Review: Highly Original And Exciting Vampire Thriller!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 31, 2012
I knew immediately this book was for me when I read this quote at the beginning:"And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood; I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood..."-Leviticus 17:10-11That for me set the tone of the book. This was something more than a `vampire story.'What Author James Garcia has done is he's taken two genres: horror and crime and blended them magnificently. The result? A fascinating story.It reads like a cop thriller yet has the special excitement that one can only find in a horror novel. Fans of both genres will be glued!The action takes place in a small Northern California town as two detectives at the outset are viciously murdered by a vampire.The crime begins to be routinely investigated but then strange things are noted like the corpses were drained of blood.From the novel:"They had vampire bite marks on their necks?""Mancuso didn't."Boing! The cops are onto something--this is no ordinary killer they're after.The police can't understand what has befallen their town as first one murder and then another are discovered and always the corpses are bloodless.It is hard to believe yet it keeps happening...The novels tells the story of two vampires--one the monstrous Vincent and the other Nathanael, a vampire created by Vincent hundreds of years ago `to be his son.'When Nathaniel comes upon a savagely murdered corpse, he sees his name has been written in blood. He instantly understands why this is!I don't want to give too much of the story away but I liked that the two vampires had a relationship as well as a past history which makes their depiction all the more interesting.As for the cop aspect: Mr. Garcia writes with certainty and realism having had a father whose background was in law enforcement. His depiction of police procedure is excellent, but never dry; his characters are too well drawn for that.He made me worry. I felt his characters' angst particularly when infant twins were mentioned and no! You'll have to read the story to find out what happens!I guess what I liked best of all was the theme of good and evil, and the inclusion of God in this well-written story, too many times I feel this vital ingredient of good vs. evil is left out of many vampire novels.So here you have it: small town America, with likeable inhabitants and interesting domestic situations and then the vampiric killings--it is that embodiment of evil amidst these good citizens of Kingsburg that made me think of Hitchcock's masterpiece, 'Shadow of a Doubt.'That film had a similar theme: one of evil rearing its murderous head in a small quiet town, a town unused to `big city' crime.There is also a parallel storyline that explains the vampire characters in a most vivid way.Again the good vs. evil theme is so interestingly depicted as Nathaniel tries to thwart Vincent as much as he can.Vincent has been after Nathaniel and is planning to punish him along with those he has befriended for `leaving him all those years ago.'There is a startling surprise toward the end that I was not prepared for. I love when that happens in a book I am reading!This is fast paced and tense. I liked the time element that the author uses because it tightens the pace even more.And if it's like that throughout, as I neared the climax I found the screws were really tightened as I found myself page-turning ever more quickly.Lastly let me commend author James Garcia, because in his adept hands he has made this thoroughly engrossing novel an exceptional read. I loved it!