4.5 STARS


Never could it be called "fair" to compare the likes of George Martin to, say, Stephanie Meyer (who is the young Mormon author of the chastity-obsessed "Twilight" series), but I can't help myself. Vampire novels aren't a genre with which I whet the noodle often, but when I do, it's in the hopes I'll be presented a modicum of creativity.

This is an antebellum tale of vampires (or something like vampires) that takes places almost exclusively on steam-powered riverboats on the Mississippi. The protagonist is described by all as "the ugliest man" alive, and even he has conflicting, contradictory, and evolving feelings about the subjugation of blacks in the 1850s. This character, Abner Marsh, is approached by a rich, svelte, mysterious (and curiously pale) stranger who offers to fill his coffers, fund his Fever Packet Company, and altogether kick-start his ailing business -- and all he asks is for a little discretion regarding his comings and goings. This new partner for Marsh, Joshua York, has a dark and violent past that is both what we expect and still much more. It transcends all of the hackneyed nonsense we are used to in the vampire tale, so much so that the word "vampire" itself is hardly used in the novel whatsoever.

To say more would betray many of the surprises and disappointments of the novel, which is air-tight and suffers from no shortage of violence, strong dialogue, well-researched details of steamboats, and is suffused with racism at most turns. It is also compact, which will be a revelation to most readers who will have visited Martin's epic "Song of Ice and Fire" series before finding this tale from 1982. A final word -- do not be off-put by the rapid, pulse-pounding ending. The conclusion satisfies without indulging our appetite for an easy, mundane, predictable conclusion. Bravo for that.