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 The Book of Common Dread by Brent Monahan
reviewed by Underview
Original appearance: Albedo one issue 8, 1995
THE BOOK OF COMMON DREAD by BRENT MONAHAN is a novel with absolutely no pretensions. Right form page one it sets out its stall as a page turner, with action jumping right off the page at us and an undercurrent of fear being introduced with exquisite skill. Read the first couple of paragraphs and you'll be hooked. within the first two pages you'll already be asking yourself who, why, what, when, where and how. finding answers to these questions is an entertaining and rewarding journey.
Vincent DeVilbiss is a vampire, not quite out of the Bram Stoker mould, but close enough to be recognised as a blood relation of his creation. DeVilbiss has lived over five hundred years and in that time has learnt just about all the kinks to the gig there are. Though the sun is dangerous to him, he can get about in daylight. And forget crucifixes and holy water, this guy used to be a priest. He even sets up meetings in church.
Unlike most fictional vampires however (is there another kind?) Vincent is not his own master. The supernatural beings who direct his actions are even more terrible than the vampire himself, at least he was once human, these never were. Their main strength, apart from the usual array of awesome supernatural power one expects of beings from the netherworld, is the fact that their existence is unsuspected by the human race. But there is a single set of ancient scrolls that expose them and relate the means of their destruction. And they have just come into circulation following years in private collections.
Over the course of Vincent's long life he has tracked down and destroyed every trace of the knowledge contained in the scrolls, every translation and publication of their content. At one stage another of his kind set fire to the great library at Alexandria in order to destroy a copy.
Now the originals, of which there are no currently extant copies, have been willed to the library at Princeton University. While preparing for his attempt on the scrolls Vincent becomes entangled with a beautiful young woman who works at the library and through her, indirectly, with the young rare manuscripts curator who loves her from a distance. In order to get to the scrolls Vincent will have to overcome and use the curator, who holds one of two keys necessary to gain entrance to the container that holds the scrolls. And as hackneyed as it seems he will have to overcome the power of love.
Look, in synopsis just about everything sounds trite. Try doing a hundred word synopsis of Ulysses or Catcher in the Rye. But despite my best efforts to make it sound like a more-interesting-than-usual episode of Neighbours, The Book of Common Dread is well worth the modest investment of time and money required. It is entertaining, it is eminently readable and it holds your attention right to the last page. If it was a girl I'd recommend you marry her.
The Blood of the Covenant by Brent Monahan
reviewed by Underview
Original appearance: Albedo one issue ??, date?
Boy do I hate sequels, but last year I read THE BOOK OF COMMON DREAD by this author. It was a wonderfully entertaining vampire novel with a sharp twist of originality in its approach to what can be an extremely hackneyed sub-genre. The ending, while completely satisfying in the context of that particular novel, left one in no doubt that there would be a sequel - indeed a further volume was demanded by the loose plot threads which remained and the scope of the vision of the original plot.
Its difficult for me to state with absolute certainty that THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT stands alone. If I was pushed, I would be of the opinion that it would likely suffer by being read out of sequence. But, that being said, you could do a lot worse than buy volumes one and two together - they really will repay your investment.
The Scrolls of Ahriman are the only genuine evidence of the existence of vampires, describing their nature and that of their masters. Created to serve the dark lords who were cast out of heaven, Monahan's vampires receive an elixir (taken at regular intervals) which bestows eternal life, incredible strength and speed but at the cost of an eternal blood lust and a tendency to wither in sunlight. The scrolls, and their secret, must be destroyed.
As the second volume opens, Simon Penn has already foiled the first attempt to destroy the scrolls and killed the vampire whose task it was. Now he is in possession of the scrolls which must be translated and publicised. His girlfriend, Frederika, was given the vampire elixir in the previous book and , initially behind Simon's back, continues to take it. When he discovers this fact and confronts her she claims she has not been taken over by its addictive qualities and that she continues to take it so that they can fight the vampires on even terms. Shortly after she tells him this, she disappears. With the scrolls.
The Vatican has also taken an interest in the scrolls and a priest, Father Dante Ferro, is despatched to secure them. Ferro teams up with Simon and together they attempt to locate Frederika and secure the scrolls. Naturally the forces of darkness are close at hand.
THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT is a full bore adventure novel, stuffed full of incident, suspense and action. Refreshingly, the characters are well-drawn with more than a single facet to their personalities. None of the good guys is totally good - all of them sketched in intriguing shades of grey. Admittedly the vampires ranged against them have no redeeming features, in comparison to Simon's opponent in the previous novel who lacked total conviction in his master's cause.
Brent Monaghan knows how to construct a novel that demands you keep turning the pages. War and Peace it ain't, but you'll be glad you took the time to read his work. Definitely a name to watch out for if you like horror.
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