Customer Reviews

VAMPYRRHIC

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There are only a few people who seem to be able to breathe new life (pardon the pun) into novels about the undead. King did it in the 1970s, George R R Martin did it with Fevre Dream, and a few others (Robert McCammon, Dan Simmons, and newcomer Jonathan Maberry) are the only others that spring to mind. But Simon Clark's Vampyrrhic can stand alongside any of them.

Clark once again delivers a heart-pounding horror chiller with Vampyrrhic. I've lost a lot of sleep the past few nights because I just couldn't stop reading. Just when I thought all my favorite characters were safe--BAM! Something reached out of the dark for one of them, and I had to read a few more chapters.

Dr. David Leppington returns to the small, sleepy town that bears his family name in order to visit with his beloved Uncle George whom he hasn't seen in a couple of decades. He checks into the town's only hotel, run by the beautiful but bizarre Electra Charnwood, and meets up with Bernice and the sinister strongman Jack Black. Dear crazy-as-a-loon Uncle George tells David that he is heir to the Leppington legacy. David refuses to believe this whacky tale but soon learns that his uncle might be right when he, Electra, Jack, and Bernice find themselves thrown together to fight the bloodthirsty creatures lurking in the tunnels under the town.

Ok, so this isn't the most original story on the planet. The vampire tale isn't exactly new and fresh, but Clark manages to pull this one off with superb writing and chapter cliffhangers. His characters are believable, and I had to keep reading to find out what happened to them. Add to that the fact that any pale, hungry creature that thrives in a dank, dark tunnel and thirsts for your blood is going to be scary under any conditions, and this book is a winner. There's enough gore to make it creepy but not so much that it's distracting; enough sex to spice up the night creatures but not so much that it's the sole highlight of the novel; and enough ancient legends borrowing from mythology to make the story a bit unique. I think Clark is well on his way to being a top name in the horror genre. Read this one, and then grab Blood Crazy--you won't be disappointed.

Simon Clark has written one of the most viscerally chilling vampire novels I've read in recent memory! David Leppington returns to the british villiage which he left as a small child;
which he shares the same name with and uncovers of horrifying secret underneath the town which is connected to his family.A army of hideous vampire creatures come out at night as feast upon the citizens. He now must do battle with terrifying creatures who's blood lust knows no bounds! He is aid by Electra Charnwood, a hotel owner, jack Black a goth thug and a young woman names Beatrice. Clark's chilling vampire novel is stark departure from the vampire books we are use to reading. There are no erotic scenes of bloodletting and vampires are not handsome men or seductive women.These are bloodthirsty creatures with a unholy hunger who live in tunnels below the town and are waiting for centuries to come out to feast!
there are brutal scenes of the vampires killing their human prey with their razor sharp teeth and even more brutal scenes of the heroes battling the vampires in their underground lair!This is the first book by Clark I've read and certainly won't be the last!

Simon Clark writes trash horror novels (are there any other kind?), and he does it brilliantly. There isn't anything in the book that will take you by surprise - it's all straight out of the stock cupboard. And yet there's a certain magic. He makes you keep reading. You need to know what happens next. I think it is because he makes you believe in his characters. The situations are stultifyingly familiar to anyone who has even skimmed the horror genre, but Clark fills the stock scenarios with people that you care about. They have lives; they live and love and laugh, and you grieve when they die horrible deaths and you cheer when they triumph over the evil monsters. Yes it's manipulative as all hell, but Clark controls his material with the sure hand of a master. When you do it this well, even the clichés take on new after lives.

A young doctor returns to the town where is family lived for a 1000 years, a young woman imagines evil that stalks the halls at night. An innkeeper struggles to keep dark secrets under lock and key. And a vicious killer discovers he has a purpose. Today is their last chance to end an ancient bargain or see the world overrun with endless death.

David Leppington is the doctor, returning to the town of the same name, where he learns of a bargain once made by Thor with his family in exchange for the destruction of Christendom at the hands of an undead army. Together with Bernice Mochardi, Electra Charnwood and Maximillian Hart he finds himself confronted with the remnants of that ancient bargain - vampire-like creatures that are even harder to kill than the creatures they are modeled on.

