Kiss of Night
A Novel
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Centuries ago, Raphael was a blasphemous knight who fought in the Crusades purely for his own mercenary benefit, and to satisfy his taste for killing. Now, condemned for his evil passions and hypocrisy, he wanders the earth a vampire, cursed with first-hand knowledge of the supernatural world he once denied existed. The powerful relic he still possesses from his days as a Crusader has been stolen by a rival vampire who has recruited an army of soulless underlings to aid him in spreading evil. At the time he learns this, Raphael has been hunting this vampire for nearly a century, and it seems the final battle is destined to take place in Prague.
For help in this quest, Raphael must enlist the aid of two humans, David and Susan, who suddenly find themselves immersed in a world they never imagined, entangled with supernatural forces they can't control. Susan, in particular, finds herself conflicted as she struggles with her inexplicable attraction to Raphael. In the end, both Susan and Raphael will be called upon to exercise courage and faith, and in the process, the question What would happen if a vampire truly accepted God? is answered.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Susan Lambert, while in Prague for her grandmother's funeral, encounters a mysterious man inside St. Vitus Cathedral. The man, Raphael, later appears when Susan needs help in finding her cousin Wendy, who has disappeared with another mysterious man, Garridan. Thus begins a tale of a human-vampire alliance in a pitched battle against evil forces led by a vampire version of a figure from history. The premise is provocative: can a vampire be redeemed? The execution, however, is clumsy. Vigui 's writing is littered with clich s ("the icy hand of fear," "pierce her very soul"); clunkers of improbability (security guards at a Czech hotel who sound like they work at a Best Western in Omaha, a transfusion in a country inn that saves a vampire victim); and a basic failure to show instead of tell ("she saw Raphael fighting the man who had caused the accident"). But maybe none of this matters to the hordes of vampire fans who, after their introduction to the vampire Raphael, will clamor for book two and the movie adaptation that must star Johnny Depp.
