Customer Reviews

When Darkness Falls

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

The second book in the Vampire trilogy, When Darkness Falls (the first "Beneath the Blood Red Moon" a five star book) takes us into Lucian's past and future. Lucian, the king of the Vampires returns as well as other characters from Blood Red Moon - Maggie and Sean, Jack, Mike. And introduces us the Jade MacGregor, a writer from New Orleans on vacation/research trip to Scotland over Halloween. But the trip becomes a nightmare in a Scottish cemetery, when the dead come to life and kills the tourists in her group. She and several others are only spare from a bloody death by a handsome stranger. Jade is found naked on a MacGregor tomb in the cemetery, the police find nothing of the handsome hero or the murderers.

Then we skip ahead, Jade's at home in New Orleans a year later trying to put her life back in order. Everything is going in the right direction...her book makes the best seller list, she is surrounded by family and friends, and her wonderful policeman boyfriend and her are about to take the relationship to the next level. But then the dreams of the handsome stranger start and the survivors of the Scottish graveyard are dying. Someone is watching her, knows her every move, ready to rescue her from the evil that is trying to finish what was started in that graveyard.

And excellent follow-up to Blood Red Moon, the returning characters are like visit old friends and finding out where they are in their lives. I would highly recommend, this is a romantic vampire saga worth investing in. The only bad thing was there are a few loose ends that left me wondering. But may reveal themselves in the next book due out in October 2001.

This book was exiting, hard to put down, many fasinating characters and action packed, read it in one sitting.

Jade MacGregor is on vacation in Scotland on a tour in an old cemetary when some horrifying and grisley murders occur. No one believes her when she says its vampires. A year later she's home in New Orleans, the same type of murders start in New York and then come to her city. The persons killed are the same people that were on tour with her in Scotland. It appears whoever did these crimes are after her. A mysterious man named Lucian who saved her in Scotland is now stalking her. He's king of the vampires and trying to stop the evil ones from continuing their killing.

This story also had a past history of how Lucian became a vampire in 958 AD. It was so well paced and gave the story more character and depth. There's even a selkie in it.

A perfect spooky read for a Halloween night in October. I highly recommend this book. I loved Lucian, he was so mysterious and very sensual.

Overall, the sequel to "Beneath a Blood Red Moon" is a powerful one. There are a couple of complaints I have with it, the most notable one being that Drake/Graham concentrated more on the suspense/thriller angle of the book than on the romance.

You finish "When Darkness Falls" feeling as though the protagonists are only a small step up from being virtual strangers to each other. Very little of the novel, perhaps as little as 50 pages, contains interactions between Jade and Lucien. Most of it concentrates on the gruesome crimes being committed by the vampires Lucien is determined to stop.

From a suspense/thriller perspective, this book is 5 stars. From a romantic perspective, it is 4 stars. Since there is to be another sequel next year, and since there are quite a few loose ends between Jade and Lucien, I can only assume that we will find out more of what becomes of them in October 2001.

Plot Summary: During a trip to Scotland, Jade MacGregor and 3 others survived a bloodbath in a cemetary. The cops tried to convince her that the assailants were occultists bent on drinking blood and killing as an initiation rite, but she witnessed the "occultists" superhuman strength with her own eyes. She knows what she saw was real vampires in action.

A year later back home in New Orleans, Jade receives news that one of the other survivors from the graveyard mass murder in Scotland was found murdered in New York, having died in much the same way that the others did that horrid night a year past. A pattern soon emerges as more dead bodies pop up, and Jade realizes that the vampires mean to find and kill all of the remaining survivors, herself included.

Jade turns to Lucien for help, since he is the man responsible for having saved her life in Scotland. But the more time she spends with him, the more she begins to wonder if Lucien is a vampire too...

Drake/Graham has proven with "When Darkness Falls" that she can write a thriller with the best of them. I would recommend this book not only to romance fans, but to fans of suspense and horror novels as well.

