Very rarely does a sequel come a long to best its progenitor. Why? Well, it seems to me one reason is a lot of sequels try to ride the coat-tails of the original. But then you descend into a kind of formulaic presentation where you’ve basically already read the story, just some of the names and locations and minor details have changed.

No, the best sequels are the ones that stay familiar, but bring in a whole new hook to keep things fresh. I’m thinking Alien to Aliens, from helpless humans to humans fighting back, or Terminator to Terminator II, where the evil machine is now the hero, fighting against an even worse machine.

Those fears of a reuse of old ideas you can put away when you pick up Kristopher Hoffman’s 2nd book in the Ex Mortis series. Full Moon on the Bayou takes those same characters from the previous adventure, Death Cramps My Style, and lands them smack dab in the middle of a war between vampires (think Al Capone with teeth) and werewolves (think dreadlock hippies with fangs). And if Evil wants some peace and quiet in his life, to keep his bar from being destroyed, and his friends alive, he has to find a way to get them to knock it off.

If you have read book one and enjoyed it, I think you’ll love book two.

See my review for book 1, Death Cramps My Style (Ex Mortis book 1).

See my review for book 3, Dirge (Ex Mortis book 3).

You can find Hoffman’s books on his website.