num_pages: 435
description: It is 1900 the dawn of a new century. Even as the old Queen's health fails Victorian Britain stands monumental and strong upon a mountain of technological scientific and intellectual progress. For John Kemp a straight-forward unimaginative London lawyer life seems reassuringly predictable yet forward-leaning that is until a foray into the recently published sensationalist novel Dracula united with a chance meeting with an eccentric Dominican friar catapults him into a bizarre violent and unsettling series of events.As London is transfixed with terror at a bloody trail of murder and destruction Kemp finds himself in its midst besieged on all sidesin his friendships as those close to him fall prey to vicious assault by an unknown assassin; in his deep attraction to an unconventional American heiress; and in his own professional respectability for who can trust a lawyer who sees things which by all sane reason cannot exist? Can his mundane sensible lifeand his skeptical mindwithstand vampires? Can this everyday Englishman survive his encounter with perhaps an even more sinister threatthe white-robed Papists who claim to be vampire slayers?A real 19th century Gothic vampire story rich and colorful and wonderfully full of foreboding. The characters are vivid and convincing and the historical locales make the supernatural element effective and affecting as it builds to the point where our protagonist must recognize it and confront it. Tim Powers Best-Selling Novelist; Author On Stranger TidesImagine a cross between Dracula and The Exorcist written with the literary flourish of the former and the Catholic sensibility of the latter and you will have some idea of how this heavenly hybrid on a hellish theme speaks with such death-defying and grave-shattering power in this work. Joseph Pearce Editor Ignatius Critical Editions; Author The Quest for ShakespeareNicholson writes with an impeccable ear for turn-of-the-century English and a dry wit worthy of George Bernard Shaw that makes A Bloody Habit a brilliant combination of edification and fun. Karen Ullo Author Jennifer the Damned and Cinder Allia
language: English
title: A Bloody Habit
publisher: Ignatius Press