Rating: 
Summary: An Army That Marches On Its Teeth
Review: A young doctor returns to the town where is family lived for a 1000 years, a young woman imagines evil that stalks the halls at night. An innkeeper struggles to keep dark secrets under lock and key. And a vicious killer discovers he has a purpose. Today is their last chance to end an ancient bargain or see the world overrun with endless death.David Leppington is the doctor, returning to the town of the same name, where he learns of a bargain once made by Thor with his family in exchange for the destruction of Christendom at the hands of an undead army. Together with Bernice Mochardi, Electra Charnwood and Maximillian Hart he finds himself confronted with the remnants of that ancient bargain - vampire-like creatures that are even harder to kill than the creatures they are modeled on. The story is told in the dark halls and cellars of the Station Hotel, and in the web of caves that underlay Leppington. It is a claustrophobic story, with no great arched rooms for ceremonies. Nor are the vampires noble creatures of the night. They only pause in their diet of animal blood from the town's slaughterhouses to vary their diet with human victims. Just a black hunger waiting to spread itself across the landscape. Simon Clarke applies a great deal of imagination to the challenge of creating a 'different' vampire tale and almost succeeds completely. Norse vampires of any sort are a rarity, and the legends and reality that Leppington struggles with are a far cry from the foes of Buffy or Van Helsing. The plot moves a bit slowly, some repeated violence beyond what is needed, but is mechanically sound. For some reason that is hard to pin down, it never achieves the magnetic quality of great horror. It is too easy to put down, and there are none of those great moments that your mind never quite forgets. Perhaps because, for all its darkness, the story lacks many sources of real suspense. Or perhaps it is that the characters never gel in sympathetic fashion. Don't let this chase you away, though, I've read a lot worse things that pretended to be horror fiction. Clark seems to have strong writing skills and a good imagination. As long as you are not looking for a literary tour-de-force, you will find this worth the outlay.
Rating:
Summary: An Army That Marches On Its Teeth
Review: A young doctor returns to the town where is family lived for a 1000 years, a young woman imagines evil that stalks the halls at night. An innkeeper struggles to keep dark secrets under lock and key. And a vicious killer discovers he has a purpose. Today is their last chance to end an ancient bargain or see the world overrun with endless death. David Leppington is the doctor, returning to the town of the same name, where he learns of a bargain once made by Thor with his family in exchange for the destruction of Christendom at the hands of an undead army. Together with Bernice Mochardi, Electra Charnwood and Maximillian Hart he finds himself confronted with the remnants of that ancient bargain - vampire-like creatures that are even harder to kill than the creatures they are modeled on. The story is told in the dark halls and cellars of the Station Hotel, and in the web of caves that underlay Leppington. It is a claustrophobic story, with no great arched rooms for ceremonies. Nor are the vampires noble creatures of the night. They only pause in their diet of animal blood from the town's slaughterhouses to vary their diet with human victims. Just a black hunger waiting to spread itself across the landscape. Simon Clarke applies a great deal of imagination to the challenge of creating a 'different' vampire tale and almost succeeds completely. Norse vampires of any sort are a rarity, and the legends and reality that Leppington struggles with are a far cry from the foes of Buffy or Van Helsing. The plot moves a bit slowly, some repeated violence beyond what is needed, but is mechanically sound. For some reason that is hard to pin down, it never achieves the magnetic quality of great horror. It is too easy to put down, and there are none of those great moments that your mind never quite forgets. Perhaps because, for all its darkness, the story lacks many sources of real suspense. Or perhaps it is that the characters never gel in sympathetic fashion. Don't let this chase you away, though, I've read a lot worse things that pretended to be horror fiction. Clark seems to have strong writing skills and a good imagination. As long as you are not looking for a literary tour-de-force, you will find this worth the outlay.
Rating:
Summary: Don't look in the basement...
Review: Clark once again delivers a heart-pounding horror chiller with Vampyrrhic. I've lost a lot of sleep the past few nights because I just couldn't stop reading. Just when I thought all my favorite characters were safe--BAM! Something reached out of the dark for one of them, and I had to read a few more chapters.
Dr. David Leppington returns to the small, sleepy town that bears his family name in order to visit with his beloved Uncle George whom he hasn't seen in a couple of decades. He checks into the town's only hotel, run by the beautiful but bizarre Electra Charnwood, and meets up with Bernice and the sinister strongman Jack Black. Dear crazy-as-a-loon Uncle George tells David that he is heir to the Leppington legacy. David refuses to believe this whacky tale but soon learns that his uncle might be right when he, Electra, Jack, and Bernice find themselves thrown together to fight the bloodthirsty creatures lurking in the tunnels under the town.
