23 Hours: A Vengeful Vampire Tale [Paperback]

David Wellington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 23, 2009

In the next 23 hours, there will be no reprieve,
no mercy, and no time off for good behavior.

When vampire hunter Laura Caxton is locked up in a maximum-security prison, the cop-turned-con finds herself surrounded by countless murderers and death-row inmates with nothing to lose . . . and plenty of time to kill.

Caxton’s always been able to watch her own back–even when it’s against a cell-block wall–but soon she learns that an even greater threat has slithered behind the bars to join her. Justinia Malvern, the world’s oldest living vampire, has taken up residence, and her strength grows by the moment as she raids the inmate population like an open bar with an all-you-can-drink supply of fresh blood. The crafty old vampire knows just how to pull Caxton’s strings, too, and she's issued an ultimatum that Laura can’t refuse.

Now Laura has just 23 hours to fight her way through a gauntlet of vampires, cons, and killers . . . 23 hours to make one last, desperate attempt at protecting the world from Justinia’s evil.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wellington's smooth fourth horror novel to feature vampire hunting, lesbian ex-cop Laura Caxton (after Vampire Zero) finds Laura behind bars at Pennsylvania's Marcy State Correctional Institute, where she's serving a five-year sentence for kidnapping and torturing a federal prisoner-a sociopath who'd killed his whole family to impress a vampire. Meanwhile, Justina Malvern, the world's oldest living vampire, is at large, wreaking havoc. Then Justina shows up at Marcy State, already hungry for convict blood. Justina gives Laura 23 hours to decide whether to become a vampire or die. Wellington's deadpan humor enlivens the satirical goth-gore proceedings as Laura battles the half-dead and their evil leader.
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Review

Strange as it may seem, the key to good supernatural fiction is realism. Readers have to believe in the world that has been created in order to suspend their disbelief of the creatures set loose in it, and Wellington excels here. . . This could easily have dissolved into B-movie stereotype but instead seems intensely researched and utterly believable. The characters are likewise fully formed and consistent. . . Wellington's voice continues to grow. Highly recommended for horror and vampire fiction fans. --Library Journal

Smooth. . . . Wellington's deadpan humor enlivens the satirical goth-gore proceedings as Laura battles the half-dead and their evil leader. --Publishers Weekly --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 305 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (June 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307452778
• ISBN-13: 978-0307452771
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #530,452 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Wellington was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where George Romero shot his classic zombie films. He attended Syracuse University and Penn State and is currently working towards a degree in Library Science at the Pratt Institute.

Mr. Wellington is most famous for his free online serialized zombie novels, the "Monster Island" trilogy. In 2006 he began serializing "Thirteen Bullets", a vampire novel at www.thirteenbullets.com.

He lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Page turner but "eh?" overall, October 5, 2009

By 

Roses for Lemons (SA, TX, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 23 Hours: A Vengeful Vampire Tale (Paperback)

I'm a big Laura Caxton fan, she's an unusual reluctant hero that will NOT do anything to win in the end and that you have to admire. She's a good cop and she's saving the world, what's not to love?

I'm also a big David Wellington fan. His stories have detail but never drag and his characters usually manage to make great strides in their development without taking the long road there. Throw in vampires and I'm fully 100% on board.

The last three books in this series (13 Bullets, 99 Coffins, and Vampire Zero) are great, I was itching to know what happened next in Laura's story. However, this fell a little short in my opinion. It's not a throw away book or even filler, I just felt like I was reading a long segueway in a story, like at on any page there would be real meat and yet there never was. In the previous books, the stories advanced and the characters developed and some things wrapped up but not in this one, which is why I have to give it a "Eh?" rating.

Wellington loves a cliffhanger but I'm just not sure how the next book can't just be a rehashing on the same themes from this one, which is the first time I've ever felt that way about one of his stories.

I'll pick up the next one in the Caxton series, this book is a quick read and full of gore, there are interesting characters which is why I give it the 4 stars - I just feel like it's missing something.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good vampire book, June 30, 2010

By 

Mercedes (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 23 Hours: A Vengeful Vampire Tale (Paperback)

Looking for something different than all the usual vampire books booming today? Here's the book for you. The vampires in this book have a mouth full of teeth, burning red eyes, no soul, but they do have personality. This isn't a romance novel, and it's not a teen book.

Meet Laura and her girlfriend Clara. Laura is in prison and Malvern, the vampire is coming to kill her. Laura is a vampire hunter and Malvern has avoided her for many years. This book is action packed and will keep you glued to the pages. The ending left it open for a follow-up book. Malvern's plan becomes obvious in the end and I was pleasantly surprised by the ending.

This is part of a series of books, which I didn't realize when I purchased the book. It's good as a stand alone or in the series. I plan on reading the rest of the series and look forward to these books. Although I'm not sure I'd read it again.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars PULPY BUT FUN, May 31, 2010

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: 23 Hours: A Vengeful Vampire Tale (Paperback)

Contrasting the mundane Blood Blade is an enthralling vampire hunter tale and the fourth book in Wellington's series about lesbian vampire hunter Laura Caxton. If you haven't read the first three books, never fear, Wellington makes this an easy jump-on point with a fairly self-contained story and by also providing a synopsis of what has taken place previously. Good thing, too, as our heroine starts out the book in prison for killing a vampire informant.

The world's oldest vampire, the hag Justinia Malvern has her nemesis in the perfect trap. She conspires with the prison warden to get prisoners to feed on to restore her strength while promising to turn the warden into a vampire. Malvern tightens the screws on Laura by kidnapping her lover, Clara, and giving her 23 hours to rescue her. Laura now has to fight through a prison full of inmates and vamps to try an save Clara.

What works so well about the book is the prison setting. Laura goes through the humiliation that new prisoners have to endure at the hands of the other inmates. She's also handicapped as she is without her usual resources for battling the undead. This turns the tables on the hunter as she becomes the hunted with very few allies to help her. While "23 Hours" isn't quite as good as the previous book "Vampire Zero", it's definitely superior to many of its ilk in the vampire hunting genre.