John Marks (1)

Evangeline Harper, productora de uno de los programas más vistos de la televisión norteamericana, es enviada a Rumanía para investigar la figura del legendario criminal Ion Torgu. Una vez allí, Evangeline acepta la invitación de Torgu para pasar unos días, juntos, en un lugar secreto a cambio de la exclusiva periodística de la entrevista. Pero eso es lo último que se sabe de su paradero; solo llegan correos electrónicos en los que Evangeline narra su historia.
En las oficinas de Nueva York, la noticia de su desaparición no deja a nadie indiferente, sobre todo porque viene acompañada por sucesos extraños: un compañero muere súbitamente, otros dos se suicidan y en las salas de vídeo ocurren fenómenos inexplicable que paralizan la producción...… (mer)

From the very first page, I loved reading this book and was sad when it was finished. Marks puts a unique spin on the Vampire, where he comes from and why he exists. Also, I appreciated seeing 9/11 placed in the context of the grand sweep of human history. At Borders it is shelved in the literature section and I think a lot of potential readers who are browsing for something new to read will miss it. Maybe its a poor assumption on my part, but I don't think most people browsing in straight literature will pick up a book entitled Fangland and I don't think a lot of vampire/horror fans regularly browse the straight lit section.… (mer)

I understand why this book has gotten rather poor reviews. If I weren't listening to it on CD, I would have quit reading over a week ago and returned it to the library. The most interesting character in the book is Austin Tratta, one of the journalists of The Hour (a news show in the book which resembles our real-world 60 Minutes) who writes his account in a therapy journal, though he never quite accepts the evidence of his eyes or what he is told.

Evangeline Harker, with whom the book opens and closes, on the other hand, is not that interesting nor really that compelling a character and I don't think that her part of the account is really all that clear in the end.

I will give Marks kudos for writing an unusual vampire story. His vampire is both amazing and despicable and amazingly despicable. Jan Torgu, the vampire, uses an unusual method to infect his victims - a constant recital of the names of places which have seen the worst atrocities (places like Treblinka, Gomorrah, Sarajevo, etc.), of the human race follows in Torgu's wake, it slips into thoughts and memories of the people he comes into contact with and begins to undermine their ability to function. Some how he manages to infect the technology used by the show long before he ever arrives at the office. Now there's a hostile takeover if ever there was one ...… (mer)

The first half of the book was entirely useless to me. It was filled with characters whose names I couldn't remember and the inner workings, politics, and paranoia of the news show "The Hour". If I wanted to read about 60 Minutes, I'd have picked up a documentary.

This book was recommended to me as a retelling of Dracula. And in that, it was moderately successful. In fact, if you only take the parts that are the actual retelling, you have a pretty decent and interesting story. The twist on vampires was even crazy enough to work.

Although, Mr. Cover Artist, if you're going to have fang marks on the cover, the vampires in the book should probably have fangs. Maybe wait to fire up the old Photoshop until you've read an ARC or something.

The second half of the book picked up enough of a pace to keep me interested. The characters started sticking in my brain, and I started caring about them. Some of them even developed beyond two dimensions. Maybe. But I was getting into it. And then the ending came.

I finished the book three minutes ago, and so help me if I don't want to punch a kitten in the face. I'm returning this one to the library and hoping that someone who can actually enjoy this will read it next.… (mer)