Judge (Vampire: The Masquerade-Predator & Prey) [Paperback]

Gherbod Fleming (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: White Wolf Publishing (December 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565049705
• ISBN-13: 978-1565049703
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,417,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Missed Opportunity, March 29, 2001

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Judge (Vampire: The Masquerade-Predator & Prey) (Paperback)

After promising myself not to follow this series after my review of the fist volume "Vampire," I broke down and ordered this, the next in the series. Why? I have become a fan of Gherbod Fleming and decided that, if anyone could rescue this series from a weak start, Fleming could.

I have no idea who Fleming really is. He has chosen as pseudonym the name of one of a pair of 11th century Gherbods one of who was married to queen Mathilde, or was the first Earl of Chester or was the brother-in-law of William de Warren. I have no idea what this has to do with vampires, but apparently it has a lot to do with the British royal line, which was getting a bit complex in those days. Make of it what you will.

In any case, "Judge" tells the story of a not particularly appealing automotive executive, Douglas Sands, who is having an affair and planning to leave his wife, who he blames for the death of his son (after all, she was the one who wanted the swimming pool). He is extraordinarily self-indulgent, headstrong, pays no attention to anyone's advice, and in no way resembles a hero. Rather, he is the typical corporate middle manager who you would expect to find reading 'The 60 Minute Sexist.'

Sands suddenly discovers that he can see the supernatural and realizes that his mistress is being stalked by a 'something.' In the process of finding out what it was Sands leaps naked from a third story window in pursuit and winds up in the hospital with his secret completely blown. Did I mention that Sands is eternally injuring himself? He winds up living at the house of Albert Tinsley, who is quite a bit more sympathetic. It turns out that Douglas, like Albert, is a 'hunter,' who has special skills for taking out the supernaturally evil.

Douglas meets several more hunters, who have been protecting his ex-wife and ex-mistress while Sands falls out of windows and perpetually manages to injure himself. As the action builds, Douglas manages, by sheer thoughtlessness, to cause the deaths of two fellow hunters and the injury of a third. All in the effort to take out a single vampire. You can't really blame just Douglas, it turns out that this is the group's first vampire. And they lack any sense of teamwork. If these guys don't get a lot better at 'hunting' they will never last until Volume 6.

If anything makes this book work it is Fleming's writing. He manages to keep up a good pace and some chilling moments. His dialog is crisp and several of the characters are believable. He is clearly the best writer in White Wolf's stable. What White Wolf and Fleming failed to notice is that much of the plot would be comic if it wasn't so ponderously serious. Come to think of it, Volume 1 also has this same problem with pretentious seriousness. If only they had chosen to exploit this vein, this could have been an unusual and inventive book instead of yet another piece of OK vampire fiction.

Now that I've inadvertently offended every goth fan in the universe, I'm prepared for a shower of 'not helpfuls.' But honestly, guys, with so much good, creative materials coming out of goth culture you have to draw a line somewhere. Just because vampires tend to be pompous doesn't mean that vampire stories can be funny and horrifying at the same time. This is more of a challenge for an author, but I believe Fleming is up to it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oooh... Spooky!, March 12, 2001

By 

A. Bennett "llondra" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Judge (Vampire: The Masquerade-Predator & Prey) (Paperback)

As the first book in the Hunter series that actually deals with Hunters, this book does a great job of showing what it must be like for the poor mortals in a World of Darkness. The Hunters are appropriately mystified, horrified and downright nerve-wracked by the world they thought they knew being turned upside-down by the invasion of the supernatural. The two elements I loved most about the book were: 1) It's scary! Then again, I slept with the light on for a week after reading Salem's Lot, so maybe I've got different standards.... But, I really thought Fleming did a good job of making this spooky. 2) Introducing aspects of the supernatural other than vampires. This book also deals with wraiths and the walking dead. And did I mention it's spooky?

All in all, I thought this was a great book and it was great to see the flip side of WoD---take away the blase attitude of 'I'm a vampire, yeah' and politicking and you see what it's like to be an ordinary human in a really scary world.

In regards to the other reviewer who said this has no tie to the first book, that's not entirely true. All of the Hunters' stories as to wierdness they've experienced come from things which happened in the first novel.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Gritty Look at Those That Would Face the Darkness, March 9, 2001

By 

Ron Cole - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Judge (Vampire: The Masquerade-Predator & Prey) (Paperback)

I have been pretty down on White Wolf fiction; while there have been a few good novels, I consider most only slightly more interesting to read than the owner's manual of my vacuum cleaner. Some of the Vampire clan novels have been especially bad, and turned me off of to fiction based in the World of Darkness for a long time. _Predator and Prey: Judge_ was going to be my final attempt at such fiction - a negative impression being the final vote needed to send me away from the series forever.

But _Predator and Prey: Judge_ is GOOD. More than good; one of the best World of Darkness novels I've ever read. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this is one of the most interesting and enjoyable books that I've read in months, if not years. I started reading it at bedtime and couldn't put it down until after 6:30 AM in the morning. High praise, considering some of the recent books by "name" authors I've read that put me to sleep in 15 minutes.

_Predator and Prey: Judge_ is about a Hunter - a human that has recently discovered that the undead walk among the living. This "Hunter," however, is just an ordinary man that doesn't necessarily WANT to know about or "hunt" the supernatural. A lot of the conflict in the novel centers around this aspect: What would a flawed, middle-aged man be able to do against the undead? Would he even care if they didn't directly affect him? What would such knowledge do to a person's life and loved ones? These questions and others get answered throughout the course of the novel in a realistic way - jumping out a third floor window while battling one of these supernatural monsters almost kills him, for instance. There are other subplots throughout the book, of course - other supernatural creatures are met and new Hunters found - and most work together to make it extremely interesting. Still, there are a few flaws and "over the top" experiences, but the majority of the book is excellent (and sometimes extremely creepy). In short, it is a great read!