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The Awakening
From the author of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
Benjamin Latham is young and handsome, his 18th-century mind wakened to a bizarre 20th-century world. And there is the need deep within...an animal need, frightening, murderous, unholy...a vital need that must be fed.
And with his need comes a power over men and women to do his bidding, to quiet his dark craving....
Until the murders begin.
And the inquiries. All suggesting the same hideous truth.
Now Benjamin must find a sanctuary: a lover, a partner, a friend. Someone who can share his darkness. Someone he can lead to...the awakening.
311 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
9 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
John A. Russo
208 books103 followersJohn A. Russo, sometimes credited as Jack Russo or John Russo, is an American screenwriter and film director most commonly associated with the 1968 horror classic film Night of the Living Dead. As a screenwriter, his credits include Night of the Living Dead, The Majorettes, Midnight, and Santa Claws. The latter two, he also directed. He has performed small roles as an actor, most notably the first ghoul who is stabbed in the head in Night of the Living Dead.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 8, 2025
The book started strong with Benjamin Latham coming back from the dead. He was hanged as a vampire 200 years ago. Now, young again, he tries to find his relatives in a new century. Of course there are some killings on his way before he meets Matthew, a late nephew of his, and true immoral killer... nice premise but the longer the novel went the weaker it got. Even the ending was a bit implausible for my liking. Overall some solid horror with tons of opportunities given away buy the author to do better. It was okay, but a weaker example of a paperback from hell.
October 4, 2020
So this is renowned screenwriter and "Living Dead" legend Jack Russo's take on the "sexy vampire" tale from way back in 1983. Now, I must confess that back in New Orleans during my sordid youth, I not only embraced the whole sexy vampire subgenre, I WAS sort of a sexy vampire.
I hung out with Anne Rice drinking that awful Abita Vampire beer brewed especially for her parties, and I sometimes could be caught thrashing about like a sentient noodle in my own self-indulgent inner pain to Gothic and industrial drones at the Crystal Tavern on Decatur. But after a while, I grew weary of people wearing frilled sleeves and dental enhancements on their canines. By the time my kids were getting into Stephenie Meyer, I was so over the whole mystique that you would be hard pressed to ever get me to watch a movie or read another tale featuring the bloodsucking freaks. But I do love F. W. Murnau's 1922 film "Nosferatu," and I've loved all the "Necroscope" books and Hugh B. Cave's "Murgunstrumm." So with a copy of Russo's "The Awakening" languishing in the corner, I gave it a shot, since I had heard it was an unusual take in the vampire myth.
And unusual it was. I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just briefly say that the vampire in this novel, Benjamin Latham, is more human than supernatural, closer to the main protagonist in the 2013 film "Afflicted." The idea behind this book is that we are following Benjamin's adjustment to a new life in a new era after his rebirth as the undead 200 years after his execution in colonial America. Such a thing has been done before, such as in Jane Webb's 1827 novel "The Mummy!" which follows a risen Cheops awestruck by the technological and societal changes of the far future. Benjamin was a Tory, and this made for some interesting sociopolitical commentary on Reagan-era American society.
But Russo seems to lose focus here and decide to make this book about something else. Almost to the third act, he introduces a psychopathic descendant of Benjamin. The relationship between these two characters is nonsensical and brought in at the expense of stronger earlier characters. For example, I would have loved to have explored the plot possibilities regarding his love interest, Lenora, who starts off as a brilliant and likeable character with a career in American history. She devolves into an afterthought by the third act, a sexy and devoted Wrenfield to Benjamin's Dracula. This was a real disappointing narrative choice for a great character that could have interacted with the protagonist in so many more poignant and interesting ways.
"But Warren, you ex-Sexy Vampire," I hear you object, "is this book scary?"
It does have its tense moments, and goes to dark places you don't expect it to go. The gore is very tame for pulp paperbacks of this era, but there is enough violence to please those who like that sort of thing.
So I give this book an overall "meh" score. Lots of "good bones" here, but overall the potential was squandered and the overall product did not feel focused and little choices by the characters led to any consequences linked by a Golden Thread. Thus, I did not find it very psychologically compelling, though I was kept reading by the fairly good pacing and the hope that some payoff would come that, alas, was not to be.
