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This is NOT my usual reading. I seldom read paranormal/supernatural fiction. I read a few Anne Rice back over 20 years ago (love Interview With the Vampire AND The Mummy), and with the exception of a ghost story here and there, and Twilight, which I read because my girls were reading it (took one day, 4 hours of my life I will never get back--UGH!), this kind of book doesn't usually show up on my reading radar.
However, somewhere, somehow, I came across it in discussion somewhere on Facebook, and downloaded a sample onto my Kindle. I was intrigued. I didn't exactly run out looking for it, but when I came across it at the library last week, I snatched it up. Mindless, fun reading, this story is a whirlwind of vampire do's and don'ts! The main conceit of this novel is a seemingly normal English suburban family with a big secret--they are "abstaining" vampires. Unfortunately, the two teenage children don't know they are vampires, so they are sickly and weak and don't know why (don't worry, this is all laid out pretty quickly in the book, no spoilers here!). Horror (and even some hilarity) ensues.
I would say this is a notch or two above the writing style of Stephanie Meyer, very readable (and movie ready, I might add) with it's short chapters a la Dan Brown and highly visual descriptions. But Haig is a grown up writer with references to stuff quite a few teens are not going to get--the "vampire culture" presented in the novel extends from the Romantic poets to Jimi Hendrix and lots of folks in between. Clever and fun, a good one for Anglophiles with its English village setting. I'm sure it will make a fun movie (I just read the screenplay was being written by the same writer for PD James' 'Children of Men.'
I also could not help but think the family's name, Radley, had to be a nod to the reclusive Boo Radley of To kill A Mockingbird. I just founf this after searching for a clue on Goggle: "The family's surname, in case you wondered, is a tribute to Boo Radley of "To Kill a Mockingbird" fame. "'Yes, Boo, pale-faced, misunderstood suburban outsider, was definitely my inspiration,' Haig told Publishers Weekly. He also learned that "Radley," meaning "of the red meadow," sports nice vampiric connotations." So, mystery solved![http://www.standard.net/topics/features/2011/01/17/fiendish-family-turmoil-comes-comic-bite] ”
Kiki68 wrote this review Wednesday, November 30, 2011.
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