Merrick (Vampire Chronicles) [DECKLE EDGE] (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Just when you thought it was safe for a bloodsucker to go out in the dark in New Orleans, along comes Merrick Mayfair, a sultry, hard-drinking octoroon beauty whose voodoo can turn the toughest vampire into a marionette dancing to her merry, scary tune. In Merrick, Anne Rice brings back three of her most wildly popular characters--the vampires Lestat and Louis and the dead vampire child Claudia--and introduces them to the world of her Mayfair Witches book series.

It is Louis who brings about the collision of the fang and voodoo universes. Louis made Claudia a vampire in Rice's classic Interview with the Vampire, in which she was destroyed, and now he's obsessed with raising her ghost to make amends and seek guidance from the beyond. (Claudia physically resembles Rice's young daughter who died of a blood-related illness. Rice nearly died of a diabetic coma in 1998, and writing Merrick turned her excruciating recovery into an exhilarating burst of creativity).

Vampire David Talbot lobbies Merrick to call Claudia's spirit and slake Louis's guilt, but Talbot winds up in the grip of an obsession with the witch. You see, Talbot, unlike most vampires, lived 70 years as a human, so his sexual response to humans is still as strong as his blood thirst. Merrick can cast spells to make men crave her, and Talbot is tormented. After she reads his palm, he muses, "I wanted to take her in my arms, not to feed from her, no, not harm her, only kiss her, only sink my fangs a very little, only taste her blood and her secrets, but this was dreadful and I wouldn't let it go on."

The secrets of Merrick are dark and sensuous, but the book is a romp animated by Rice's feeling of coming back to life through the magic of a literary outpouring. The narrative flashes back to the past, to an Indiana Jones-ish adventure in a Guatemalan cave, and to scenes from many other Rice novels. It may be helpful to read Merrick with the Rice-approved guidebooks The Vampire Companion and The Witches' Companion at hand.

After many books, Rice's grand Vampire Chronicles tale was in peril of getting long in the tooth. Merrick Mayfair's magic represents an infusion of fresh blood. --Tim Appelo

From Publishers Weekly

The 22nd novel from the dazzlingly popular vampire chronicler (The Vampire Lestat, The Witching Hour, etc.) brings her familiar undead characters into New Orleans's underworld of witches, and then to the jungles of Central America. Charismatic, biracial Merrick Mayfair comes from a New Orleans caste bound up with traditions of voodoo; she's also descended from the powerful Mayfair witch clan. Once a supernatural detective, now a vampire himself, narrator David Talbot took care of Merrick when she was in her teens, but hasn't seen her in years. Rice-watchers will remember Talbot and the Mayfairs, and also the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac and the girl Claudia, who now torments Louis from the afterworld. When Louis asks Talbot to raise Claudia's ghost, Talbot pleads with Merrick to use her rare talentsAand to revisit the past they share. Can Merrick really conjure the dead? Should she? What of the unspoken erotic charge between Talbot and Merrick? What secrets lie in the magical artifacts Merrick will have to find, and then to wield? And what do they have to do with her dead parents? This volume merges several long-running plots; the first chapters sag with the weight of their exposition, and the prose seems overheated even for Rice. Vampire fans will no doubt plunge on, however; soon enough, Merrick must revisit the Guatemalan rainforest, where she traveled as a young girl, to locate a secret treasure trove of ominous ancient runes. Displaying her imaginative talents for atmosphere and suspense, Rice creates a riveting scene that shows Merrick's awesome magic at work. A potent cameo from the vampire Lestat, with whom the fabled series began, leaves hints of more dark tales to come. 750,000 first printing; BOMC and Science Fiction Book Club main selections; Literary Guild selection; QPB alternate; Doubleday Book Club featured alternate. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf; First Edition edition (October 17, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679454489
• ISBN-13: 978-0679454489
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (315 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #185,266 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 7 in The Vampire Chronicles Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A LUSH,SENSUAL NOVEL IN THE GRAND RICE TRADITION, October 23, 2000

By	Nick Gonnella - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

David Talbot, vampire from previous novels, sets the stage to have Merrick, a witch, help him raise the ghost of Claudia, a vampire child destroyed in "Interview With The Vampire".

Merrick will begin telling her story to Talbot, taking him from present day to days gone by in New Orleans, to the Maya Ruins of a century ago, bringing vivid life to the witches of the Talamasca, as well as the vampires. Before ammends can be made with the ghost of the dead child, these stories will have to unfold, and come together for both the vampire and the witch worlds.

"Merrick" is classic Anne Rice; sensual, dark, eerie, gothic, lush detailing, and always a pleasure to read. This is Rice's best book in years, bringing the two worlds of the witches and vampires together in a story that is completely fascinating.

As any reader of Anne Rice knows, her novels need to be scarce on the plot description, as to keep the reader captivated in the web she is spinning with her story.

Anne Rice has created a great heroine in Merrick, and readers will welcome her return in future novels.

Fans of her books will enjoy their favorite characters making return appearances, but new readers may be confused as Rice uses many, and I mean many, of her characters from "The Vampire Chronicles" and "The Mayfair Witch's" series.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reading Anne Rice is like returning to an old friend!, November 21, 2000

By	Denise Bentley "Kelsana" (The California Redwoods) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Merrick was a wonderful blend of the Mayfair Witches and The Vampire Chronicles. The story told from David Talbot's perspective started slowly but took off in the fine tradition that we have always known Rice to be capable of.

David begins his tale by searching out Merrick to request her help in contacting the spirit of Claudia. Louis suffers unending guilt for producing the fledgling Claudia, and needs reassurance that she has moved on to a happier existence. This will set off a chain of events that will take you back in time and introduce you to some of Rice's most vivid characters. Merrick uses a blend of Voodoo Magic and Catholicism to conjure up spirits that you will never forget.

Lestat plays a small but important role in this book and the ending leaves us with the promise of tales of his time spent out of body. A gauntlet is thrown down by the Talamasca, leaving us wondering if it will step out of its age old position of observation only. The events surrounding this are what will keep you turning the pages. This book brings me back to the style of the original Vampire Chronicles, which I so needed from this author.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rice's vampires may fair well after all..., October 19, 2000

By	"ashnyl" (AZ, United States) - See all my reviews

In Anne Rice's new book, "Merrick," the worlds of her vampires and her witches come together in an epic tale that spans the lush streets of New Orleans to the mystical hidden caves of Guatemala. Through the vampire narrator, David Talbot, Rice introduces her newest character; Merrick Mayfair is a powerful witch who works with the Talamasca, an order of psychic detectives, who specialize in the myths and realities behind such creatures as vampires and witches. Rice also reintroduces her classic vampire characters, Lestat, Louis, and even the "dead child" Claudia.

It is easy to get completely lost in Rice's beautiful prose; it is like she has cast a Voodoo spell on her readers. The story begins as the tale of Merrick, but by the final pages it serves to bring the entire Vampire Chronicles full circle from her very first novel. This is a novel of rebirth and redemption for all of Rice's beloved vampires and witches, and it is an excellent beginning to her next vampire or witch saga.