Thank you to the author, publishers Simon & Schuster and NetGalley UK for access to this as an advance reader’s ebook. This is an honest and voluntary review.

Picking up shortly after the gripping ending to Blood Like Mine we return to a world where morality meets survival. Rebecca and her daughter Moonflower have been separated by the events of book one, and through the course of this second instalment in the trilogy come to find out how many other people are facing the same challenges they have.

Sinister special agents, an FBI agent trying to find out the truth about her partner’s death, what happens when someone already attracted by violence has a chance of an immortal life, and diary flashbacks to how everyone ended up the way they are.

I didn’t expect Blood Like Mine to have a sequel, but was happy to revisit this world, and now looking forward to the final part of the planned trilogy. It was good to see familiar characters return and face new challenges, while also meeting some particularly creepy new additions. A good read.

A rare example of the sequel being better than the original for me - this takes the core characters from Blood Like Mine to the next level whilst expanding the backstory.
Moonflower meets two ‘young lads’ like her following her mother’s apparent death. Her mother is coming to terms with her own change, McGrath is determined to get to the bottom of her partner’s death and we have a series of diary entries running through other events in the 90s. All the stories fit together expertly - this is pacy, exciting and sometimes brutal material with a real heart to it. Hoping for more!

4+ ⭐


Very eased to this sequel, and read that it's possibly a trilogy? Who doesn't love a trilogy?
It adds so much background to the previous book (which I REALLY enjoyed) whilst also moving us nicely forward in the story.
Some great moments of suspense, and equally some touching ones.
Neville has himself another winner here I think

I have been waiting with bated breath for the second instalment in this series. I highly recommend reading book one, Blood like mine, first. This book picks up from the Blood like Mine, following Rebecca and Moonflower in their attempts to survive after ‘the change’ whilst McGrath tries to navigate life as a new parent whilst being on the road chasing monsters in the shadows, she risks suffering the same fate as her slain partner, Marc Donner. The subplot around Emma, an Irish girl who is trying to make her way on a workers visa, worked really well. I raced through this book and am now eagerly awaiting the next one, again! Don’t wait too long please.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to read this ARC.

You need to have read Blood Like Mine for the full experience of this, but Blood Like Ours takes us on a horrifying journey. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review it before publication, and my mind is already whirring as to who/what will be the focus for book three.
Rebecca Carter has been shot by Agent Donner who died in the unofficial investigation. His partner, McGrath, knows she is on thin ice with some of the choices she made. So when another agent requests her help with locating people who have no reason to be alive she gets sucked into the obsession that killed off Donner.
The focus shifts between Rebecca, newly turned, and her daughter who has escaped and is picked up by two boys, like her in so many ways, who could prove very dangerous. The pacing builds nicely as we come to understand the nuances of these characters and the choices they have made. I was fascinated by the background we are given into Jacob and Willard, the two boys who chose this lifestyle, and am definitely curious to see how Neville chooses to continue the series.

Blood Like Mine was one of my top three books of 2024. I can't help thinking that Blood Like Ours is going to be right up there again this year. I loved it. Devoured it within just two sittings. It would have been one if it hadn't been for that pesky thing called work. This is the continuing story of Rebecca Carter and her young daughter, Monica, aka Moonflower. Now, for various reasons I have to say that if you haven't read Blood Like Mine, then I really do recommend you read that books first, and that you perhaps don't read any further into this review. I'm going to try not to drop any major spoilers, but the two books are so closely and importantly linked, that it's tough.

At the end of the last book things looked pretty bleak for Rebecca and moonflower. Having been on the run, Moonflower is forced to leave her mother for dead, and make her own way in the wilderness. A big ask for any youngster, but especially for Moonflower given her unique circumstances, which you can ascertain from the blurb, should you so wish. But, Rebecca is not quite as far gone as people had thought and we catch up with her at quite a crucial point in her new version of life. Having supported Moonflower for years, it's her turn to manage her new found appetite, and that is no easy task. add in the fact that she is still classed as a fugitive with the FBI on her tail, as well as the fact she needs to hunt down her daughter whilst not entirely remembering who she is herself, and the scene is set for a high tension, high stakes pursuit across the country that really does keep you on edge and had me turning the pages long past what was a suitable o'clock on a school night!

