Reflections of a Vampire

Rating:
Summary: A Horrific Tale in the Tradition of Anne Rice
Review: A Horrific Tale in the Tradition of Anne Rice

Gerard Arnaud St. Laurue goes out after dark every evening on the hunt. He is a beautiful young man, eternally youthful, killing indiscriminately. He is all-powerful, a shape changer as well as able to read the thoughts of others. Gerard Arnaud St. Laurue is a vampire. Getting ready for his millennium rest, he is looking for minions to help him. He must go underground for eighteen months to rejuvenate and he needs minions that he can trust to guard his grave. When four teenagers stalk him, he turns on them killing three but he likes the look of one sixteen-year-old named Fury and decides to cultivate him into one of his minions. Fury is delighted; he wants power for himself.

Detective Solomon Wiese is looking for the murderer of the three teens as well as the beheaded local priest, Father Monahan. He and his partner comb the hot spots of the city looking for St. Laurue. Franny who works for the Daemonion Council is a shape changer and able to cloak herself so that she cannot be detected by the bloodsucker. She and her compatriots are trying to help the detective find St. Laurue who is not only killing people but also spreading disease throughout the city.

St. Laurue decides to write his memoirs before he goes underground and going to the office of a local publisher, Bevan Preston, he forces him to agree to publish his book.
Press is frightened for his life and that of his family so has no choice but to agree to work with the vampire. Needing a ghostwriter, he recruits his friend, Kyle, to do the honors for St. Laurue. Oddly enough, St. Laurue and Kyle find they are kindred spirits. St. Laurue is also having an on-going hate relationship with his powerful father. And this is just the beginning of the journey through REFLECTIONS OF A VAMPIRE and things are not always quite what they seem.

Mr. Kirk writes a chilling story making it feel very real so that the reader will find himself looking over his shoulder making sure there are no creepy-crawlies of which he is unaware. It is a frightening tale of mayhem and murder and creatures of the night. There are numerous characters in the story but many of them are short-lived but fascinating all the same as they get their hearts ripped out of their bodies before they can blink an eye. Needless to say, there is a lot of blood and gore. One scene with two bellboys oversteps the line of gruesome! The reader can but hope for redress from Detective Wiese and Franny (Slim) but is everything really as it seems to be? With vampires and shape changers, anything and everything is a possibility. Mr. Kirk writes a scary page-turner in REFLECTIONS OF A VAMPIRE, a horrific tale in the tradition of Anne Rice so if you are interested in creatures that go bump into the night, you are sure to really enjoy this one.

Rating:
Summary: A Horrific Tale in the Tradition of Anne Rice
Review: A Horrific Tale in the Tradition of Anne Rice

Gerard Arnaud St. Laurue goes out after dark every evening on the hunt. He is a beautiful young man, eternally youthful, killing indiscriminately. He is all-powerful, a shape changer as well as able to read the thoughts of others. Gerard Arnaud St. Laurue is a vampire. Getting ready for his millennium rest, he is looking for minions to help him. He must go underground for eighteen months to rejuvenate and he needs minions that he can trust to guard his grave. When four teenagers stalk him, he turns on them killing three but he likes the look of one sixteen-year-old named Fury and decides to cultivate him into one of his minions. Fury is delighted; he wants power for himself.

Detective Solomon Wiese is looking for the murderer of the three teens as well as the beheaded local priest, Father Monahan. He and his partner comb the hot spots of the city looking for St. Laurue. Franny who works for the Daemonion Council is a shape changer and able to cloak herself so that she cannot be detected by the bloodsucker. She and her compatriots are trying to help the detective find St. Laurue who is not only killing people but also spreading disease throughout the city.

St. Laurue decides to write his memoirs before he goes underground and going to the office of a local publisher, Bevan Preston, he forces him to agree to publish his book.
Press is frightened for his life and that of his family so has no choice but to agree to work with the vampire. Needing a ghostwriter, he recruits his friend, Kyle, to do the honors for St. Laurue. Oddly enough, St. Laurue and Kyle find they are kindred spirits. St. Laurue is also having an on-going hate relationship with his powerful father. And this is just the beginning of the journey through REFLECTIONS OF A VAMPIRE and things are not always quite what they seem.

