From my TOP SHELF review printed in The Monitor on June 7, 2012:

Teen Averts Vampire Apocalypse

The Alex Van Helsing series is about a teen who discovers he's heir to a long tradition of vampire hunting. While he attends boarding school in Switzerland he is also trained by the Polidorium, a group dedicated to the extermination of vampires.

Book 3, The Triumph of Death, opens with a dizzying, James Bond-style action piece as the plane returning Alex to school is hijacked by vampires that hack a Polidorium computer and disable the cockpit, requiring Alex to fight them in freefall without a parachute. After surviving this harrowing experience, he gets to briefly catch up with his friends Paul, Sid and Minhi (and meet new student Astrid Gretelian) before the vampire organization known as the Scholomance attacks the Swiss town of Secheron. Throwing a veil of darkness around the town, the vampires—under the command of Elle, Alex’s undead nemesis—commence to construct a bizarre tableau heralding the arrival of Claire Clairmont, resurrected queen of the dead and former lover of Lord Byron, now known as the vampire Icemaker. The Scholmance is finally driven off by the Polidorium with help from Alex and Astrid, who turns out to be a young agent of the Hexen (a world-wide organization of witches to which Alex’s mother belongs).

Alex and Astrid help decipher the meaning of the incursion: Claire wants to enact the Triumph of Death, famously encoded in a painting of the same name—eternal night on an earth ruled by vampires. Soon the two teens must race against the clock to find clues in art and literature that will show them how stop the destruction of all they hold dear. Alex suffers several crises that help him to understand why his father could have abandoned the Polidorium and raised him to know nothing of his family’s past. Kept from his friends and the relative normalcy of school life, the young man is forced more deeply into darkness than ever before as he struggles to unearth the secrets of Byron and Clairmont’s twisted family in order to save his own.

Triumph is the best of the series so far, expanding the mythos and forcing Alex to face the implications of his choices in rewarding, resonant ways. The book is still action-packed and fast-moving, but the horror and indignation Alex feels—not only toward the vampires, but also about the measures humans must take to fight them—elevate the narrative, adding depth and gravitas. All the hallmark Henderson genre nods are in place, and literate fans won’t be able to stop smiling. My only complaint? I’d love Harry Potter-length novels in this universe. The ride is over too fast!

Triumph of Death will be released in hardcover on July 24.