I'm not going to lie, I wasn't quite sure how I was going to feel reading a follow up book that didn't feature Agent Marc Donner. He wasn't perfect, but there was something about him. But between Moonflower, Rebecca and Sarah McGrath, I was truly invested in the story. And what a story it is. Moonflower falls in with a bad crowd - no mean feat given that she was a one woman/child bad crowd of a sort anyway. Brothers Jacob and Will are the kind that had my hackles up from the off, but the way in which Stuart Neville explores their back story, how he drip feeds it into the narrative and the legacy of this series, really works perfectly. It keeps the tension and the sense of jeopardy high. That sense that Moonflower is in danger, but stopping short of clearly defining what and how until a very crucial point in the story after which all bets are off.

There is another new character in this book, someone who works for the FBI, sort of alongside McGrath, even though in truth she has no reason to pursue her hunt for the missing Rebecca and Moonflower. Special Agent Francis Visconti is one of those ultra shady, impossible to define kinds of characters, who plays a crucial part in the execution of the story, enabling McGrath when she should more appropriately sent home to her family, and creating ambiguity over the actions of the FBI and their real interest in Rebecca and Moonflower's case. Think Fox Mulder, if Fox Mulder had the morals of a serial killer and instincts of a shark. The truth might be out there, but I'm not quite sure whether Visconti wants it making public or not. Mostly not I'd say. I really rather liked him in a strange kind of way.

This is one of those books when you don;t quite know whose side you are on. On one hand I want Rebecca and Moonflower to succeed.On the other, I can see why mcGrath should be both the legal, and moral, victor. I know who I didn't want to come out on top, and there was more than a small amount of satisfaction at how it plays out. I love the way in which Stuart Neville has once again blurred the lines between right and wrong, making you question if doing a bad thing is okay, if done for the right reasons. It's a sensation echoed in the story, and to brilliant effect. The pacing and tension are top notch. There are moments when my heart was in my mouth, moments I thought my own blood was boiling, and also scenes where you kind of feel a small sense of heartbreak, the emotion of what we witness hitting home, made all the more tragic by the fact that none of the key players in this sorry tale chose to be where, or who, they are.

And that ending. Oh so perfect. But so many questions. it has to be ripe for book three, surely. Please let it be so. I love stories like this one, blending my love of crime fiction with my original love of horror. It's intense, ingenious and one of my favourite books of the year so far. Possibly even better than the first book. Yes, I know more this time. Expect more of what comes to pass. It doesn't mean the book is lacking in shocks and surprises. Far from it. Most definitely recommended

After the incredible BLOOD LIKE MINE, Neville returns to Moonflower and her mother, Rebecca, in the aftermath of a tragic set of circumstances that saw Rebecca refuse to drink her daughter's blood and become a creature that lives on blood.

But Moonflower doesn't realise her mother refused too late. And while she lives out in the prairies with a pack of dogs, trying to live by her mother's rules and only eat those who deserve it, Rebecca wakes up in the morgue and tries to remember who she used to be and why she has such a craving for blood.

As Rebecca rebuilds her memories and searches for Moonflower, Moonflower finally meets other vampires -- two young-looking brothers who appear to only want the best for her. But are their motives as pure as they claim? And how is all of this connected to a mysterious set of diary entries from the late 1990s?

Neville builds upon the mythology established in his earlier novel to flesh out the dark netherworld of vampires he only teased there, while also exploring the ways in which people accept or succumb to their darker natures. The question of choice and consent rings through the novel, particularly following the revelation of the truth behind Moonflower's turning.

But Neville never forgets the personal aspects of his stories -- no matter how much blood (and it's a lot!) is let or how tightly he coils the suspense, the book works because he -- and we -- believe in these characters with all their contradictions and flaws, and hopes and fears.

This is a superb sequel to a terrifying novel that marked a turning point for Neville, and I have no hesitation in telling those who read BLOOD LIKE MINE to seek this out, while those who have yet to meet Moonflower and Rebecca should get out there right now and read both of these compelling and occasionally terrifying books.

Rebecca Carter wakes in a strange place to discover her daughter, Moonflower, is missing. Her only concern is to find her daughter before someone else does.

The aftermath of the first book in the series has left an FBI agent dead, and Rebecca is not only separated from her daughter, but her worst fear has come true. Survival and finding Moonflower are the only concerns driving her. Miles away, Moonflower has found two brothers who sympathise with her plight and are willing to help her. All the while, the partner of the FBI agent who was killed is determined to track the mother and daughter down.

