The town of Nowhere is as exciting as it sounds. Honestly, Viktor doesn’t have much going for him, even by Nowhere standards, except for Damon, his sole, tried-and-true friend, who joins him for junk-food binges and virtual vampire killings. When school starts, Viktor meets a few new faces, including the girl from the family that just moved in across the street, who’s actually nice to him. Viktor is excited to maybe have a new friend, but he’s distracted by the weird way his dad’s been acting lately…like coming home late at night, with blood on his face and shirt (the sight of blood makes Viktor faint). His assigned reading of Dracula for English class gets him wondering about some less-than-savory possibilities. This tale walks the line between casual and actual horror—it combines plenty of dad jokes and talk about garlic with on-page blood and serious discussions of taking lives—and Brewer manages to balance it all well. Viktor spends a lot of time with new people at school, but these connections aren’t developed enough later in the story to make the interactions feel relevant. Still, the story clearly sets readers up for sequels, and perhaps these relationships will get more payoff in future entries. Characters are cued white.