Ok, so this isn't the most original story on the planet. The vampire tale isn't exactly new and fresh, but Clark manages to pull this one off with superb writing and chapter cliffhangers. His characters are believable, and I had to keep reading to find out what happened to them. Add to that the fact that any pale, hungry creature that thrives in a dank, dark tunnel and thirsts for your blood is going to be scary under any conditions, and this book is a winner. There's enough gore to make it creepy but not so much that it's distracting; enough sex to spice up the night creatures but not so much that it's the sole highlight of the novel; and enough ancient legends borrowing from mythology to make the story a bit unique. I think Clark is well on his way to being a top name in the horror genre. Read this one, and then grab Blood Crazy--you won't be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: A True Killer, One Of The Best!
Review: I felt that this is the best book that I have read. First of all, it's not just a great horror fiction book, but the great Simon Clark has found a way to include suspense, drama, and much more. Clark has written this book for all age groups that enjoy horror fiction. Also, for the younger people like myself (age 14), Simon Clark has included an important factor to keep people form their teens to their twenties interested. This one thing isn't needed to keep me, or probably most others my age interested in the book, but it helped, and that thing is: sex. Simon Clark has used sex in a way that is perfect for a book like this one. I feel that a book better written than this one is mission impossible. I never have, and doubt I ever will read a better book than this. Vampyrrhic has also been described in such detail, that you get the clearest of pictures in your mind of what is going on in thye story. I feel that this book is a MUST-READer!
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I finished reading this novel the other day. I'm American and I say American Horror writers should read this to get an idea of what the true horror reader likes. I read a lot of horror, and I admit that with this novel, there were times when it scared me. No joke. It has a mild gothic-like setting and this I really enjoyed.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I finished reading this novel the other day. I'm American and I say American Horror writers should read this to get an idea of what the true horror reader likes. I read a lot of horror, and I admit that with this novel, there were times when it scared me. No joke. It has a mild gothic-like setting and this I really enjoyed.
Rating:
Summary: Not a run-of-the-mill vampire novel
Review: I really enjoyed Vampyrrhic. It's one of those that it is probably best not to over-analyze, due to things like the insertion of Norse gods into the plot and the sociopath with a heart of gold. Nevertheless, it is still a good, spooky read. You have English fog, a creepy hotel, and bald, Max Schreck-looking, semi-mindless vampires running around the sewer system --- what more could a horror fan want?
Rating:
Summary: Another gripping read by new master of horror
Review: Now that Stephen King has announced his retirement, Clark is all set to take over as the new "grand-master of horror." Clark has written a gripping read that never lets go. The story revolves around David Leppington who goes home to his hometown of Leppington in jolly old England. It his first visit back since he was a child and he visits his old uncle who seems nice enough, but rambles on about the family descending from Nordic gods and a vampire army. Sure it's a bit far-fetched, but isn't horror? Strange things start to happen to the residents and soon enough David and the residents of the hotel where he is staying start to discover bizarre happenings. A truly epic novel and a great quick read from a writer who knows how to chill a reader's blood. The sweetest part is there is a followup in the works, Vamphyrric Rites. Good job, Simon, keep em coming.
Rating:
Summary: Another gripping read by new master of horror
Review: Now that Stephen King has announced his retirement, Clark is all set to take over as the new "grand-master of horror." Clark has written a gripping read that never lets go. The story revolves around David Leppington who goes home to his hometown of Leppington in jolly old England. It his first visit back since he was a child and he visits his old uncle who seems nice enough, but rambles on about the family descending from Nordic gods and a vampire army. Sure it's a bit far-fetched, but isn't horror? Strange things start to happen to the residents and soon enough David and the residents of the hotel where he is staying start to discover bizarre happenings. A truly epic novel and a great quick read from a writer who knows how to chill a reader's blood. The sweetest part is there is a followup in the works, Vamphyrric Rites. Good job, Simon, keep em coming.
Rating:
Summary: British answer to Salem's Lot!
Review: Simon Clark has written one of the most viscerally chilling vampire novels I've read in recent memory! David Leppington returns to the british villiage which he left as a small child;
which he shares the same name with and uncovers of horrifying secret underneath the town which is connected to his family.A army of hideous vampire creatures come out at night as feast upon the citizens. He now must do battle with terrifying creatures who's blood lust knows no bounds! He is aid by Electra Charnwood, a hotel owner, jack Black a goth thug and a young woman names Beatrice. Clark's chilling vampire novel is stark departure from the vampire books we are use to reading. There are no erotic scenes of bloodletting and vampires are not handsome men or seductive women.These are bloodthirsty creatures with a unholy hunger who live in tunnels below the town and are waiting for centuries to come out to feast!
there are brutal scenes of the vampires killing their human prey with their razor sharp teeth and even more brutal scenes of the heroes battling the vampires in their underground lair!This is the first book by Clark I've read and certainly won't be the last!
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