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
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.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Vampire Novel, October 8, 2007
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.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Best Vampire Novel In Years, September 17, 2008
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.
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