Stalking the Vampire

A Fable of Tonight

By: Mike Resnick

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

It's Halloween, and John Justin Mallory's partner, Winnifred Carruthers, has been so busy preparing for the biggest holiday of the year (in his Manhattan, anyway) that she seems short of energy and pale. Mallory is worried that she's been working too hard. Then he notices the two puncture marks on her neck....

On this night when ghosts and goblins are out celebrating, detective Mallory must stalk the vampire who has threatened Winnifred and killed her nephew. With the aid of Felina, the catgirl, Mallory and Carruthers investigate clubs and lairs that only seem to exist on this one night of the year.

His hunt takes him to Creepy Conrad's Cut-Rate All-Night Mortuary, where he questions the living and the dead; to the Annual Zombies' Ball, to learn more about the undead; to the Hills of Home Cemetery, where the vampire sleeps by day; and to Battery Park, where all of Manhattan's bats come to feed and sleep.

Along the way, he meets a few old friends and enemies, and a host of strange new inhabitants of this otherworldly Manhattan.

Locked in an intriguing battle of wits with the millennia-old vampire, Mallory has until dawn if he is to save his trusted partner.

Listen to the first book, Stalking the Unicorn .

©2008 Mike Resnick (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Readers with a taste for supernatural whimsy will find much to enjoy." (Publishers Weekly)

Not quite as good.

This one isn't as good as the first. I really would have liked a little more dry JJ Mallory humor. I think it's worth a listen but the first is definitely the better of the two.

a good stab

A fun read a little long in parts and full of corny humor but a nice blend of fantasies tong and check, and throw back to the old 40’s detective novel

Oldish feel to the prose

Is this book deliberately period--50s? I don't know. I did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped to. The tongue in cheek humor was too broad for my taste.

Yawn

I think this book is supposed to be funny. Unfortunately, it has a meandering plot that seems to be written only as a vehicle to deliver bad, corny and predictable "humor."
Don't waste your time.

Worst Audiobook ever

The image makes this book look like a gritty noir detective novel. It isn't.

The dialogue is flat, irritating and anti-funny. The plot is ridiculous. Doesn't even work on the level of Myth Adventures or any of the "fun" fantasy books out there.

The narration is just awful enough to constantly remind you that you wasted your money on a dumb dumb book.

It was like being seated next to your most annoying relative -- the one that won't shut up -- and being unable to escape.

Truly an awful story, badly delivered. You may look at the cool cover and the title and buy it anyway. But don't say I didn't warn you...

funny

If you liked the first book in this series, Stalking the Unicorn, you will love this sequel. It is filled with humor and creates a great world in the alternate New York.

The narrator has a unique voice and is well suited for the book.

I look forward to the third book in the series, Stalking the Dragon, I just wish the other John Justin Mallory short stories were collected and released in audio format...