Vampire$

By: John Steakley

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Suppose there really were vampires. Dark, stalking, destroying. They’d have to be killed, wouldn’t they? Of course they would. But what kind of fools would try to make a living at it?

In best-selling author John Steakley's vampire classic, one tightly knit band of brothers devotes itself to hunting down the monsters that infest the modern world—for a price. An exciting blend of horror and western genres, Vampire$ is a twenty-first-century Ghostbusters with an edge.

©1990 John Steakley (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“This is exciting and surprising stuff….a real genre-bender that keeps the best elements of both.” ( Locus)

“Gives a closer, longer look at violent vampire-hunting than anything else to date, often at a breathtaking pace.” ( Vampire's Closet)

Novel that puts vampires in their place...

...As blood sucking fiends, who can only fake human sexuality to feed and control. John Steakley is one of my favoite writers and story tellers. I am glad audible released his two books to date.

Gritty, emotional, a great train ride...

Half baked

There is a really strong idea for a cool vampire book, or even a series in here. But the great ideas are brief and the reader is left with a lot of unresolved questions. The stuff we want to see is glazed over to favor drunken ramblings of the protagonists.

What a relief

From the sappy Twilight franchise, but as a previous reviewer said, reminiscent of John Carpenter's Vampires, was not a big fan of the film but this book was OK, a bit too much about the hunters, not enough about the vampires.... better yet...try Interview with a Vampire or Salem's Lot.

.....ARMOR Coda. Felix is Back!.....

As a fan of Steakley’s military SF novel ARMOR—and realizing that Steakley only managed to complete this one final book before his untimely death—I was compelled to listen to VAMPIRE$. It is true that the main character from ARMOR, Felix, reprises his role as the reluctant warrior in this second book. But there is scant evidence to connect the Felix here with the Felix of the earlier book save for his struggle to overcome fear and his incredible aptitude for destruction in the face of impossible odds. One wonders if John Steakley would have continued in this vein; reprising Felix in this same role in a number of different genre stories, had his career not been cut short. Alas, we will never know. Fortunately Steakley did leave us with this fine coda to the sometimes profound and sometimes paradoxical Military yet Anti-War novel ARMOR. I like to think that Steakley is exploring the very nature of heroism through Felix the fearful juggernaut that is always expecting death but lives to fight another day.

Along the way in VAMPIRE$ we get a rousing action novel with vampires that are but repulsive and yet irresistibly seductive. One of the things I have come to appreciate about Steakley’s work is his fondness for paradox.

Tom Weiner, fittingly, is one of those paradoxes. He has a tender softness in his voice when portraying female characters; a boyish jocularity when voicing the jester Cat; and delivers Felix with the appropriate nervous confidence that his character demands. His flexibility in performing multiple character voices is contrasted by his intransigent, almost overbearing, through the narrative sections. He never becomes the voice in my head. His narration in between dialog scenes gives the book an intensity that I would have missed reading it own my own. I recommend him highly. And if you haven’t yet heard ARMOR go and get it. You can thank me later.

One of the best vampire novels around

An absolute classic, I watched the John Carpenter movie first and then listened to this. The book is much better, the characters familiar yet different and the plot much better. The vampires are more drawn out with a global level conspiracy of their existence and the depravity they will go through to achieve their ends. The main characters have depth and the 1980-1990's setting feels fun and more dangerous. If you like vampires in their classic form and some good redemption arcs you'll love it.

Too bad John Steakly died young.

He published only two novels. This is the best. John Carpenter produced a movie based on this novel but of course the book is better

Finishes strong

Engaging from the very first and most satisfying..

I really got into the story. I was caught up by the presentation even though there wasn't any sound effects or music, the story teller managed with great aplomb. Kudos to him and his voice talents , also to the author for a interesting and captivating very well written story.

they made this into a movie Once

not a bad book. Just not a great one. Kind of shy what happened to the main character and is a little predictable, but it was okay. Okay it still be worth money

Rock and Roll

for anyone that loves action drama horror and almost every theme you can think of this is a must listen a gritty and realistic story of vampires in the modern world in my opinion so much better and more thrilling then the movie could ever be

Wow

I took a chance and listened to this as a perk from the new Audible Plus catalog. What an amazing story, well told and expertly narrated. My only regret is that John Steakley didn’t write more novels before he died. Highly recommended. Also check out Armor, his other novel also in Audible Plus as of now.