(Sexual Content PG-13 = description of consummation scenes, but nothing graphic)

While on tour in Paris, Jade MacGregor is fortunate to have survived a ritualistic carnage. Several people died and only the quick work of a handsome stranger helped Jade survive, albeit lying unconscious in a graveyard. Jade insisted vampires killed her fellow tour group members and the stranger simply vanished.

A year later in New Orleans, Jade reads about a similar bloodbath in New York with one of her Paris survivors dying this time. Jade meets the mysterious stranger, Lucien DeVeau who has come to her hometown to keep her safe from the same group that massacred people in Paris and now New York. She begins to fall in love with Lucien, a creature of the night. He reciprocates, but knows the futility of their relationship even if he survives the war with fellow vampires Darian and Sophia.

WHEN DARKNESS FALLS is a fast-paced, action-packed supernatural romance that will fully satisfy sub-genre fans because most of the charcaters seem real. The humans, including old friends, appear genuine while Lucien is a warm hero who makes vampires seem as a matter of fact. Though the villains are too stereotyped as killing machines, Shannon Drake provides a powerful tale that will send the audience seeking her first tale in this trilogy, BENEATH A BLOOD RED MOON.

Harriet Klausner

As Jade MacGregor attends a vacation tour in a Scotish cemetery, she witnesses the other members of the tour brutally murdered by a centuries old vampire.

A year later, in the French Quarter, she is still haunted by images of the night in the cemetery, but with the news of murders in a cemetery in New York, Jade realizes the new killings are no coincidence, and that she has been targeted by somebody or something very evil that is set out to destroy her.

"When Darkness Falls" is a gothic, page-turning thriller, that blends horror, vampires, romance, eerie settings, historical flashbacks, and edge-of-the-seat suspense to have readers craving more.

Shannon Drake has crafted a vampire novel that would make Anne Rice proud; it is a well-written, and skillfully plotted book that begs to be read in a single sitting.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

I loved this book. This is Lucian's story and well worth picking up in my opinion. I am new to the Vampire Genre so I picked up these books due to the author, and not due to the topic. I read the first book "Beneath A Blood Red Moon, and that of course led me to this one, and I was thrilled with it.

Lucian is the King of Vampires and the story opens with Lucian saving a young mortal woman (Jade) from certain death during a Halloween tour in Scotland. Jade finally returns to New Orleans after her horrific ordeal knowing what she saw, but having no one believe that corpses came alive and killed the people in her tour. She finally begins putting her life back together a year later, and then something odd starts to happen, she starts dreaming dreams about the man that saved her. These are not the dreams that she should be having when she is involved with another man.... Even if that involvement has not led to bed yet. Then something terrifying happens. Survivors of the Scottish Halloween Massacre start being killed. The ritual is the same, only it's now taking place in the states. Jade is in danger, and only one man can save her Lucian.

Lucian saves the young Jade and is stunned to see his past finally coming back to haunt him. The killers of the Scottish Massacre are his creator and her lieutenant Darin. They are back and they are looking for revenge against Lucian. Lucian knows that there are rules for his kind and that he is bound by them, but Sophia, and Darin must be stopped. They choose Jade as their victim and use her as a weapon against Lucian. See Lucian, Sophia, and even Darin believe that Jade is Lucian's long lost love and wife from his past, and Sophia will do all she can to destroy her. Sophia hates Lucian, but wants him all the same and will all that she can to make sure that happens.

This is a great book and Maggie, Sean, and Jack make a return appearance in this page turning installment of Ms. Drakes Vampire trilogy. Lucian is all a vampire should be, tall, dark, sexy, and just a little dangerous. I loved the added history and background of Lucian. It helped a great deall to understand why he was the way he was. The chemistry between Lucian and Jade is hot, and the secondary characters that introduced this time around are great, I loved the writers group. You won't want to miss this book.

