Blood Red [Paperback]

James A. Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 2007

For years, Halloween has been a time for celebration in picturesque Black Stone Bay, RI. But this year, things will be very different. This year, the town will learn that things that go bump in the night are not always figments off the imagination.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in fictional Black Stone Bay, R.I., Moore's contemporary vampire novel offers plenty of traditional horror chills leavened with flashes of humor. The affluent community descends into turmoil after Jason Soulis, a cryptic and distinguished older gentleman, arrives in town before Halloween. Soulis recruits a college student to moonlight as a call girl and seduce all the Black Stone Bay clergy as part of an effort to create a crisis of faith. People begin vanishing and their loved ones find themselves confronted with ghostly versions of family members. Madness spreads like the plague, leaving the local police officers scrambling to respond. Moore (Writ in Blood) doesn't feel bound by the classic attributes of vampires familiar to Bram Stoker's readers, but his variations aren't especially interesting and his failure to give Soulis much of a backstory or motivation lessens the overall impact. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"His work stands toe-to-toe with the best of King, Koontz, and McCammon." -- Cemetery Dance Weekly

"Moore brings his considerable storytelling talent to bear in this chillingly gory tale." -- Library Journal

"Moore has produced the literary equivalent of a B-movie ... fast moving with a good mix of sex, gore and laughs." -- Page Horrific

"Moore may be one of the best kept secrets in horror fiction, but the secret is finally getting out." -- Chronicle

"Will become a classic like Stephen King’s ’SALEM’S LOT. Moore is one of the grandmasters the horror genre." -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (September 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425217590
• ISBN-13: 978-0425217597
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,520,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid characters and an imaginative plot, but long-winded, September 15, 2007

By 

Craig Clarke "Living After Midnight: Hard and... (New England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Blood Red (Paperback)

The crows have come to Black Stone Bay, Rhode Island; they are the first sign that something is wrong in this Southern New England town (that looks suspiciously like Newport). New neighbor Jason Soulis is making odd requests and local children are disappearing, then reappearing with golden eyes. Meanwhile, the clergy are finding their faiths challenged by an especially adept local prostitute / student.

As a combination vampire novel and zombie thriller, this book fills its horror ambitions well, with vampires that harken back to the days of Nosferatu; they are anything but sexy, with their pasty (sometimes crusty) complexions, and their eerie eyes filled with some sort of Quakerish inner-light.

James A. Moore is a good storyteller. I only wish he showed more control over his words. He writes like a diarist with an endless supply of ink, and shows seemingly little interest in tightness or pacing. His imagination is terrific, but he really needs a brutal editor with tight reins to help him shine.

Unfortunately, even this would be difficult because Moore's style is anything but fluid, with a sentence structure that tends toward the confusing. This, most of all, was what made me put down Rabid Growth after only fifteen pages (that said, Moore himself has stated that even he doesn't like that book), and it made Blood Red an absolute trial to get through.

If the author was supposed to grab me with the first page, however, he succeeded with Blood Red. Unfortunately, he then dragged me over a long, winding path instead of taking the direct route. Even Simon Clark's introduction seems to struggle to find something good to say about Moore, going on about crows for a while before relying on some suspect compliments at the end. ("Easy-going, loquacious style"? In my book, that translates into "slow and wordy.") As the action speeds up, however, he drops this quirk and gets down to business. Caught up in his own excitement with the plot and simply trying to get the words down as quickly as he can, Moore allows us to finally get caught up in the story. But as soon as things slow down again -- when he is setting a mood or introducing a character -- he resumes the sluggish pacing.

Descriptions are not the only drawback; conversations also go on far longer than they should. Still, he does manage to keep a dozen major characters separate and individual. Even the two policemen get special attention, something that is almost unheard of in horror. By focusing on making his protagonists real and not just icons, it's actually the antagonist who suffers here, with mastermind Soulis ("Soul-less", perhaps?) appearing as little more than his ambitions. Nevertheless, the characterization and an imaginative plot keep Blood Red from becoming just another in the seemingly endless series of mass-produced vampire novels.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Vampire Novel, October 8, 2007

By 

Kenneth W. Clifford (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Blood Red (Paperback)

This is by far one of the top 5 vampire novels that I have ever read. Rates rigth up there with King's SALEM LOT, McCammon's THEY THIRST, Clegg's CHILDREN'S HOUR and Simmon's CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT. Flawless prose, great pacing, and the scenes of violence come off like watching a great movie. Moore is an author who gets better with each novel.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Vampire Novel In Years, September 17, 2008

By 

William M Miller (Bronxville, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blood Red (Paperback)

No one was more surprised at how good this book was then I was. James A. Moore was on my probation list after receiving back-to-back two-star reviews for his last two books. I almost didn't pick this one up, but I decided to give him one more chance. Needless to say, I was fairly blown away.

Blood Red is a rather large scale story set in a small town, very well written, with characters I really enjoyed learning about. The slow buildup was a gamble, but one that -- for me -- paid off tremendously. Horror author Kealan Patrick Burke said it best with his three work descripion of the book... "Brutal and scary". I was very surprised and delighted at the large number of characters that Mr. Moore kills off. He's obviously not afraid of anything.

I could have done without some of the banter between the detectives, and Ben's incredible computer skills seemed a bit far fetched, but with only a few minor gripes, this book is a big thumbs up. I hope to read a sequel to Blood Red some day. I'm also happy to say that the probation for James A. Moore has now been lifted.