Customer Reviews

Blood Red

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The blurbs on the back of the book suggested this book would be an effective horror experience. It was not.

For horror to work, a sense of reality has to be established through discription of setting and character development. Mr Moore did fine with his settings (all of which are easily imagined) but completely failed his characters. The reason this book got such a low review from me, very simply, is this: the dialog between characters is terrible, and their interior processes lack sense or humanity. It was completely impossible to care about any of the people in this book as they flopped around the story without any realistic motivation. Attempts at humor are mostly centered around 'yo-mamma' jokes, and I can only hope that my grief over the loss of loved ones will be as shallow as portrayed by these characters.

Upside: folks who really dig vampires might really like this book. There were lots of them and they were pretty well realized. Sex and violence are present and accounted for, and I bet this book would make a pretty entertaining movie if the dialog was completely reworked. In fact, I suspect Moore was going for something that could be easily translated to the big screen. Given the vivid scenes of violence and vampire superpowers, it could really work as a horror movie.

Still, its a book, and horror on the page is a very different beast than horror on the screen. And while I can admit I had fun reading this book, a lot of that fun was in laughing at the absurdity of what was happening on a given page. Tension never even began to build, so the climax of the story lacks any real power, and the ending was ludicrous and open-ended enough for Moore to do a sequel if this one ever sells well enough to warrant it.

Overall, I suspect the quality of this book is the product of an editor more interested in getting a paycheck than in making sure his writer is performing at the best of his ability. Too bad.

I had heard good things about this novel even knowing I wasn't a vampire fan. Well, this book didn't do anything to change my mind. It simply didn't capture my interest. Characters were bland and the plot was boring in my opinion. I might give James Moore one more try though before giving up on him.

VERY GOOD BOOK. FIRST OFF I AM NOT A VAMPIRE NOVAL FAN. THE LAST ONE I READ AND ENJOYED WAS SALEMS LOT. THIS IS FAR MORE EXCITING. THE ACTION STARTS EARLY AND CONTINUES WITHOUT ALL THE STEPHEN KING BAD CASE OF ON AND ON DESCRIPTIONS. VERY GOREY WITHOUT GOING OVER THE EDGE AND VERY EROTIC WITH OUT ALL THE DESCRIPTION. DO YOURSELF A PLEASURE AND ENJOY THIS BOOK.

Moore has given us a fun and terrifying novel, filled with genuine chills that linger long into the night after the book has been put down. Well worth the read!

This is by far one of the least interesting books I've ever read. It's not scary at all. In fact it's more amusing than frightening. I couldn't believe one of the reviews (on the book) compared Moore to Koontz or King. Please....he's not anywhere near their league. King's book "'Salem's Lot" is one of the scariest vampire novels I've ever read. I creeped me out so badly the first time I read it that I had to put it down a few days before I could finish it. And Koontz is the true master of horror, I couldn't praise him enough.
I bought the book because it reminded me of the recent movies 28 Days and 28 Weeks which scared the bejesus out of me. Maybe it was the cool cover that fooled me. Imagine how disappointed I was when the villian was a Dracula knock-off. Sexy, yes, I'll give you that but not scary. And the whole back story of him experimenting to create a new breed of vampire was downright silly.
There was plenty of blood and gore if that turns you on but I would much rather be on the edge of my seat chewing my nails from a suspenseful storyline. Blood and gore do not neccesarily make a frightening book or movie. It's the suspense of waiting to see what's around the next corner that get's me going.
If your looking for a really creepy, scary and yes bloody book(s) read
Jonathan Mayberry's "Ghost Road Blues" trilogy. The characters are well developed and you definitly get involved in the story. Truly worth the money whereas this book ....not!

Blood Red could have been a phenomenal work if it wasn't for the ending. I was pretty disapointed and felt like I was left hanging way too much. The authors explanation of leaving so much hanging open at the end was not a very good explanation to say the least. A good writer always leaves enough concluded but never to much concluded. The author didn't do his job on this and shows that he still is by essense very much an amature.

The conclusion felt to much like a cliff hanger. What happens to all the characters I admired? Nothing seems to be completely explained but rather seems to be waiting for a sequal. The overall book was pretty well done but the ending really ended up hurting it more than helping it.

Please write a sequal!

Ive read every single one of James Moore's books. I am a fan to say the least. The only complaint I have is he throws a whole bunch of secondary characters at you,so you really have to pay attention and remember who's who. Now we have his frist attempt at a vampire novel. Nothing really original( can turn into smoke, can fly, remarkable strength) but surprisingly done very well with the plot he was working with. Maybe Im biased. He puts alot of heart into his characters that I find refreshing. The biggest highlight of the novel are his two detectives, Boyd and Holdstedter. Their witty banter gives this novel a humorous twinge.
highly recommended but dont expect too many surprises.