Overexposed first saw light of day as a short story in 2020’s Working Stiffs anthology. It was one of the stories in the collection that worked well for me and I planned to check out other books by K. Evan Coles and the other authors whose work I’d enjoyed, but… I probably got sidetracked by All The Other Books. So I was pleased when the full-length version of Overexposed popped up in one of those ‘other books you might like’ emails from Amazon (or somewhere). I didn’t remember a great deal about the story other than that one of the leads was a crime scene photographer working with NYPD, and he was a vampire – which meant I could come to this extended version fresh, as it were.

The author has fleshed out said photographer’s backstory, showing us how he – Noah Green – was turned, and has beefed up the suspense plot and the romance. Someone is killing ‘bleeders’ (humans), leaving the almost fully exanguinated bodies in public places; whoever it is is clearly trying to make it look as though a vampire is responsible, but it’s quickly clear to Noah and Detective Cho, his CSI handler and friend, that that isn’t the case owing to the difference in the shape of the puncture wounds.

Noah has a bit of a crush on Danny Kaes, owner of Nice Buns, a traditional Filipino bakery – but isn’t going to do anything about it. Danny doesn’t know Noah is a vampire, for one thing, and for another, Noah doesn’t want to get involved with a human; that way lies heartbreak and loss and he’s already experienced more than enough of that, thank you very much. Still, he goes into the bakery fairly often and buys food he can’t eat just to talk to Danny for a little while – he can’t seem to stop himself.

Things heat up when Danny, on his way home in the early hours, is knocked down by some guy who isn’t looking where he’s going, then threatened and mugged, the bag containing his house and shop keys stolen. Noah offers Danny a safe place to stay and a shaken Danny accepts, neither of them expecting it to be for more than a night or two. But then the detective in charge of the case reveals that Danny’s place has been broken into and trashed – clearly whoever attacked him thinks Danny might ID him and is out to get rid of him – and Noah offers to let him stay at his place for however long he needs.

The author’s take on vampire lore is interesting, the worldbuilding is consistent, and the characters are likeable and engaging. Noah was turned when he was in his early twenties, just after the First World War, and has experienced a lot of pain and loss in his more-than-century of life. He is very strongly aware of how dangerous he can be and works hard to control his supernatural impulses and to appear as human as possible when he’s around them, but he knows he’s never going to be fully accepted and that most of his colleagues are, at best, wary, and at worst, scared, of him. And one, Detective Bert Callahan, makes no secret of his dislike and disdain for Noah and his kind and takes every opportunity he gets to snipe at him.

Danny is a total sweetheart who knows who he is and what he wants. He, too, has suffered rejection and loss, which gives him and Noah a strong point of commonality, and he shares Noah’s concerns about what their obvious attraction and connection means for them. Danny has had a relationship with a vampire before, but ended it when it became obvious the ‘fanger’ didn’t want him as more than an occasional meal, so he’s understandably wary of becoming involved with Noah.

Their relationship is nicely done. They’re both torn between wanting to pursue the pull they feel to each other while also being scared of the dangers – to Danny especially – such a relationship could entail. I liked that the author makes clear the potentially dangerous nature of a relationship between a vampire and a human, showing that it’s not something to be jumped into lightly and that it’s going to take work if they’re to get it right. I was also pleased that they don’t go for the obvious solution to the whole immortal/not immortal problem.

I enjoyed the book overall, although there’s a degree of repetitiveness in some of the interactions between Noah and Danny, and it fizzles out a bit before the end. The case is solved by the eighty-something percent mark, and the rest of the story is devoted to Noah and Danny working out how they can be together as human and vampire – which needs to happen, but which, because of the way the story is structured, feels like a bit of an add-on.

There’s a strongly written secondary cast, principal among them Cho, Noah’s friend and colleague, and Callahan, who is a dick towards Noah at the beginning but who experiences some real growth during the course of the story that made me change my mind about him. So much so, in fact, that I’d read a story about him should the author ever decide to write one! And be prepared for all the descriptions of Danny’s wonderful culinary creations to make you feel hungry!

Overexposed is a solid read with an interesting take on the Nosferatu, an intriguing plot and a nicely-done central romance. I enjoyed it despite my criticisms, and will definitely be picking up more books by K. Evan Coles.