The Vampire Hunters »

The Vampire Hunters is a dark and frightening tale about friendships where the face of evil is ever-changing and found in unexpected places. The author applied his experience at scaring adults in Dawn of the Vampire and Vampire Kiss and applied it to unnerve a younger audience. For so many people, image and appearance is important, so books are judged by their cover, not the writing within. That thought inspired this story about a gang of teenagers trying to prove that a strange old man who can't bear the sunlight is actually a vampire terrorizing their town. This burden of proof is put upon the newest members of the group as part of their initiation. As their investigation progresses, alliances within the group change and members disappear, drawn over to the dark side.

We hope teens will enjoy the book this Halloween and become followers of William Hill's imaginative fantasy.

Catherine Krusberg

Gr. 7-12. ...While staying with his grandparents, fifteen-year-old Jonathan "Scooter" Keyshawn tries to join the Graveyard Armadillos, the nearest thing to a gang available in Gunstock, Texas. The Armadillos, an uneven assortment of some half-dozen local

Youths, have planned a novel first exploit for him: helping to prove that reclusive moviemaker Marcus Chandler is a vampire. Chandler avoids the sun and is unnaturally pale; and in the words of ringleader Garrett Brashear: "Never seen a white African-American." But Chandler's explosive reaction when Scooter catches him in a Polaroid's flash sends the group scattering into the nighttime swamp. . .and not quite all of them come out.

Marcus Chandler has his own set of problems. Besides suffering from the disease that makes his skin pale and his eyes red, he has a most unwelcome fan: Lucius Shade, who followed him from Los Angeles. It seems that Chandler and some friends have developed a method of filming that enables vampires to appear in movies. And while Shade has eternity to convince Chandler to cooperate with him in applying that technology, he really doesn't want to wait that long ....

.... The focus is on plausible and engaging teenagers' perspectives. The abilities of the vampire himself offer a few interesting twists "he"s quite the shapeshifter', but for the most part the appeal of The Vampire Hunters is not in gratuitous novelty but in a few kids' determination to overcome the odds and set things right.

Sounds good to me. -The Vampire's Crypt (Fall 1998)