• Those Who Hunt the Night

  • A James Asher Novel, Book 1
  • By: Barbara Hambly
  • Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
  • Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (210 ratings)

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Those Who Hunt the Night  By  cover art

Those Who Hunt the Night

By: Barbara Hambly
Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
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Publisher's summary

At the turn of the 20th century, a former spy is called into service to hunt down a vampire killer.

Once a spy for Queen Victoria, James Asher has fought for Britain on every continent, using his quick wits to protect the Empire at all costs. After years of grueling service, he marries and retires to a simple academic’s life at Oxford. But his peace is shattered one night with the arrival of a Spanish vampire named Don Simon. Don Simon can disappear into fog, move faster than the eye can see, and immobilize Asher - and his young bride - with a wave of his hand. Asher is at his mercy, and has no choice but to give his help.

Because someone is killing the vampires of London, and James Asher must find out who - before he becomes a victim himself.

©1988 Barbara Hambly (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Those Who Hunt the Night

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Creepy, historical vampire fun!

This book is a perfect read for me. The vampires are old school scary, and our hero's are erudite and believable. (It reminded me of the first time I read "Interview with the Vampire." It's that good!) So I was very thrilled to find this series.

The story takes place around the turn of the century in London, with all the foggy atmospherics you'd expect. Horse drawn carriages still ply the cobbled streets, and rolling fog hides all manner of predators. From the streets and alleys of London to an old cemetery and the catacombs in Paris, the adventure starts with a bang and doesn't stop until the last page. I don't want to give anything away, so just trust me -- if you enjoyed Anne Rice, you'll love Barbara Hambly's John Asher series. It is so well written that I find myself having to shake off the creeps by listening to something else before bedtime, (and I'm a big girl who doesn't scare easily).

Gildart Jackson is perfection. I'd never listened to anything by him before, and I'm now a big fan. So much so that I've started the 2nd book, and can't wait for Audible to add the rest of the series. (Just as Laura Kinsale's books are greatly enhanced by the reading of Nicholas Boulton, I can't imagine John Asher being read by anyone but Gildart Jackson.)

I have to say something about Barbara Hambly. I don't know who this lady is, but she can write beautifully. Her command of language, world building and character creation is some of the best I've ever read. I know Anne Rice has received many accolades, but Barbara Hambly can write rings around Rice, and deserves a much wider audience.

Highly recommended.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The Georgette Heyer of vampire fiction. Wonderful!

You will find a number of well wrtten reviews about the story line in this series but I would like to give a "kudoes" to one of the skills Ms Hambly uses when she writes this series. She uses real facts, historical slang and accurate point of view for her various characters, an enhancement which is often overlooked by writers in this genre. Ms. Hambly has enhanced the James Asher Series with histoically realistic backgrounds and filled it with characters who act and speak with the words and habits from the times they were born into. For those of you familiar with the late Georgette Heyer's creations, you will know that her mysteries, fictions and romances were made far more interesting and exciting by her use of accurate hisorical facts, places and personalities to act as the foundations for her stories. Ms Hambly has succesfully done the same. Her writing style blends the character's unique habits and speech patterns so smoothly that the conversations and plot descriptions never become overwhelming or boring. The vampres in this series were born, lived and were turned over several hundred years. They come from different countries, economic and educational backgrounds, as well as having different reasons for being turnned. Ms Hambly uses these facts to make even the background characters more realistic and it brings the story to life in a way that makes the more cookie cutter styled books fall flat.

While I have continued to purchase the new books in the series as she publishes them, I hope she will allow the entire series to be released on audiobook. No computer read book can hold a candle to a professionally read book. Give me a reader who has done their homework on how to pronounce unusual words and takes time to bring each character to life with an unique and appropriate accented voice. I hope you enjoy this series as much as I have. Eyes and fingers crossed that she will continue to bring more stories of James, Lydia and Simon for us to read. Thank you Ms Hambly, for these wonderful stories.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Probably my favorite vampire book, period.

Great mystery story, great characters, great vampire world building, just a very well-rounded, well-written book.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • KR
  • 11-07-23

I wish audible would record the rest of this seruies

I wish audible would record the rest of this series. The writing is very good, the history is interesting, the narrator did an excellent job.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Liked the unusual characters

Would you consider the audio edition of Those Who Hunt the Night to be better than the print version?

I read the book years ago and was most taken with Don Isidro, the vampire. I'm not a vampire lover in terms of books. However Don Isidro had some of the human characteristics he had in life such as honesty. He was, however a bit of a snob at times, having been born into Spanish aristicracy 300 or so years prior to the events in this book. I also like Professor James Asher even though he seemed to be a bit old for having been a spy. All in all, this was a good book. It kept my attention throughout.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love it

I’ve loved this book since first reading it - forget sparkly vampires, this is how they would live. The reader/performer has given voice to the characters beautifully.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely a 5 Star audio book

The voice actor phenomenal. The choice of words and range of descriptors absolutely spot on. The story line great. I liked the ending!!! Well done.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Abysmal performance

I read this book (and the next few) years ago and was excited to listen to it. How wrong I was. The narration is so tonelessly monotone as to almost be a caricature. There isn't almost any difference in voices, either, with the exception of Simon. It completely ruins what is an interesting take on vampirism. Zero stars for performance. Due to this and the fact that only this and the next installment are recorded (out of 8 so far) means I'm going back to reading them. Audiobook is not recommended, story is.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love this series!!

I have loved this series for over thirty years and to have it on audible!! I drive over fifty miles each way to work!! I was so excited to see that this was on audible!! I would love to see the whole series available!! Thank you from a long term fan!!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Well Done!

Well thought out plot, wonderful details and what is meant when they say a “Page Turner”, No sparkly vampires here!

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