So much for yet another sexy vampire. They might do it for emo goths, tweens, and middle-aged divorcees, but not for this old grump who's been there and done that.
I hung out with Anne Rice drinking that awful Abita Vampire beer brewed especially for her parties, and I sometimes could be caught thrashing about like a sentient noodle in my own self-indulgent inner pain to Gothic and industrial drones at the Crystal Tavern on Decatur. But after a while, I grew weary of people wearing frilled sleeves and dental enhancements on their canines. By the time my kids were getting into Stephenie Meyer, I was so over the whole mystique that you would be hard pressed to ever get me to watch a movie or read another tale featuring the bloodsucking freaks. But I do love F. W. Murnau's 1922 film "Nosferatu," and I've loved all the "Necroscope" books and Hugh B. Cave's "Murgunstrumm." So with a copy of Russo's "The Awakening" languishing in the corner, I gave it a shot, since I had heard it was an unusual take in the vampire myth.
And unusual it was. I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just briefly say that the vampire in this novel, Benjamin Latham, is more human than supernatural, closer to the main protagonist in the 2013 film "Afflicted." The idea behind this book is that we are following Benjamin's adjustment to a new life in a new era after his rebirth as the undead 200 years after his execution in colonial America. Such a thing has been done before, such as in Jane Webb's 1827 novel "The Mummy!" which follows a risen Cheops awestruck by the technological and societal changes of the far future. Benjamin was a Tory, and this made for some interesting sociopolitical commentary on Reagan-era American society.
But Russo seems to lose focus here and decide to make this book about something else. Almost to the third act, he introduces a psychopathic descendant of Benjamin. The relationship between these two characters is nonsensical and brought in at the expense of stronger earlier characters. For example, I would have loved to have explored the plot possibilities regarding his love interest, Lenora, who starts off as a brilliant and likeable character with a career in American history. She devolves into an afterthought by the third act, a sexy and devoted Wrenfield to Benjamin's Dracula. This was a real disappointing narrative choice for a great character that could have interacted with the protagonist in so many more poignant and interesting ways.
"But Warren, you ex-Sexy Vampire," I hear you object, "is this book scary?"
It does have its tense moments, and goes to dark places you don't expect it to go. The gore is very tame for pulp paperbacks of this era, but there is enough violence to please those who like that sort of thing.
So I give this book an overall "meh" score. Lots of "good bones" here, but overall the potential was squandered and the overall product did not feel focused and little choices by the characters led to any consequences linked by a Golden Thread. Thus, I did not find it very psychologically compelling, though I was kept reading by the fairly good pacing and the hope that some payoff would come that, alas, was not to be.
So much for yet another sexy vampire. They might do it for emo goths, tweens, and middle-aged divorcees, but not for this old grump who's been there and done that.
January 11, 2022
I’ll be talking about this in an upcoming video. Spoiler alert: it was crap.
September 2, 2022
An interesting, somewhat dated take on a vampire tale, but there were too many unanswered questions about origins. I found this analogous to a good, (not great), 70s TV movie.
April 23, 2018
Anyone wondering about the claims of John Russo being the architect of Night of the Living Dead need only refer to his novels. I liked Midnight in a "so bad it is good" kind of way; there was so little structure to it I had no idea where it was going and enjoyed that aspect of it. I was hoping more of the same from The Awakening.
This is an overlong mainstream 1980s "horror" novel that shows why the genre deserved to tank a few years later. How a major publisher thought this was a worthy thing to publish is beyond me. The premise is interesting: a colonial man executed for witchcraft wakes up in modern day and discovers he has vampiric powers. The following endless chapters of discovering what cars are and other aspects of modern life quickly go stale and started my skimming for something to happen. It also does not help to have the protagonist murder a six year old girl in the opening chapters. With nothing going on and no character to connect to, this is a tough slog.
Things get more interesting in the latter third, but by that time the damage is done. Maybe a severe editing job to cut this down to half the size could have saved it; the writing isn't bad but very wordy and impressed with itself. Two stars for a decent premise and that is generous. Not recommended to anyone.
