Gina’s Review: Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly

Those Who Hunt the Night
written by Barbara Hambly
published by Del Rey

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks, Book Depository, Goodreads

Did I enjoy this book: This is a Gothic vampire mystery novel and I liked it. It’s got “Spooky Halloween Book” written all over it, and guess what – there aren’t any sparkly vampires. Not that there’s anything wrong with sparkly vampires, but I prefer mine with a bit of a classic vampire vibe. You know, sneaking out of dark corners and talking about sucking your blood? Yeah, that’s what Barbara Hambly created in this novel.

A friend who recommended Those Who Hunt the Night said I’d adore Ysidro’s character. She was right of course. He is the perfect amount of creepy and intelligent for a vampire. He’s eloquent, which makes reading his dialogue fun. It’s easy to fall into a rhythm with the banter he has with our main character James Asher.

Hambly also lets science take part in this novel. We get to see that perhaps there is science behind being a vampire. No, there is no outbreak of vampire disease that causes Buffy to show up, but the science makes this novel interesting because we get a look at more than just the normal vampire lore.

Those Who Hunt the Night is a quick read, and now that I found out there’s a sequel I’ll be rereading it to get myself back into the gothic world of James Asher.

Golden Line

“My name is Don Simon Xavier Christian Morado de la Cadena – Ysidro, and I am what you call a vampire.”

 

 

Would I recommend it: I would!

 

About the book – from Goodreads: The vampires had been living in London since the time of Elizabeth I, but now they were being ruthlessly murdered by someone who ripped their coffins open for the light of day to burn them to ashes. No vampire could endure the daylight to destroy the murderer. They had to turn to a mortal human for aid.

Thus it was that Professor James Asher, one-time spy, returned home to find his young wife in a strange coma and Simon Ysidro, oldest of the London vampires, waiting for him. Ysidro, although polite, left no doubt of his power to locate his spell on the young woman, wherever she might flee. Asher must agree to find the destroyer of the vampires for them.

But if he found the killer, what must happen to them? What would inevitably be the fate of any mortal human who learned the identities and locations of the vampires? The answer was all too obvious. Whether he succeeded or failed, it seemed that Professor James Asher was doomed!