This is the second on the Vampire Series started in 'Beneath a Blood Red Moon'. It started out great and I thought to myself, wow, I might like this one best, but then it sort of fell flat afterwards.
Still a great vampire romance, but lacking the excitement and fire the first one had. This one details the 'King of all Vanpires', Lucian. He was introduced in 'Beneath a Blood Red Moon' as Maggie's 'guardian' and mentor. I really enjoyed his role in that book, and thought him having his own story would be excellent, but he was a little...I don't know...boring?
All that energy and mystery he had in great abundance in the first one was lost in this one.
Maggie makes an appearance in this book and we play catch up with the other characters from that book. The female lead in this book, Jade, was good, she held my interest. Frankly, I found her much more interesting than Lucian.
This book was I'll admit a little more scary than the first one and just as violent, which is good, because to make a good vampire book, it wouldn't do to have them all fuzzy and sweet, would it? So if you're squeamish, then take a pass....

Jade MacGregor takes a trip that will burn in her memory for years to come, to beautiful and mysterious Scotland. She embarks on a group tour that leaves her shaken and fleeing Scotland with vague memories of black hair, glowing eyes and blood and lots of it.
A year later with her memories still chasing her, she begins to feel that night just one year ago is coming back to haunt her. She survived that gruesome night, now she will have to survive once again before the black night of darkness falls and the creatures come out to play once again...

Not as impressive as the first book, but still worthy of the read. Books are in order as follows, 'Beneath a Blood Red Moon', 'When Darkness Falls', 'Deep Midnight' and 'Realm of Shadows'. The fifth book comes out Summer 2003.

Tracy Talley~@

This was my first book that i have ever read dealing with Vampires. i came across this book at the library and fell in love with Lucian the king of his kind. onces i read this one i made it my goal to buy each Shannon romance book dealing with vampires. Lucian is very handsome and has come a long ways of his thinking and dealings through his life. The sexual content was small, but i felt my heart jump within me. the book was filled with spark that kept me reading until i finished the book. VAMPIRES have always been my favorite character i guess because they can be dark but still sexual. this was a book showing me that vampires can drink, eat food and not just live on blood alone, and of course have feelings like falling in love. Each one of Shannon books are different but Lucian is there in the background somewhere. i would recommend this book to start with. i hope she continues to write more

I just finished reading the book. I was a bit concerned after reading some of the other reviews here but I decided to ignore them and decide for myself. I'm glad I did because this book was excellent! I sat and read page after page. I could not put it down! I am not a fast reader. It can literally take weeks to months for me to finish a book but this one took me no time at all. For the first time ever, I sat and read more than 200 pages in a sitting. It just captivated my attention!

This book is the second in Shannon Drake's vampire series. The story stands on its own so if you haven't read the first in the series, you won't necessarily miss anything. I haven't read the first yet but I definitely plan to. The characters became quite real to me. I enjoyed learning the progression and the twists in the story were perfect.

One little thing about the book though, at least my copy, is that there are many typos. It hasn't interferred with the story for me though

Let me start this by responding to what one of the other reviewer said. She asked if she was the only one that didn't like it.. mentioning that she couldn't get into the book. I have that problem with many books, but NOT here! I suppose I can see how some things might have bothered you but ... be honest, this isn't a history lesson. It's a *FICTION* story, it's meant to entertain. As an author myself I do do my research when I'm using historic information, but as a reader ... I don't care! I don't go running to the history book to see if they got the size of the ship wrong. If they did, does that make the story bad???? NO WAY!

I admit it. I love this book.

Shannon Drakes vampires are not your typical vamps, and I love that. They aren't like the vampirs I write about, or the others I've read about. It's very refreshing. I love the characters and am anxiously awaiting the third book (I was delighted to discover that it would be out in Feb 2001 and NOT in Oct as I had read in this book) If the third book proves as good as the first two ... I'm gonna be thrilled.