Recent Reviews
Book Review: NIGHT LIFE
By Dave Dreher

Mar 25, 2007, 12:20

Every once a while a book comes along that once you part those first few pages you find yourself fully consumed by it. Such was NIGHT LIFE for me. I had not read this novels prequel titled LIVE GIRLS and was a little concerned that not having the complete back story on the returning characters might hamper the enjoyment of journey for me but just the opposite proved to be true. Going in blind I had no preconceived notions of expectancy. Garton does a wonderful job of quickly bringing us up to speed on who's who and why they are doing what they do and then it is off to the races.

To call this novel a page turner is a bit of an understatement. The pages nearly burst into flames that you rip through them so damn quick and the images that Garton projects are a bloody, visceral good time.

SPOILERS LIE AHEAD SO PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

We meet up with our returning characters from LIVE GIRLS in the first paragraph and are quickly introduced to the new line up of victims, oh I mean characters. The basic just of the storyline is quite simply that vampires exist and function around us as a part of society (who the hell do you think works all those midnight shifts anyway). As in real life there are good members and bad members of the vampire community. The good ones work normal jobs surviving on bottled blood and keeping their violent instincts at bay. The bad ones, known as BRUTALS feast on the weak, the homeless and really just about anyone else they damn well please.

An horror author who has been tracking the vampire world since the happens that occurred in LIVE GIRLS has decided that he wants some confirmation on his suspicion of the existance of the vampire community and hires two private detectives to hunt down what may be the last living link to the truth, a reporter who wrote an article back during the fiasco in the first book who has gone into hiding.

This is where we meet Karen Moffiett and Gavin Keoph. They are the private investigators that author Martin Burgess hires to bring him back the proof that the events that happened at LIVE GIRLS are true and to confirm that vampires do exist. They are very reluctant, as you would expect, but Burgess offers them an ridiculous amount of money so they figure, what the hell.

What they don't know is that have set off a chain of events that will lead to horror beyond their wildest dreams. Through a series of events our PI's end up meeting with the returning characters from LIVE GIRLS (Davey Owens and his wife) and they all end wrapped up in a life or death struggle that really defies explanation, you're going to have to read this one for yourself.

Some of our heroes end up dead, others end up being used in gang bang and rape videos but all end up changed forever by what happens to them in the pages of this story.

I really only have one complaint about the story and it has to do with “common sense”. I know, what can common sense have to do with a vampire story? Let me explain.

As the events from the first novel (LIVE GIRLS) are explained to us it is mentioned on several occasions and actually at a few other points in the book as well about the horrible things that lived in the basement of LIVE GIRLS and how Davey has nightmares about THE BASEMENT of LIVE GIRLS, so on and so on. GARTON wants to make damn sure you understood that there were bad things in the basement of LIVE GIRLS, although he never discloses what those things were. So as our heroes are planning their big rescue attempt they stupidly decide to enter through the basement. Now don't you think that if Davey was still having problems coping with what he saw in the basement of LIVE GIRLS some 20 years ago he might just maybe be freaked out about the prospect of entering another basement where these creatures had set up shop? But, nothing is said, nothing is implied. They just do it and then act all shocked when they run amok of mutants and creatures. Davey never even relates to the dudes going in about what happened to him in the basement of LIVE GIRLS, he just marches on in like he's heading to the basement to play some pool never warning his fellow rescuers about what happened to him in another basement 20 years earlier. That just didn't make sense to me, to the point that it actually detracted from the experience.

I know, probably a little nit picky but for me it was important. I was like, WTF? Why would he march in there knowing what he knows? At first I though maybe it was going to lead to some kind of giant twist in the storyline but nope, it just isn't even mentioned and for me it really kind of ruined the ending of the story for me.

Over all though NIGHT LIFE is a great, great read and RAY GARTON has an amazing ability to wrap you up into the life of his characters very quickly. I would love to pay the surviving characters another visit some time soon and see how there doing and to see if the events that transpired in NIGHT LIFE has any effect on exposing a very well kept secret. GARTON left many open ends in NIGHT LIFE and lets hope it don't take him another 20 years to visit them again.