This is an overlong mainstream 1980s "horror" novel that shows why the genre deserved to tank a few years later. How a major publisher thought this was a worthy thing to publish is beyond me. The premise is interesting: a colonial man executed for witchcraft wakes up in modern day and discovers he has vampiric powers. The following endless chapters of discovering what cars are and other aspects of modern life quickly go stale and started my skimming for something to happen. It also does not help to have the protagonist murder a six year old girl in the opening chapters. With nothing going on and no character to connect to, this is a tough slog.
Things get more interesting in the latter third, but by that time the damage is done. Maybe a severe editing job to cut this down to half the size could have saved it; the writing isn't bad but very wordy and impressed with itself. Two stars for a decent premise and that is generous. Not recommended to anyone.
September 12, 2025
I came about this book around 2001.
My late BFF Amy found it among the things of her paternal grandfather who had just recently passed away not too long after my own father's death. Knowing that I liked horror, she asked if I wanted it.
I have no idea if I held a first edition paperback of it in my hands but eventually, I got a replacement republished cover through Burning Bulb books because the original cover always gave me the willies.
My generic bland artwork still houses inside it a very compelling story. It even got made into a movie directed by Russo and renamed Heartstopper in 1989, six years after he wrote it. I own it under the title "Dark Craving" but there is a Director's Cut under the original title that I valiantly search for every so often.
Benjamin Latham crawls his way out of the ground but has no idea that it has been almost two hundred years. The last thing he remembers is being hanged, this punishment of death for crimes of vampirism and sorcery. He was a doctor testing blood but since he was still loyal to King George around 1782 even after the American Revolution, the people of Hanna's Town couldn't fully trust him.
Soon it also comes back to Benjamin that they drove a stake through his heart and garlic about his neck then buried in the dirt of a crossroads so he couldn't come back. Yet with progress, the building of a new mall has disturbed the ground, and the stake and garlic have long rotted away.
Rising naked from his grave, Benjamin soon finds suburbia to steal some clothing and finds that he no longer has a belly button, no navel to have him born of woman but reborn of the earth. More discoveries come to shock him as he finds his face that of a young and handsome man and no longer the middle-aged man at the time of his death.
Encountering a young girl, Benjamin finds it is now 1982 and he has a craving for blood. The little girl innocently cuts her finger on some glass in the sandbox and Benjamin soon finds himself drinking to staunch the flow, but the child is dead. In horror, he flees away to soon hitchhike to Pittsburgh and try to find out what has happened to him.
The death of Stephanie Karmin is a hard one for Pennsylvania State Trooper Ronald Vargo to investigate as it brings about memories of the death of his own daughter a year before, seven years old and violently murdered. The man who killed his child and ruined his marriage got away, but Vargo swears this time, he'll catch the monster who killed Stephanie.
Benjamin does research on the modern world and tries to discover if he has any living ancestors since he did have a son who went away to Virginia to be a lawyer and had his own family. He meets Lenora Clayton at the Fort Pitt Museum and something about her grabs his attention and there is also something about Benjamin that she can't stop herself from being drawn to him.
Benjamin can't hang around the museum and not appear creepy, so he soon comes across an older gentleman being hassled on the streets. His name is Andy Bonner, and he becomes Benjamin's first real friend by pretending to have amnesia so he can ask questions and not sound insane. They get lodging at the YMCA and Andy helps Benjamin earn a job to save up money.
Vargo soon finds out that autopsy reports show that venomous saliva was in Stephanie's veins amid her blood loss. Benjamin doesn't have fangs but still he needs blood despite being able to eat food and drink yet how he comes across it soon spirals into a nightmare with Andy and Lenora caught in the middle with a policeman on his heels...
To say anymore would give too much away but The Awakening is a pretty solid crime drama and gothic horror and paranormal suspense rolled into one. The only reasoning I can give for not giving it five stars is just the way it ends is such a letdown after a thrill ride of sex, gore, vengeance and pathos. Some scenes may be a little much for some readers but if you are familiar with Russo's other works it will come as no surprise.
