The London Vampire Panic

The London Vampire Panic
by Michael Romkey

ISBN: 0449005739
Publisher: Ballantine Books; (April 3, 2001)

Vampires in London

Michael Romkey is the kind of writer that you really want to see succeed. Having read all of his books to date, I think he is two thirds of the way there; in that his style of writing is very good and he does introduce fresh and unique scenarios and concepts into his novels. However, other than "I, Vampire", there seems to be a lack of captivation with the books. By that I mean that at any point in his books, I could put it down and never pick it up again. To be fair though, I have never done that.

In this novel, the story unfolds when there are numerous victims showing up dead, drained of blood with two bite marks in their necks. This happens in London, in and around the time of Jack the Ripper. Although Jack;s name comes up on several occasions, it is clear to everyone that these murders are quite different. When the murders hit close to home on the British government, the Prime Minister authorizes a formation of a secret committee to find the killer and put an end to the panic. Members include a variety of individuals with different backgrounds, and of course some are Vampire believers and others are not. The most interesting of the group is Dr. Van Helsing himself. Plans are made, investigations are performed and as they say ' the chase is afoot'.

There are several endings to this story, both of which take up the last 100 pages of the book. The take on Van Helsing is one of the more interesting ones I've read and we are also finally introduced to more detail on the Illuminati. All in all, this is a good book ... not a great book, but better than some of his previous novels.

8/6/03