Vespers [Library Binding]

Jeff Rovin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1999

Investigating a series of bizarre bat attacks throughout New York City, scientist Nancy Joyce and detective Robert Gentry team up to uncover the source of these malevolent assaults. And what they discover is sure to keep readers pinned to their seats and clamoring for more.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The word vespers in the title of this book is zoologist shorthand for vespertilionids, the family of small, insect-eating bats that includes the little brown bat. In the beginning of the novel, this ordinary bat, which normally never attacks human beings, is going crazy in packs and biting people in a suburb of New York City. An expert bat zoologist--in the form of an attractive but lonely young woman who works at the Natural History Museum--is called to the scene. One strange event involving bats follows another, and soon, a gruff but endearing New York cop is also on the case. They are called to investigate an enormous mound of guano in a subway under the city. If you know anything at all about the horror subgenre of mutant monster animals in the New York subway (think of the movies Alligator and Mimic), you know it won't be long before the lady zoologist and the male copper are falling in love while hot on the trail of monster bats--in this case, two of them, with 30-foot wing spans.

Author Jeff Rovin is the author of a wide variety of books on TV, movies, and cartoons. He knows the conventions of silly, scary monster tales, and spins them out adroitly in Vespers. The book reads like the screenplay for the inevitable movie: director Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black) has plans to film it. Is it ridiculous and shallow? Yes. Is it fun anyway? You betcha. --Fiona Webster --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Two giant bats and a whole mess of little ones attack Manhattan in a snappy, old-fashioned horror tale by an author who's a bit of a night creature himself?for Rovin, according to several published reports, is the ghostwriter for Tom Clancy's bestselling Op-Center paperback novels. Nothing deviates from formula here. The hero is a brave but sensitive cop; the heroine is a beautiful but lonely zoologist who finds romance with the cop in the course of their travails. The action builds in classic form, beginning with a surprise attack on a Little League kid and his dad by a bunch of bats north of the city, peaking with the devastating swarming on Manhattan of millions of the creatures and climaxing in a life-and-death struggle between humans and bats within the Statue of Liberty. Even the explanation for the two giant bats, about the size of bulls but immensely more powerful, is traditional?nuclear radiation?as is the purpose for the visit to the Big Apple by the behemoths and their flapping, biting minions: to nest and give birth. But for horror fans the classicism of the plot will only add to the unflagging fun, sparked by Rovin's energetic prose and strong visual imagination. Anyone who grooves on the notion of a giant bat hanging from the Brooklyn Bridge is going to love this smart, cinematic story. Film rights optioned by Barry Sonnenfeld; audio rights sold to Random House; foreign rights sold in the U.K. and Germany.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Topeka Bindery (June 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 061323779X
• ISBN-13: 978-0613237796
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,501,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the best book I have ever read in my life!!!!!!!!!, February 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Vespers (Hardcover)

This book is never boring, there is always something new happening when another ends, and it is not difficult to read at all. It is as if you become the characters in the book and everything that happens is so intense you can't help but continue to read. I am not a big reader and this book took me two days to read because it was so good I did not want to put it down. Trust me buy the book and you will not be sorry. The first chapter there is already two people who are murdered by these creatures and it done in great detail. Love the book!!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No Guano ... you'll really like this book!, March 31, 2001

By 

coachtim (Indiana, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vespers (Mass Market Paperback)

If you want a book that's well-researched, has good characterization, and has a great hook-line...Giant bats and their buddies taking over New York... then, by all means, pick up a copy of "Vespers"! I'd give it 4 and 1/2 stars, but Amazon.com does not permit that kind of rating.

This was the first book that I've read by Jeff Rovin, but it won't be my last. He's a very good story-teller who's done his homework. "Vespers" contains great action, a descriptive tour of New York and a lot of information about bats that I'm sure most people never knew before. The story nevers bogs down because Rovin skillfully weaves a number of little sub-plots throughout the book.

Not one to give away much of the plot, let me just say that the story is set in present-day and contains more than a few unnerving scenes of violence. Giant bats have begun to breed and multiply after an accident involving radiation affects the growth pattern of one of the bats. A gutsy "batologist" and a brave detective are all that stand between New York and annihilation.

This is a very quick read and is great escapism. I heartedly recommend it to those who grew up when the great old "B" movies of the 50's and 60's told of man's encounters with radioactive ants ("Them"), 8-foot tall "carrot-men" from another world ("The Thing") and giant Japanese monsters (Godzilla).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VESPERS gives Giant Bat Monster Books a GREAT name!, July 30, 2000

By 

M. Grant "MacGyver of the Books" (Detroit, Michigan) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vespers (Mass Market Paperback)

To be honest, I wanted to read FATALIS but couldn't wait for it to be published. So I bought Vespers to familiarize myself with Mr. Rovin. WOW! I tore through this book faster than the bats tearing through their victims. A great summer read that'll keep you turning pages in excitement (and may even make you brush your hands through your hair a couple of times). Sure it's sci-fi and deals with giant monsters. But it's a FUN READ! Do yourself a favor and get this book!