Even them, the sterile reality of the medical procedures and homicide workings may be what disturb you even more. I guess it all depends on how you view horror and what truly scares you.
My late BFF Amy found it among the things of her paternal grandfather who had just recently passed away not too long after my own father's death. Knowing that I liked horror, she asked if I wanted it.
I have no idea if I held a first edition paperback of it in my hands but eventually, I got a replacement republished cover through Burning Bulb books because the original cover always gave me the willies.
My generic bland artwork still houses inside it a very compelling story. It even got made into a movie directed by Russo and renamed Heartstopper in 1989, six years after he wrote it. I own it under the title "Dark Craving" but there is a Director's Cut under the original title that I valiantly search for every so often.
Benjamin Latham crawls his way out of the ground but has no idea that it has been almost two hundred years. The last thing he remembers is being hanged, this punishment of death for crimes of vampirism and sorcery. He was a doctor testing blood but since he was still loyal to King George around 1782 even after the American Revolution, the people of Hanna's Town couldn't fully trust him.
Soon it also comes back to Benjamin that they drove a stake through his heart and garlic about his neck then buried in the dirt of a crossroads so he couldn't come back. Yet with progress, the building of a new mall has disturbed the ground, and the stake and garlic have long rotted away.
Rising naked from his grave, Benjamin soon finds suburbia to steal some clothing and finds that he no longer has a belly button, no navel to have him born of woman but reborn of the earth. More discoveries come to shock him as he finds his face that of a young and handsome man and no longer the middle-aged man at the time of his death.
Encountering a young girl, Benjamin finds it is now 1982 and he has a craving for blood. The little girl innocently cuts her finger on some glass in the sandbox and Benjamin soon finds himself drinking to staunch the flow, but the child is dead. In horror, he flees away to soon hitchhike to Pittsburgh and try to find out what has happened to him.
The death of Stephanie Karmin is a hard one for Pennsylvania State Trooper Ronald Vargo to investigate as it brings about memories of the death of his own daughter a year before, seven years old and violently murdered. The man who killed his child and ruined his marriage got away, but Vargo swears this time, he'll catch the monster who killed Stephanie.
Benjamin does research on the modern world and tries to discover if he has any living ancestors since he did have a son who went away to Virginia to be a lawyer and had his own family. He meets Lenora Clayton at the Fort Pitt Museum and something about her grabs his attention and there is also something about Benjamin that she can't stop herself from being drawn to him.
Benjamin can't hang around the museum and not appear creepy, so he soon comes across an older gentleman being hassled on the streets. His name is Andy Bonner, and he becomes Benjamin's first real friend by pretending to have amnesia so he can ask questions and not sound insane. They get lodging at the YMCA and Andy helps Benjamin earn a job to save up money.
Vargo soon finds out that autopsy reports show that venomous saliva was in Stephanie's veins amid her blood loss. Benjamin doesn't have fangs but still he needs blood despite being able to eat food and drink yet how he comes across it soon spirals into a nightmare with Andy and Lenora caught in the middle with a policeman on his heels...
To say anymore would give too much away but The Awakening is a pretty solid crime drama and gothic horror and paranormal suspense rolled into one. The only reasoning I can give for not giving it five stars is just the way it ends is such a letdown after a thrill ride of sex, gore, vengeance and pathos. Some scenes may be a little much for some readers but if you are familiar with Russo's other works it will come as no surprise.
Even them, the sterile reality of the medical procedures and homicide workings may be what disturb you even more. I guess it all depends on how you view horror and what truly scares you.
January 19, 2020
We’re invited to an interesting and somewhat unique vampire tale. Our vampire, Benjamin Latham awakens two-hundred years after his supposed death; after the wood from his coffin and the stake in his heart had deteriorated to dust. His desire to learn what had happened, and who his descendants were, leed Benjamin in an ancestry search to rival ancestry.com. Upon finding living relatives, the question is, “Does the apple fall far from the tree?” A cat and mouse search between detective Vargo and Benjamin highlight the story. It’s a pretty good tale, if not somewhat predictable. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
July 10, 2024
An alright vampire novel from the "Living Dead" guy. I was hoping for so much more but got a kind of mainstream vampirism retelling. At first, I thought it was going to be sort of like a Dracula Death Wish type thing. Our resurrected ghoul befriends a down on his luck older man and he is killed by a group of hooligans. So, The Awakened hunts them down one by one and kills them.