This is a book that is filled with moral ambiguity. What is essentially a battle between good and evil, we discover that there are spectrums within both camps. Rebecca is consumed by guilt for letting her daughter down and for the actions she is forced to take simply to survive. Likewise, FBI agent Sarah McGrath is struggling to come to terms with the death of her partner and is determined to punish the people responsible. It is impossible not to feel sympathy for both women.

For Moonflower, lost and alone, there is a ray of hope when she encounters brothers Jacob and Will. The pair understands her plight and offer her a place of sanctuary. You can understand Moonflower's hesitation. Her mother has spent years telling her never to trust anyone, and suddenly she finds two people, and possibly more, who understand her.

The action is non-stop as all three threads converge, leading to a cataclysmic showdown. The only questions are who to trust and who will survive?

This book is the second in the Blood Trilogy, following directly on from where we left off in Blood Like Mine. This means that you NEED to read that book first. There are memory joggers contained in this book but they are NO substitute. Also, if you haven't read it and are going to, stop looking at this book and its reviews as they may contain spoilers!
So, Rebecca is dead, as is Agent Marc Donner who was on the tail of her and her daughter Moonflower, who has been dead for a long time. Although two of these people actually aren't dead at all.
Rebecca wakes up on the slab in the morgue. Obviously her refusing blood from Moonflower didn't go as well as she wanted. And she is now un-dead. And with only one thing on her mind - apart from feeding - she needs to find her daughter.
Moonflower (Monica as was) is still also un-dead but now separated from her mother-protector. And vulnerable.
And to complete the trifecta of main characters - we also meet FBI Special Agent Sarah McGrath who was Agent Donner's partner. She wants to avenge his death and also get to the bottom of what he was investigating. Especially when she learns that Rebecca's body has vanished from the morgue. Luckily she finds help in a rather strange and interesting place... enter Francis Viscotti...
And then there's Jacob and Willard, but I can't really say anything more about them.
This book is brilliant. If you thought book one was, then this one eclipses that! And like any good trilogy should, it ends at a good place, satisfying for this episode but also leaving enough to get on with in the final episode. Although, as yet, the direction in which he is going to take it is a complete mystery to me, being as how I never thought we'd be going THERE in this book!
But we did, and it was brilliant.
I could bang on and on about this book forever. But I can't and I won't due to spoilers. But as well as being visceral - the nature of the beast - it is also insanely cleverly plotted and has a brilliant storyline. It also makes you question right and wrong and who to root for.
See... not just another vampire book at all...
In fact, the only bad thing I can see is that I now have to wait to see how the author will conclude the trilogy... That can't come soon enough for me...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Rebecca Carter is alive and on the hunt for two things. One is her lost daughter, and the second she needs to feed her hunger for blood.
Monica ‘Moonflower’ Carter is lost. Surviving on small animals and relying on her dog pack to help her survive.
Agent Sarah McGrath is on the hunt for both women. She is looking for answers why her partner was killed and Sarah will not stop until she gets the answers she’s looking for.
Moonflower comes across two brothers called Jacob and Willard Hendry, while she’s on the hunt. She is drawn by the scent of blood, and finds the siblings are just like her, they also crave fresh blood.
It’s not too long before the brothers reveal their true selves and Moonflower is trapped and looking for escape.
Unknown to Moonflower her mother is on her trail and will not let anyone get in her way, but see finds help from an unlikely source to aid her, FBI agent McGrath. The two women make a pact to seek the truth and rescue a lost girl, but will they be on time?
The second book in this trilogy, and what a truly remarkable story.
An intense and emotional rollercoaster ride, sometimes brutal and bloody, other times heartfelt and sensitive.
A stunning piece of work and I can’t wait for the next one.
Stuart Neville has truly outdone himself with this novel. This has tv box set written all over it.

Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A lot of parental dread in this one. I liked the different take on the bodily transformation trope. There’s a lot of moral ambiguity. No one emerges on the side of angels. Everybody has something to hide. A mother has to decide how far she will go to ensure her child’s survival. A child who is no longer innocent herself. A nurse that helps "monsters". An FBI agent seeking redemption? She works with another FBI agent with questionable motives. Throw into that mix a pair of psychotic shape shifters with a chilling backstory and you get “Blood like Ours” a great story.