vampires

It's good to see that F Paul Wilson can still write an engaging novel that is "outside" his Adversary Cycle/Repairman Jack novels. PLEASE NOTE: I am a HUGE fan of F Paul Wilson, so I may be biased in this review. I generally don't read vampire-related books, because I never really liked the whole "rock-star, erotic, super-goth, monster warrior, super-vampire" types that have been popular over the last few years. I enjoyed this book immensly.

Mr Wilson brings back the more "traditional" vampire (can't see reflection in mirror, garlic-holy water-crosses hurt them etc) and entwines them into a great story. I wouldn't exactly call this book "scary"...more eerie and disturbing.

I gave this FOUR stars because the plot is wrapped up very quick (the last 20 pages or so) and the ending is a little flat.

Good book overall

Kudos to F. Paul Wilson for saving the vampire genre. Vampires are my favorite monsters and it's great to see a writer bring back these predatory beasts to their true form. Gone are the sissified vampires bemoaning the meaning of it all while deciding what lacy frock to wear. In its place are demonic creatures bent on taking over the world and using humans as food. Smart, coordinated and purely evil, these vampires unleash an apocalypse on an unprepared world.

A great cast of characters is at the heart of this novel. Everyday people forced to overcome their own grief and band together to fight legions of vampires and the humans that serve them. There is sufficient back story on each character to make you identify with these people. By the end of the book you'll have gone through the same roller coaster of emotion the characters have. Great use of dialogue and location as well.

This is a novel that ranks up there with Salem's Lot, I am Legend and They Thirst. It's scary, heart breaking and action packed. A classic tale about loss, faith and survival in a post-apocalyptic world. Thank you, Dr. Wilson, for resurrecting the true vampires. Here's hoping that there's a sequel in the future.

The first chapter, printed at the end of _The Haunted Air_, is crisp vintage Wilson. On the strength of that, I bought the hardcover! The mildly offensive "Author's Note" sets the tone for a novel that seems to be awkwardly and unwisely resurrected from the author's back files. In Stephen King's words, "Sometimes dead is better."

Every imaginable cliche and stereotype appear. A rabbi wavers between stage Yiddish and standard English. A whiskey priest is, of course, Irish American, and infatuated with a religious sister. His late 20s niece, cutely and improbably baptized Lacey, calls him "Unk." Adorable. Lacey is a remarkably boring militant feminist lesbian atheist with lots of corny Celtic tattoos and bulging biceps. Her "anarchist" hero is, of all people, Madelyn Murray O'Hair! The religious Sister of Mercy (a la Leonard Cohen?) is Carole, and her best buddy is a stage Irish Sister Bernadette, with an accent to make Barry Fitzgerald vomit. Even the vampires seem as wooden as if already impaled.

In _The Tomb_ and other "Adversary" novels, Wilson shows regrettable ignorant and juvenile religious prejudice. Sheer story-telling ability makes the reader forgive this. Not here! He has 5 year old altar boys, and adolescent fantasies of an empty Pepsi can used for a chalice -- no one in New Jersey could find a drinking glass or coffee mug? Not even the woman who bakes bread and heats up stew?

At a guess, this was written in the early 1970s, rejected for everything from bad writing to tasteless bigotry, and finally published based on later success. Wilson is now a fine writer, and this book is terribly unfair to his present skill. Don't read this, but do buy the "Repairman Jack" and most of his other excellent novels!