There is still a lot of book left, though. So, in comes a descendent who is a psycho killer and wants to be a bloodsucker as well. Some decent parts keep it moving, but not a wild ride to be honest.
There is still a lot of book left, though. So, in comes a descendent who is a psycho killer and wants to be a bloodsucker as well. Some decent parts keep it moving, but not a wild ride to be honest.
January 28, 2026
The concept of someone awakening after 200 years and seeing what has become of the world is very interesting. I enjoyed the beginning of this story as comprehension slowly dawned on Benjamin and he had to learn to live in a world that was so different from the one he remembers.
But once he became accustomed to modernity the book lost a lot of steam. It kept being hinted that Benjamin learning about his ancestry would be important in some way. While one of his descendants becomes a major character, Benjamin's research did not reveal any revelations about him despite what the story kept suggesting would happen.
This book came out in 1982. At the time of its publication, Benjamin was a time capsule opening into the modern world. Now it is a time capsule within a time capsule as some of the attitudes of the characters feel quite dated to a reader in 2026.
-Spoilers ahead-
Throughout the story, there are news interviews from a "Vampire Expert." This expert is correct about certain things, but I am unclear on whether he was meant to be legitimate. If he wasn't, then his features would be a waste of time (or an exploration of sensationalism in the media, I suppose), but if he was legitimate; he made a statement that vampires do not need to kill to get blood. This was something that Benjamin suspected as well but was worried about survivors turning him in. So he kept killing people despite thinking that killing is wrong. And despite part of his characterization being an interest in research and experimentation. And despite knowing that he has psychic powers. So why couldn't he use his psychic powers to take blood from people without them recognizing him and leaving them alive? Him not even trying to find other options for himself despite his constant fretting over his hunger comes off as both out of character, and extremely stupid of him.
Benjamin also acts ashamed of taking advantage of people using his newfound abilities. But, it is made clear in the narrative that the only reason that Lenora is with him is because of those abilities. He never makes any attempt to free her despite claiming to love her.
But once he became accustomed to modernity the book lost a lot of steam. It kept being hinted that Benjamin learning about his ancestry would be important in some way. While one of his descendants becomes a major character, Benjamin's research did not reveal any revelations about him despite what the story kept suggesting would happen.
This book came out in 1982. At the time of its publication, Benjamin was a time capsule opening into the modern world. Now it is a time capsule within a time capsule as some of the attitudes of the characters feel quite dated to a reader in 2026.
-Spoilers ahead-
Throughout the story, there are news interviews from a "Vampire Expert." This expert is correct about certain things, but I am unclear on whether he was meant to be legitimate. If he wasn't, then his features would be a waste of time (or an exploration of sensationalism in the media, I suppose), but if he was legitimate; he made a statement that vampires do not need to kill to get blood. This was something that Benjamin suspected as well but was worried about survivors turning him in. So he kept killing people despite thinking that killing is wrong. And despite part of his characterization being an interest in research and experimentation. And despite knowing that he has psychic powers. So why couldn't he use his psychic powers to take blood from people without them recognizing him and leaving them alive? Him not even trying to find other options for himself despite his constant fretting over his hunger comes off as both out of character, and extremely stupid of him.
Benjamin also acts ashamed of taking advantage of people using his newfound abilities. But, it is made clear in the narrative that the only reason that Lenora is with him is because of those abilities. He never makes any attempt to free her despite claiming to love her.
January 28, 2025
The story had a slow start, following Benjamin Latham as he tries to unravel the mystery of how he’s alive after 200 years. However, after listening to a few chapters, it really picked up! It’s a fascinating and unique take on a vampire tale.
October 23, 2008
I read this book many years ago (early 80's), so I could not give an accurate review. I rated it in my records as a "very good read".
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews