Absence of Faith: A Vampire's Lesson in Betrayal

Rating:
Summary: A mythic and violent world that seems real.
Review: San Antonio, Texas, provides the setting for a power struggle among vampires. We immediately see the tension between Prince Ramses and Zapporoah, the sister he fears. All of the vampires in this novel find victims by appealing to the human needs for sex or company, or by preying on the most sinister representatives of the human race. The vampires seem as authentic and as unlike each other as the real people in our real lives. In fact, Jones carefully creates a mythic world that seems strangely ordinary, as if this violent drama could actually lurk around any corner, potentially disrupting our safe existence.

Since I live in Lubbock, Texas, I was happy (or maybe disturbed) to learn that Lubbock has a vampire on the Council of Ramses! Jones constantly and skillfully weaves familiar places and familiar mythology into the narrative, compounding that feeling that this world seems oddly like our own.

Among some members of the Kindred, the thirst for power rivals the thirst for blood, making them even more dangerous to humanity and to their fellow vampires. The ensuing battle threatens ancient codes of honor and tradition, revealing the meaning behind the book's subtitle: "A Vampire's Lesson in Betrayal."