Stephen Spruill - Rulers of Darkness
Hodder & Stoughton (Coronet Paperback) (0 340 64940 2) £5.99
Not having read any Anne
Rice I wouldn’t know how Stephen Spruill shapes up as a contender for the
Vampire blockbuster title. But he certainly puts an original twist on what is, literally,
an ancient story. In Rulers of Darkness a fairly run of the mill Vampire
plot --- doomed handsome outsider unable to love or be loved, destined to roam the earth
alone --- is given new life by being told against the background of a modern-day
Washington setting, and in the process forms a mutation that is half Horror half police
procedural. Merrick Chapman is a man with a past which will not, quite literally, lie down. Being the bearer of a rare gene which causes his blood to be nigh indestructible, Merrick is a haemophage; in all but name a vampire. And, when victims of a serial killer start turning up without blood and with their throats ripped out Merrick is forced to the alarming conclusion that the killer could be one of his own kind. Spruill’s book tests Merrick and examines his addiction on many levels as he tries, nobly, to solve the case, keep his past concealed and struggle with seemingly impractical feelings for a female haematologist Katherine O’Keefe. Although I found the book maybe 50 pgs overlong I thought the plot held up well and threw up some very interesting ethical questions for Merrick to solve . These questions, at the end, are only half resolved and we are left with the feeling that a sequel may well be on the way. On the whole a good read. (RL)
