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Richard Lange

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Rovers Kindle Edition

by Richard Lange (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.2 440 ratings

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Two immortal brothers crisscross the American Southwest to elude a murderous biker gang and protect a young woman in this “utter triumph and delight” from award-winning author Richard Lange (Jonathan Ames, author of A Man Named Doll).

Summer, 1976. Jesse and his brother, Edgar, are on the road in search of victims. They’re rovers, nearly indestructible nocturnal beings who must consume human blood in order to survive. For seventy years they’ve lurked on the fringes of society, roaming from town to town, dingy motel to dingy motel, stalking the transients, addicts, and prostitutes they feed on.

This hard-boiled supernatural hell ride kicks off when the brothers encounter a young woman who disrupts their grim routine, forcing Jesse to confront his past and plunging his present into deadly chaos as he finds himself scrambling to save her life. The story plays out through the eyes of the brothers, a grieving father searching for his son’s murderer, and a violent gang of rover bikers, coming to a shattering conclusion in Las Vegas on the eve of America’s Bicentennial.

Gripping, relentless, and ferocious, Rovers demonstrates once again why Richard Lange has been hailed as an “expert writer, his prose exact, his narrative tightly controlled” (Steph Cha, Los Angeles Times).

Finalist for the 2022 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award

Print length

305 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Mulholland Books
Publication date

July 27, 2021
File size

983 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Rovers is a gritty and vivid encounter with the creatures that haunt the underbelly of Americana. Lange utilizes his immense skill with prose and characters to create a dynamic and visceral page-turner. I devoured this book!”―Zoje Stage, author of Baby Teeth and Wonderland

“Lange has done it again! Another tour de force! Another gripping page-turner! Shifting points-of-view, beautiful language, drama, action, fantasy, pathos—Rovers has it all! And it makes me feel greedy like a vampire (or a rover): I want and need another Richard Lange book right away! Well, I have to be patient and rational: I have his other books to reread and this one, too, which is an utter triumph and delight.”―Jonathan Ames, author of A Man Named Doll and creator of HBO’s Bored to Death

“The gone world of the 1970s goes beautifully, terrifyingly and oh so satisfyingly bad in this new one by Richard Lange. Propulsive, intense, smart and stylish, Rovers is high-octane, full-throttle, keep-your-hands-off-that-lightswitch stuff.”―Laird Hunt, author of In the House in the Dark of the Woods and Neverhome

“Rovers is not your ordinary vampire novel. Richard Lange has written a gritty, dusty, dirty, and sweaty thriller that reeks of blood and fear. Rovers is a hardcore 1970s crime thriller—a bloody revenge story built on the brooding realization that even with eternal life and incredible healing power, existence and spirit are always fragile.”―Raymond A. Villareal, author of A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising

“Rovers is a dark gem of a book. A vampire novel by way of John Steinbeck and Sam Peckinpah. Riveting and relentless.”―Wallace Stroby, author of Heaven's a Lie

“Reading Rovers was like going on a three-day bender: once I got started, I couldn't stop. Rovers is a bleak, gritty, violent, and mostly tender portrayal of life as an outsider that happens to be about vampires. The writing is equal to the story: achingly beautiful, by turns inspiring and devastating.”―Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger and The Deep

“A propulsive, harrowing and soulful tale of vengeance and redemption, love and loss, the undead and mortals. Rovers moves in the shadows and rips through the darkest hours on choppers and over open highways, in dive bars and deserts. The momentum of the story is undeniable, but the impulse to linger under the spell cast by Lange's gifts with language is powerful and to be savored.”―Joe McGinnis, Jr., author of The Delivery Man

“Rovers twists and turns like a whirlwind of desert dust. Richard Lange has created an energetic, entertaining, pulsing novel in Rovers, where things roam in the night and burn in the day and the path to salvation is a timeless, dangerous journey. A wild west, gothic thrill ride.”―Michael Farris Smith, author of Nick and Blackwood

"A lean, blistering tale shot through with heartbreak and sunlight. Rovers is magnificent horror."―Andy Davidson, author of The Boatman's Daughter --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Richard Lange is the author of the story collections Dead Boys and Sweet Nothing and the novels This Wicked World, Angel Baby, and The Smack. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the International Association of Crime Writers’ Hammett Prize, a Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Award, and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Los Angeles. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08RDFQDK3
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mulholland Books (July 27, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 27, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 983 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 305 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #646,019 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,798 in Historical Thrillers (Kindle Store)
- #2,960 in Occult Horror
- #6,167 in Psychological Thrillers (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 440 ratings

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Richard Lange

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Richard Lange was born in Oakland, CA and grew up in California's San Joaquin Valley. His stories have appeared in The Sun, The Iowa Review, and Best American Mystery Stories, and as part of the Atlantic Monthly’s Fiction for Kindle series. He is the author of the collections Dead Boys and Sweet Nothing and the novels This Wicked World, Angel Baby, which won the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers, The Smack, Rovers, and Joe Hustle (July ‘24). His story "Apocrypha," from Sweet Nothing, was awarded the Short Story Dagger by Great Britain's Crime Writers' Association. He received the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow. He lives in Los Angeles.

