A People's History of the Vampire Uprising

A Novel

By: Raymond A. Villareal

Narrated by: Jim Meskimen, Christine Lakin, Robert Petkoff, Rena-Marie Villano, full cast

Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

In this ambitious and wildly original debut - part social-political satire, part international mystery - a new virus turns people into something a bit more than human, upending society as we know it.

This panoramic fictional oral history begins with one small mystery: the body of a young woman found in an Arizona border town, presumed to be an illegal immigrant, disappears from the town morgue. To the young CDC investigator called in to consult with the local police, it's an impossibility that threatens her understanding of medicine.

Then, more bodies, dead from an inexplicable disease that solidified their blood, are brought to the morgue, only to also vanish. Soon, the US government - and eventually biomedical researchers, disgruntled lawmakers, and even an insurgent faction of the Catholic Church - must come to terms with what they're too late to stop: an epidemic of vampirism that will sweep first the United States, and then the world.

With heightened strength and beauty and a steady diet of fresh blood, these changed people, or "Gloamings", rapidly rise to prominence in all aspects of modern society. Soon people are beginning to be "re-created", willingly accepting the risk of death if their bodies can't handle the transformation. As new communities of Gloamings arise, society is divided, and popular Gloaming sites come under threat from a secret terrorist organization. But when a charismatic and wealthy businessman, recently turned, runs for political office - well, all hell breaks loose.

Told from the perspective of key players, including a cynical FBI agent, an audacious campaign manager, and a war veteran turned nurse turned secret operative, A People's History of the Vampire Uprising is an exhilarating, genre-bending debut that is as addictive as the power it describes.

Narrated by: Christine Lakin, Robert Petkoff, Rene-Marie Villano, Jim Meskimen, Ron Butler, Taylor Meskimen, Maxwell Hamilton, Andrew Kishino, Karissa Vacker, and Jeff Bottoms

©2018 Raymond A. Villareal (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"A major document dump - and that's a good thing! We have it all here: a complete oral history of how our world - our species - changed forever. Raymond Villareal's sense of fun is palpable as he plays with legal thrillers; good, old, dogged police work; international intrigue; hard science; dirty politics; and, yes, classic, heart-stopping horror. Somewhere, Dracula himself is sitting up late into the day enjoying the hell out of this." (John Griesemer, author of Signal & Noise and filmmaker of the web series Parmalee)

"Told in the jumbled, frenetic urgency of a discarded case file, this is the history of both a social movement and a vector for disease. Mr. Villareal's vampires are not the ones we find most comforting. They are not seductive or beautiful or tormented anti-heroes. No, they are more terrifying than anything like that, an infection that will spread throughout our body politic, our institutions, our history, and ourselves." (Paul Park, author of The White Tyger and All Those Vanished Engines)

"A wide-ranging, readable thrill ride for fans of the genre.... A spectacularly creepy ecosphere.... A strong contender in the genus of apocalypse fantasy." (Kirkus Reviews)

Cool concept; poor execution

As a lover of World War Z (book), I was stoked about a similar concept, but with vampires.

They lost me roughly 15 min in when I realized their "historic account" is all written in the present tense. Might not mean much to others, but the lack of attention to the core concept broke my immersion.

Well intended concept

Well intended concept, but poor plot structure, and lots of loose ends. plus it all happens within 3 years, that seems too fast for the social developments that occur in the story. voice acting was good.

Wanted another oral history book after FantasticLand…

and while this book sort of scratched that itch, it was just all over the place but also felt like it did never really caught a good stride. Just when I’d get interested in a storyline or a character, it would jump to something else. Characters came and went almost arbitrarily, and sometimes it felt like they’d spend all this time building up a character or story hook, only to have it completely done away with without any significant send off. It just left a lot to be desired in my opinion.

Great concept, bad ending

It was such an interesting and fresh look at the vampire idea, but lacked a good quality ending. It felt like there was no resolution. 

Build-up to nothing

pros

So I have to say I was excited for this book. I love the oral history as World War Z is one of my favorites. This story had a great premise, relatable, interesting characters and insight into parts of society not immediately obvious such as the details with the church.

cons

The story is at times dry as a subplot will go on without much detail. The whole story of Dr. Scott is rather mundane after the first several incidents. Also, I felt it was unclear exactly what was going on in the churches organization. It seemed to shift abruptly without much insight. There is a lot of this in other side stories as well. The book also abruptly ends with no resolution of any kind, leaving the reader confused and possibly expecting a sequel? Yet there is no cliff hanger or any indication of story continuation other than the fact plot threats are left unresolved.

Overall I found it an average read, it has a great premise but was less than expected and doesn't even hold a candle to WWZ or Robopocalypse.

horrible

boring uneventful not worth the time... a whole lot of nothingness. don't waste your time or money

kbird

good start. very promising beginning. i had high hopes for this book. bad ending though. very bad ending.

great potential

this had so.e great ideas but because there is no overarching narrative and many of the plots threads are left completely unresolved it feels wasted. There is no real idea if what this books wants to be. I wish a good editior had gotten ahold ofthis and made it more coherent. There are at least 3 different novels in this mess.

Couldn't Finish

There were so many errors in the first quarter of the book that could have been easily avoided with research by the author that I couldn't appreciate the novel aspect of the story itself. Every character sounds exactly the same. Many logical errors that poke holes in the plot.

Promising idea, poorly executed

The author must have gotten some very crappy advice, that the book was ready to be published when it needed a thorough rewrite. Every cardinal sin is committed, though the worst are the constant and unnecessary flash backs/forwards. Despite the plot holes and (ending?), the idea is a good one. Here's hoping the author hires a better editor and spreads the material over a series.