Mr. Kirk writes a chilling story making it feel very real so that the reader will find himself looking over his shoulder making sure there are no creepy-crawlies of which he is unaware. It is a frightening tale of mayhem and murder and creatures of the night. There are numerous characters in the story but many of them are short-lived but fascinating all the same as they get their hearts ripped out of their bodies before they can blink an eye. Needless to say, there is a lot of blood and gore. One scene with two bellboys oversteps the line of gruesome! The reader can but hope for redress from Detective Wiese and Franny (Slim) but is everything really as it seems to be? With vampires and shape changers, anything and everything is a possibility. Mr. Kirk writes a scary page-turner in REFLECTIONS OF A VAMPIRE, a horrific tale in the tradition of Anne Rice so if you are interested in creatures that go bump into the night, you are sure to really enjoy this one.

Rating:
Summary: Dracula was a wimp!
Review: Bram Stoker was "then." Damion Kirk is "now," a writer whose prose evokes the most ghastly images of the undead and their never ending quest for the source of their sustenance. Kirk transported the classic vampire tale to our generation, relating it to our experiences and lifestyles. In doing so, he opens our minds to our deepest fears and makes the vampire St. Larue a far more realistic threat to us than Dracula ever was. A reader will find in Kirk's words no lack of vivid mental images that will haunt the memory long after the reading. If you love a good vampire tale, you'll love Damion Kirk's "Reflections."

Rating:
Summary: New Kid on the Block
Review: Bram Stoker's mantle has passed to the shoulders of that
talented new author of horror Damion Kirk.
Read his creepy page turner "Reflections of a Vampire"
and you will know why.

Rating:
Summary: Anne Rice fans, heads up!
Review: Every one thousand years a vampire must take the millennium rest. A vampire must find minions that can be trusted to watch over their place of rest for eighteen months. Gérard Arnaud St. Laurue had one week to find such minions. He chose a teenage boy named Fury and a lovely girl named Elka for the task. But he still had to change them and be sure he could trust them. During that week he intended to write his memoirs and have a publisher tell his story as well.

Brigitte was Gérard's younger sister. They had been blood feuding with their father, Marquis Antoine DeMalberet, for centuries. Their father had always been a major thorn in their sides. But for now, Bigitte thought little of Antoine. For now, she had to make Gérard realize he was spreading a disease. She also had to convince him that he was slipping. Human homicide detectives and not-so-human agents from Motherhospice were on his trail. She had to be quick! The full moon was coming!

***** Fans of Anne Rice and Dean Koontz will love this book! I found myself to be attracted and repelled at the same time! This story is filled with twists to keep its readers on their toes. I was unable to put it down, having to know what was going to happen next! Recommended for all vampire fans who dare to take a good look at what the night's shadows conceal! Excellent! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch

Rating:
Summary: Take a romp through an absolute page-turner.
Review: Gerard Arnaud St. Laurue, an ancient vampire, wants to publish his memoirs. If Damion Kirk writes a sequel, maybe he will reveal some of these adventures -- Reflections of a Vampire is not an interview filled with flashbacks. This book is pure action with people (both undead and alive) whom you care about.

St. Laurue has not written this manuscript, but his deadline is less than one week, when he must take his millennium rest where he will sleep below the ground for 18 months. Also, he must have minions to keep him safe, but he has not found those to whom he must trust his existence either.

These vampires have human qualities such as family ties -- a blood feud between St. Laurue, his sister Brigitte and their father the Marquis Antoine DeMalberet, who has ancient tricks to keep the kids in check. There is the Daemonion Council operatives with special powers who inadvertently get involved with the police who are searching for a serial killer.

I do not want to reveal too many details, but there are so many characters and sub-plots that each page is filled with an adventure. Kirk's descriptions are vivid with images that are memorable and frightening. Some of the scenes you might not want to "see," but you will. I shuddered, checked the closets for anything amiss -- such as a vampire hiding among my clothes, and came right back to reading. He is a master storyteller, and has written a true page-turner!