www.richlange.com, Facebook.com/Richard.lange, Twitter@richardlange, Instagram: @richlange

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

440 global ratings

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Rovers

Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2021

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“Rovers” is Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” revisited with two brothers, one big and dumb, and the other responsible for his brother. It’s just that it’s set in the 1970’s and these two are rovers, or creatures we used to call vampires, and they need to feed every thirty days, preying on those too far gone to be missed. They’ve lived for a long time and have many memories. Most folk don’t know what they are up to. The thing is though there are other groups of rovers about, including biker gangs and they don’t get along.

The tale is told in alternating chapters between the two brothers, Jesse and Edgar, with other chapters devoted to the bikers and one who hunts them because they took his son.

You wouldn’t think there was anything new under the sun when it comes to vampire myths, but Lange takes the genre and shakes it up with a gritty edge to it. Set in the Southwest, particularly on the edges of the cities, this novel explodes with angst and is brimming with violence.

2 people found this helpful

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JG

A grimdark Vampire Western

Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2022

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Rovers is a horror western set in the United States's Western states during the mid 1970s. The story is told from multiple POV about an unfortunate chain of events that brings the various characters together for an intense period of violence.

The story could be described as a crossover of No Country for Old Men and John Carpenter's Vampires. As vampire narratives go, this story leans into Vampires-as-murderous uber-predators without concerning itself too much with the origin or mythos of what vampires are. The lack of self-consciousness regarding the exact origin of vampiredom was nice for folks who are familiar with the typical first act of monster-horror stories and want to get past the familiar beats of protagonists discovering that the world is more than what it seems.

Points of interest:

Rovers as POV: the Rovers--the name for vampires in this mythos--were sufficiently backlit to feel like functionally-immortal beings that have learned to be careful. Without delving into any one particular Rover POV, the breadth of experience and mental states shown made for a compelling reading experience. Particular props should be offered to the author for Edgar's POV; writing a neurodivergent (possibly autistic?) character is difficult.

Overlapping narratives: Major action sequences are retold from different POV. While this sacrificed narrative inertia, it created a more cinematic reading experience. Revisiting the action scenes from different POVs read similar to watching the Gun fight in 2003's Open range.

Character driven: The story kept a fairly tight plot surrounding the action-reaction loop of a small cast. The character relationships made the story move, and my suspicion of what beats were coming were rewarded.

The Interchangeable lover: A major component of the story is a female character who is a near-doppleganger to a Rover's last, lost love. So much of the action in the story is rooted in bad decisions made because a man is smitten by a female whose major defining feature is her startling similarity to an idealized past lover.

Rovers had the possibility to tell a tight, horrific western with revenge and greed and gonzo undead political squabbles (babies-as-currency?!). Using a past lover as a core motivator for intercharacter tension substituted exposition and backstory for conflict.

I recommend fans of vampire fiction and gritty westerns to read Rovers. The prose is strong, the action sequences exciting, and the POVs satisfyingly different that I enjoyed seeing the same scenes through different eyes.

If you like strong female characters, or dislike men being angsty and dumb because of dead lovers, you may not find as much joy in this story. There are strong female characters, but they get far less limelight than the angst-riddled men defined by the women they failed, abandoned, or pine over.

5 people found this helpful

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Reader

Best Vampire Book I’ve Ever Read

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2023

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Out of this world good. Gritty as hell.

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E. shiley

Decent should've been much better

Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2021

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Some great parts but comes across kind of cheesy. Feels like it's trying to be Stephen Graham Jones book mongrels but falls pretty short.

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2023

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This was a different take on vampires, and I enjoyed it. The mix of characters and changing point of view made for an interesting and engaging read.

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2021

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One of those books that will still be on my mind for days. So much to love about this one. I'm not going to give a synopsis, I'm just going to say, if you love Vampires...great storytelling...drama...action...excitement...and genuine characters...This book is for you.

One person found this helpful

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Leslie Richmond

Great Take on Vampires

Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2022

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Sucked me right in on page one! Totally invested in the characters, love the writing. Can't get enough and I want more!

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Jbel Jbel

Pretty good monster road trip Story

Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2022

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The book was pretty good and went in a few directions I was not expecting with an interesting take on vampires. Would recommend to anyone interested in this sub genre

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Eric

Solid story and very engaging

Reviewed in Canada on September 16, 2021

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Stephen King meets Of Mice and Men. Highly recommend!

Finocchiaro

interesting twist on a vampire story

Reviewed in France on August 28, 2022

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Sort of a cross between Of Mice and Men and Dracula, Rovers takes the reader on a strange voyage in 1976 with rovers who fear the light and need human blood every 30 days. It is pretty well-written and keeps you engaged. It is predictable though and I didn’t like the ending all that much, but it was still a decent enough read.

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