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4.0 out of 5 stars
An Army That Marches On Its Teeth, May 17 2004
A young doctor returns to the town where is family lived for a 1000 years, a young woman imagines evil that stalks the halls at night. An innkeeper struggles to keep dark secrets under lock and key. And a vicious killer discovers he has a purpose. Today is their last chance to end an ancient bargain or see the world overrun with endless death.David Leppington is the doctor, returning to the town of the same name, where he learns of a bargain once made by Thor with his family in exchange for the destruction of Christendom at the hands of an undead army. Together with Bernice Mochardi, Electra Charnwood and Maximillian Hart he finds himself confronted with the remnants of that ancient bargain - vampire-like creatures that are even harder to kill than the creatures they are modeled on. The story is told in the dark halls and cellars of the Station Hotel, and in the web of caves that underlay Leppington. It is a claustrophobic story, with no great arched rooms for ceremonies. Nor are the vampires noble creatures of the night. They only pause in their diet of animal blood from the town's slaughterhouses to vary their diet with human victims. Just a black hunger waiting to spread itself across the landscape. Simon Clarke applies a great deal of imagination to the challenge of creating a 'different' vampire tale and almost succeeds completely. Norse vampires of any sort are a rarity, and the legends and reality that Leppington struggles with are a far cry from the foes of Buffy or Van Helsing. The plot moves a bit slowly, some repeated violence beyond what is needed, but is mechanically sound. For some reason that is hard to pin down, it never achieves the magnetic quality of great horror. It is too easy to put down, and there are none of those great moments that your mind never quite forgets. Perhaps because, for all its darkness, the story lacks many sources of real suspense. Or perhaps it is that the characters never gel in sympathetic fashion. Don't let this chase you away, though, I've read a lot worse things that pretended to be horror fiction. Clark seems to have strong writing skills and a good imagination. As long as you are not looking for a literary tour-de-force, you will find this worth the outlay.
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