By the way, as I write this review, I want to be sure the vampires know that I respect them... just in case... and hopefully that will get rid of the chill down my spine... that feeling that someone is looking over my shoulder...

Though I do not normally mention the publisher, I am making an exception. The publishing company is RahuBooks. This is a new firm, and if this first book is any indication of future books, this is a winning company. The paper is heavier than other paperbacks with strong binding (for those of us who hate to have a book fall apart as we are reading it).

I give five stars to this winner. Take a ride on a roller coaster; be scared, be tender, be drawn in, but when you open your door, do not invite a stranger into your house.

Victoria Tarrani

Rating:
Summary: Fangtastic Vampire Fiction
Review: Here is a beautifully written and updated version of the vampire curse. In this tale, vampires must take what is referred to by nosferatu as the "millennium rest", an inescapable eighteen month period each thousand years during which all vampires must rest in their graves. The vampire St. Laurue has less than a week before his millennium rest, and he must enlist minions to watch over his grave. In this stylish and fast-paced novel, you will roam the streets modern day Manhattan with St. Laurue as he searches his intended prey, the lovely Elka and 16-year-old Fury. Will he be able to turn them in time, or will he be thwarted by his vampiric father, with whom St. Laurue has been feuding for centuries? A very original spin on the classic vampire genre...

Rating:
Summary: Reflections of a Vampire ROCKS!
Review: Horror lovers everywhere, be prepared to crown another King. Damion Kirk is a master story weaver and first class writer with tremendous style. Mr. Kirk's vampires are so vivid, they crawl off the page. One even followed me into my dreams! St. Laurue is a vampire that shocks as much with his violence as his sudden outbursts of mercy.

That Mr. Kirk has created such memorable characters is wonderful, that they share such a rich story is incredible. Reflections of a Vampire entices us on a wild romp from the back alleys and clubs of NYC, to the Holocaust Museum in DC.

I'll put it this way - If you're looking for a great read; if you love horror, mystery or suspense -- buy one for yourself, and one for your best friend - so they don't keep yours. Why did I love Reflections of a Vampire? Because it's a tale so very, very human.

Rating:
Summary: This Book is too Scary for Me
Review: I don't like to be scared, so I avoid scary books and movies. However, I'm 55 years old, and growing up I saw and read every Dracula, Frankenstein, and Mummy book and movie available. My teenage sons and their friends and some of my friends, read and see every new scary book and movie made today. So, sometimes, quite by accident, I'll watch a scene or two of a rented video, or listen to a discussion of a book.
I can honestly say there is no scary book or movie out today as good as REFLECTIONS OF A VAMPIRE. Make no mistake about it, this is a movie. The book reads like a script and is written in such rich language and lurid detail that the mind pictures every scene and every character on the big screen with all our modern cinema technology of morphing and flying and make-up making the unreal and unbelievable alarmingly real and believable. My son and I have already cast the movie and picked a director. A perceptive actor, director, or producer will surely discover this book and the world will see REFLECTIONS OF A VAMPIRE. It is too scary for me.

Rating:
Summary: A Great New Vampire Book!!!!!
Review: I met Damion at a book signing at the World Horror Convention this year,April 2002. Being a avid reader of vampire novels for over the past fifteen years his book intrigued me. Damion finally sold me on Reflections of a Vampire when I did not have the funds with me to purchase the book and he gave me the book with the trust I would pay him back at the end of the convention. Yes, I did pay him back.
With some skepticism of a another new vampire book I started to read Reflections of a Vampire. From the first page to the last page this book grabbed my attention. Damion puts twists and turns to the vampire legend that makes Reflections a page turner. In the first chapter some fans of Anne Rice will think that Damion is just rehashing a old story line, but he is not. I do not want to give away what Damion does to put twists into the story line, because it will take away the element of suprise when you read it. By the end of the book you will want a sequal. You will want to learn about Gerard St. Laurue and his father. I cannot wait to see a follow up book to Reflections of a Vampire. I would be willing to put money on that within a few years the vampire Gerard St. Laurue will be up there with such other vampire greats as Lestat from the Vampire Chronicles, Jean-Claude from the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton, and so on.