Companions of the Night (Hardcover)

by Vivian Vande Velde (Author) "WHEN IAN CAME into Kerry's room to ask for a favor, it never occurred to her that her four-year-old brother could ask her to do..." (more)
Key Phrases: laundry owner, vampire hunters, other vampires, Ethan Bryne, New York Giants, Professor Marsala (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
The romantic horror genre reaches a new level of complexity in this novel, which manages to be simultaneously thought-provoking and blood-curdling. Kerry becomes the unwitting accomplice of an attractive, mysterious boy on the run, only to discover that he is a vampire. Can she trust her feelings for someone so alien to her? Or has she been "seduced by the glamour of evil"? An ALA Best Book for Young Adults, this was called "a tingly thriller" by Horn Book --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-10?Kerry Nowicki, 16, never dreamed that vampires lived in her little town of Brockport, New York, let alone that she would become involved with a handsome one named Ethan. When she makes a late-night trip back to the laundromat to retrieve her little brother's stuffed bear, she interrupts the murderous plans of a vigilante committee that claims Ethan is one of the undead. Kerry tries to help him, so they assume that she is a vampire, too. When the two young people escape, Kerry's brother and father are kidnapped in retaliation, and a complicated game of cat-and-mouse follows. During the often harrowing experiences that follow, Kerry proves to be an intelligent, level-headed young woman. She recognizes the danger of her attraction to Ethan, but knows that she must trust him to help find her family. Ethan maintains the cunning and duplicity that readers might expect from a vampire. The plot is lively and intriguing, with an unexpected twist at the end. Readers might be tempted to compare this novel to Annette Curtis Klause's The Silver Kiss (Delacorte, 1990), since many of the elements are similar. But the heroine of that story acts from a different motivation, making the books much different in terms of plot, theme, and tone. Companions of the Night should attract a loyal following of its own.?Marilyn Makowski, Greenwood High School, SC
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Jane Yolen Books; 1st edition (April 18, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152002219
• ISBN-13: 978-0152002213
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (161 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #947,887 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #14 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( V ) > Vande, Velde Vivian
  #14 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( V ) > Velde, Vivian Vande
  #42 in	Books > Teens > Authors, A-Z > ( V ) > Vande Velde, Vivian

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Wish I Could Give It More Stars!, August 12, 2002

By	M. Smitherman (Montana) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've just recently gotten into vampires, and I found Companions of the Night while browsing through amazon.com. Intrigued, I read some of the reviews, and knew that I had to read this book!

It all begins when Kerry's little brother Ian asks her to go to the laundromat to get Footy, his stuffed koala bear, which he'd left there earlier that day. Kerry is reluctant to go, since it's 11:00 at night, she has a test the next day on a book she hasn't finished, and she doesn't have her driver's license yet. But she can't resist her little brother's pleas, so she goes anyway. The action starts when a group of men burst into the laundromat while Kerry is there, dragging a tied-up and bloodied young man who they believe is a vampire. Kerry, knowing there is no such thing as vampires, helps the young man escape.

But the next day when Kerry's dad doesn't pick her up from work, she's worried that it has something to do with the events of last night. But then the young man, Ethan, shows up to give her a ride home... where she discovers that her dad and brother have been kidnapped by a crazed vampire hunter. Having run out of options, Kerry asks Ethan for help in finding her family--and learns that vampires do exist, and Ethan is one of them. Can she trust him to help her rescue her family, or is he using her to get at the vampire hunter? She doesn't know who to trust, or even whether she'll live through the night.

Companions of the Night is filled to the brim with action, suspense, romance, and even a little humor. It instantly became a favorite, and I am looking forward to buying it and reading it again and again. If you like vampires, romance, and a superb hard-to-put-down story, this book is just the thing for you.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It looks long, but read my review plz!!, October 12, 2002

By	Jodi (CANADA) - See all my reviews

This is the only book I have ever read more than once! If you've read The Silver Kiss, Shattered Mirror, or any other Vivian Vande Velde books, or vampire books for that matter, you're guaranteed to love this! There are no one, or two star ratings, and that's gotta tell you something. Many of the other reviews of this book end in people saying they want a continuation, and trust me, in the end, you'll well agree. This was the book that got me interested in vampire books, and it's so well written. The only thing I didn't like about this book was that I never could picture what Ethan really looked like, even though she descirbed it very well, and I tried countless times.
It's about a sixteen year old girl named Kerry Nowicki, who, at eleven at night, can't resist her brother's pleas for her to retrieve Footy, his stuffed koala bear, from the 24-hour laundromat he left it at earlier in the day. Kerry's father is sleeping, and her mother left their family for another man. She only has her learners permit, so she has to do this quick.
When she gets there, she finds Footy, and is just about to head out the door, when, all of a sudden, three men come in dragging a fourth, Ethan Bryne (who by the way is really, really hot, his charater is mysterious, incredibly seductive to Kerry, and he's a bad boy, so this is a good book for bad boy fans), who's gagged and bloodied. They spot her, and she has no time to escape. She learns the men believe that Ethan is a vampire, and they think she may well be one also. They allow her to help Ethan with his wounds, so as not to make a nuisance of herself, she doesn't believe anything they say, Ethan seems so helpless, and she has no reason to doubt that he's innocent of everything they're accusing him of, so, she decides to....read it to see what happens.
If you've never read this book before, ENJOY it the first time, I couldn't bring myself to give any of it away, that would ruin it, and you don't want this book ruined the first time you read it. I wish I could read it again, forgetting everything that happened, because the first time is a once in a lifetime thing.
If you don't even like vampire books, this'll change your mind. It's a combination of suspense, and romance, with murder, kidnapping, stealing, vampires, and thrill after thrill, what more can you ask for in one book? I don't think you'd be reading this if you couldn't read, but if you can GET. THIS. BOOK. AND AS I SAID BEFORE, ENJOY IT THE FIRST TIME.
You may never feel the same about any other book, I looked for some more vampire books, but none look this good!!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best romance/horror/vampire book EVER, August 28, 2002

By	Abby Twain (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

When I read The Silver Kiss (Annette Curtis Klause), I was positive that it couldn't get any better than that. I was wrong. This book definitely takes the cake in it's genre. When Kerry, an average 16-year-old, with a learner's permit and a Mom who abandoned her family, grudgingly drives to a laundromat late at night to retrieve her little brother's stuffed koala bear, she unknowingly gets involved with a world of mystery and vampires when she meets Ethan, gagged and bloddied, and suspected of being a vampire by a group of vamp hunters. Which, of course isn't a good thing for Ethan. Her beliving there are no such thing of vampires, she helps him escape, and she assumes she'll never see him again. She's wrong. When her family goes missing, Ethan is the only one who can help her find them, and Kerry is the only one who can help Ethan get the revenge he wants on the vamp hunters. Things get more complicated when Kerry realizes she's fallen in love with Ethan, and... oh yeah, he really IS a vampire. The characters are well developed, and the plot has tons of twists. The many facades and uncertainties that surround Ethan will keep you guessing throughout the whole book. if you like vampires and romance, buy. This. Book. Now. I cried at the end, probably due a combination of the way the book touched me so deeply, and the fact that there is no sequel yet. Because, not to give away the ending, but it is wide open for a sequel. Unfortunately, it was written in 95', and we're still waiting ....but I haven't lost hope! Good luck trying not to read it in one sitting ;-).