The story is told in the dark halls and cellars of the Station Hotel, and in the web of caves that underlay Leppington. It is a claustrophobic story, with no great arched rooms for ceremonies. Nor are the vampires noble creatures of the night. They only pause in their diet of animal blood from the town's slaughterhouses to vary their diet with human victims. Just a black hunger waiting to spread itself across the landscape.

Simon Clarke applies a great deal of imagination to the challenge of creating a 'different' vampire tale and almost succeeds completely. Norse vampires of any sort are a rarity, and the legends and reality that Leppington struggles with are a far cry from the foes of Buffy or Van Helsing. The plot moves a bit slowly, some repeated violence beyond what is needed, but is mechanically sound.

For some reason that is hard to pin down, it never achieves the magnetic quality of great horror. It is too easy to put down, and there are none of those great moments that your mind never quite forgets. Perhaps because, for all its darkness, the story lacks many sources of real suspense. Or perhaps it is that the characters never gel in sympathetic fashion.

Don't let this chase you away, though, I've read a lot worse things that pretended to be horror fiction. Clark seems to have strong writing skills and a good imagination. As long as you are not looking for a literary tour-de-force, you will find this worth the outlay.

i really give this book 3.5 stars.
I thought that this was an ok book. I thought that at times it was way too drawn out and i started to lose interest in it because there is so much more talking then there is action. Also they build the book up so that you believe there will be some kind of awesome showdown between the good guys and the forces of evil that are running around the town killing people off.But, alas, there is not really any huge showdown, though the end does have a significant amount and action. But I did find it to be very clever of him to toss in some realation to Nordic God Thor as to the reason of the vampires existence, and how Leppington was realted to him. I did find that to be pretty cool. But there were several things I didn't get. Some of those being: what the hell was the point of throwing in some Down Syndromes guy that had ABSOLUTLY nothing to do with the story at all. And also how in the hell can two of these sneek into a hotel and go and kill guests when the bar is full of people. I'm sure that someone would have seen something. But aside from some of those minor flaws and the fact that I thought there was too much needless talking that took away from the action of the novel, I thought it was a pretty good book, and still worth reading.

Simon Clark has written a very creepy and mind blowing vampire story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The town of Leppington is full of all kinds of surprises.....vampire creatures stir beneath it's streets in sewers and tunnels! I really liked this book because there was actually a story involved not just blood and guts. The characters were very interesting and memorable. I highly recommend this book if you want to read a "different" kind of Vampire book.

Vampyrrhic struck me as a little ponderous and wordy, but still a really good read. The book is clearly 'English' in style and tone, and lacks the relentless pulp drive of something like 'Night of the Beast,' but I enjoyed it anyway. IMHO 'Blood Crazy' struts the authors stuff a bit better than this one, but it's still good. A solid effort.

To start off, I love a decent horror book; Barker, King, Laymon, Little, and Keene are some of my favorites, and I'm always looking for new finds.
This has got to be one of the worst horror books that I have ever read. About a third of the way into it, it starts to show a little promise, but the story never gets off the ground. The author had some inconsistencies in his plot and just rambled on a lot. I got so frustrated reading this one, that I actually came back out to Amazon to look at other reviews to see if I was just not getting it. Forced myself to finish it up and have already thrown it out.
I'll give another Clark title a try, and if he fails me again he goes on my blacklist.

Now that Stephen King has announced his retirement, Clark is all set to take over as the new "grand-master of horror."

Clark has written a gripping read that never lets go. The story revolves around David Leppington who goes home to his hometown of Leppington in jolly old England. It his first visit back since he was a child and he visits his old uncle who seems nice enough, but rambles on about the family descending from Nordic gods and a vampire army. Sure it's a bit far-fetched, but isn't horror?

Strange things start to happen to the residents and soon enough David and the residents of the hotel where he is staying start to discover bizarre happenings.

A truly epic novel and a great quick read from a writer who knows how to chill a reader's blood. The sweetest part is there is a followup in the works, Vamphyrric Rites.

Good job, Simon, keep em coming.