vampire mothers. The brothers are the latest in a long line of children rescued and raised by their foster mothers, who hide the family's paranormal abilities from the rest of their Pacific Northwest town. While Victor wants more than to live a quotidian life concealing his true self, Adam is preoccupied with worries surrounding how his vampiric nature could reflect on him if he were found out. Adam soon befriends mortal children Shoshana and Luis, while Victor develops an amicable rivalry with Luis's older sister, Alejandra. As stabbed corpses start appearing in town, and details point to the killer being a vampire hunter, the brothers' previously peaceful, if isolated, lives turn upside down. Frank and accessible prose proffers messaging surrounding what it means to be othered, offering myriad interpretations through Adam and Victor's alternating POVs. Fans of the supernatural intersecting with the mundane will find this intriguing interpretation of the vampire mythos refreshing. Adam and Victor read as white; context clues indicate racial diversity among the supporting cast. Ages 10--14. Agent: Emily Forney, BookEnds Literary. (Aug.)
Kirkus Review
A 10-year-old vampire courageously agrees to help two mortal children track down a serial killer. Readers fond of nocturnal whodunits festooned with sly twists and tweaks from opening page to terrifying climax are in for a treat--but Moulton has much to offer here besides gore and glory. Found as a baby in the ruins of a synagogue following a hate crime and bitten to save his life, Adam has been raised by his vampiric foster moms in strict isolation from dangerous mortals. But so appalled is he to learn of a series of gruesome murders around his hometown of Lacey, Washington, that he nerves himself to hide his fangs with a scarf, control his yearning for blood (something Victor, his toxically adolescent foster bro, is disinclined to do), and join two chance-met amateur investigators: Luis and Shoshana. The killer's identity makes things complicated and scary--but if, by the end, the threat hasn't been permanently dealt with, it's at least resolved for the moment, and Adam has strengthened bonds with not only his mortal friends, but family too, specifically Victor and Sung, his nonbinary, college-aged, Korean foster sibling. Shoshana helps Adam understand how, as an "obligate hemovore," he can still be Jewish, and this story, which features an ethnically diverse cast, thoughtfully pushes back against significant antisemitic elements in Bram Stoker's Dracula and vampire lore in general. Members of persecuted minorities unite to fight crime: icky, impish, and thematically rich. (author's note) (Light horror. 10-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Moulton's debut about two vampire foster brothers fuses humor with horror as Adam and Victor Rossi attempt to put aside their sibling rivalry and solve a string of murder cases before they're accused of the crimes and tracked down by a vampire hunter. Chapters alternate between the perspectives of the two leads, and this particularly voice-y novel does an excellent job at helping readers understand each brother's motives and innermost emotions (Adam, in particular, struggles with how to hold on to his Jewish heritage while living as a vampire) while also showing how unstoppable they could be if they teamed up as a dynamic undead duo. There's plenty of entertaining adventure and creepy elements to keep middle-grade horror fans enthralled, and even as the story pays homage to classic vampire works, it subverts the genre's history of antisemitic tropes--a topic further discussed in a thoughtful author's note. Treated to delightful queer representation in Victor and Adam's moms, plus introspective and emotional dialogue throughout that perfectly encapsulates the struggles of early adolescence, readers will root for these two bantering brothers as they fight to defeat the evil lurking in their town and, after the last page is turned, will long to spend more time in their world.
