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By Blood Alone
Manhattan, 1979. Russell Dorne, a Private Eye in his mid-fifties, is hired by notoriously publicity shy millionaire Jason Everett Garson to find out who murdered his drug-partying pimp of a son. They weren't close, but you can understand Mr. Moneybags' sense of outrage as Garson jnr.'s corpse wasn't the stuff of open-casket funerals - he'd been decapitated and drained of blood.
Dorne visits his old buddy, Deputy Police Commissioner Carl Mariani who's currently being driven to distraction by the antics of "another Jack the Ripper" preying on not only prostitutes but pimps, druggies, derelicts and sundry street people, the more transient the better. Garson's killer could well be the same man, but why should the butcher suddenly opt for so high profile a victim?
Meanwhile, in Brooklyn's Wildwood Cemetery, the black clad skeleton of a man who died 150 years ago is discovered up and out of it's vault. The clothing is relatively recent, and his wallet contains over $100 and the card of noted psychiatrist, Dr. Edgar Wallman. Dorne consults Dr. Mike Leonard, a young pathologist, who tells him a blood-soaked handkerchief found in the jacket pocket bore substantial traces of LSD while the rare blood type is identical to that of Garson. What is going on? and what is the relevance of that extra coffin in the Gorse mausoleum?
Dorne visits his old buddy, Deputy Police Commissioner Carl Mariani who's currently being driven to distraction by the antics of "another Jack the Ripper" preying on not only prostitutes but pimps, druggies, derelicts and sundry street people, the more transient the better. Garson's killer could well be the same man, but why should the butcher suddenly opt for so high profile a victim?
Meanwhile, in Brooklyn's Wildwood Cemetery, the black clad skeleton of a man who died 150 years ago is discovered up and out of it's vault. The clothing is relatively recent, and his wallet contains over $100 and the card of noted psychiatrist, Dr. Edgar Wallman. Dorne consults Dr. Mike Leonard, a young pathologist, who tells him a blood-soaked handkerchief found in the jacket pocket bore substantial traces of LSD while the rare blood type is identical to that of Garson. What is going on? and what is the relevance of that extra coffin in the Gorse mausoleum?
Paperback
First published October 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 15, 2021
For a book that I bought on a whim, this was strangely compelling.
May 19, 2013
easy read. ending predictable. It would have been better if he expanded on the thinking of the vampire and why he changed his thinking about creating vampires, or did the author just run out ideas.
January 6, 2022
The story began with a bang. With crisp writing, erudition regarding forensic examination and subsequent investigations, it set me up for a decisive cat & mouse game.
Then it fell in love with history and gave itself up to a first person account which was not terribly interesting.
Subsequently the author got bored or lost his ideas or both. We came down crashingly to a finale which was utterly pointless, despite presence of fangs.
Frustrating, really.
Then it fell in love with history and gave itself up to a first person account which was not terribly interesting.
Subsequently the author got bored or lost his ideas or both. We came down crashingly to a finale which was utterly pointless, despite presence of fangs.
Frustrating, really.
December 21, 2022
Budget version of Interview with the Vampire with a rushed, boring ending. Fun if taken for what it is, an unambitious, cheesy equivalent of a b-grade late-seventies horror movie.
December 5, 2024
Nice little book. Only the rushed and hackneyed conclusion spoils things. As if the author suddenly remembered he had a pressing engagement.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews