Alicia Benson: The First Vampire

Review by Vicky London

The First Vampire: A Novel of Samson and Delilah is the debut novel of Alicia Benson.

Some journeys take more than one lifetime. Ever since Delilah used a devilish brew from Lilith to turn him into a vampire and then turned him over to the Philistines, Samson has been plotting revenge against his former lover and arch nemesis. When he finally catches up to the reincarnate Delilah in modern day New York, it seems as though he has all the time in the world to see that the last chapter of their sordid saga is finally written. But much like old enemies, old passions die hard, and Samson is forced to make a surprisingly hard choice. Does he want her dead more than he wants her back in his bed?

I have to confess that when I first read that this book was about Samson and Delilah I kind of laughed. As a kid raised in church and very familiar with Bible stories I wasn’t really sure how this was going to work. Combining the Bible with vampires seems like an iffy proposition at best. Benson made me forget fairly early on that these characters were people in the Bible and deftly used their story as a short way to fill in the back story of the novel. Although she definitely won’t leave you hanging if you’ve never heard of this famous couple.

Overall I thought it was well written. The characterization was good and the explanation of how Delilah came to be Ariana was believable to me. Based on the ending, it’s clear to me that this is the beginning of a series as the story arc foundation is laid. There were a couple of things I didn’t care for, one is the cartoon cover. Obviously not a reflection on the author as 99.9% of authors have no control over their covers. The cover (to me) is a bit jokey and only detracts from the story. Once I slapped a pretty book cover on it I was okay. Second is the relationship between Ariana and Luc. Even though they aren’t closely related it just made me cringe. That’s all I’ll say on that since it will only spoil the plot. This is a strong debut and I’ll be looking forward to what comes next. I’m still rooting for Samson though.

Release Date: October 13, 2008
ISBN: 098015068X

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