There's some interesting information in this book about the history of vampire stories, and some of the detailed analyses of the older and more contemporary books and films and tv is insightful. However, I was a little underwhelmed that there wasn't There's some interesting information in this book about the history of vampire stories, and some of the detailed analyses of the older and more contemporary books and films and tv is insightful. However, I was a little underwhelmed that there wasn't a more deep exploration of the phenomenon, in other words, the sociology of vampire story consumption, rather than what seems to be almost exclusively a textual analysis. The tone of the writing is also a little scattered. The author seems to be unsure whether he's writing a very cold, academic piece of literary criticism or a more pop-culture-oriented, humorous and snarky jaunt around an interesting fad. If he was a more skilled essayist I think he could succeed at the latter. Or maybe it's just not the book I was hoping for!...more