Vampirismus der anderen Art: Bei Dan Simmons ist er das Ergebnis von Inzucht und rezessiven Genen, aus denen eine Stoffwechselkrankheit entstanden ist, die nur durch den Konsum von Blut in Schranken gehalten weren kann – dann kann das Leben allerdings beinahe unbeschränkt aufrecht erhalten werden. Deshalb lebt auch Vlad Dracul noch, der sagenumwobene Stammvater, der Pfähler, der Multimillionär. Eine Arztin adoptiert ein rumänisches Kind, das von ihm abstammt. Sie erkennt, dass sie die Ursache der Krankheit identifizieren kann und damit Heilmittel für AIDS und Krebs möglich werden. Aber die Vampire geben ihr Kind nicht auf und eine Jagd durch Rumänien beginnt, die an die wichtigsten Schauplätze von Draculas Leben führt. ( )

Hematologist Kate Neuman is in post-Ceausescu Romania to lend her expertise in the treatment of rare blood diseases. Her most baffling case is that of an abandoned seven-month-old boy who requires biweekly transfusions to survive. Kate soon realizes that baby Joshua's unique immune system holds the key to a cure for cancer and AIDS, as well as tremendous potential for extending human life. With the assistance of Father Mike O'Rourke, a Chicago priest also in Romania, she adopts Joshua and returns to the U.S. where she hopes to use advanced medical knowledge and technology to discover the secret of Joshua's immune system, and save his life in the process. But then [and you knew THIS was coming] the bad guys show up. And the bad guys are vampires, including the most famous vampire of all, Vlad Dracula himself -- dun dun DUN!

Excellent horror novel which incidentally deals with a contemporary social problem -- the warehousing of orphans in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union. ( )

ein Vampirbuch der anderen Art, lohnt sich auf jeden Fall zu lesen ( )

Please note: This review may contain spoilers! Read at your discretion.

On a humanitarian mission to aid Romanian orphans in post-Ceaucescu Romania, Kate wants to do more, and adopts one of her young charges. But when she returns to the US, her new son is kidnapped, and she finds herself fighting a centuries old evil.

Stuffed full of vampires and blood, defrocked priests and suitably heroic lady doctors, and loads of bullets and bombs, one can hardly call Children of the Night a boring read. But despite the blockbuster levels of violence and hunt-and-chases, and the inherent spookiness of evil villains with the power to rise from the dead, the most horrifying thing about this story for me was not the vampires. I mean, let’s face it, vampires are fictional constructs whereas the horrifying descriptions of living conditions in Romanian orphanages in the late eighties sound all too real.

I vaguely recall watching TV shockumentaries about the appalling conditions in which Romanian orphans often found themselves living, locked in cribs and cots by the hundreds, or sitting in groups of ten or twenty in rooms packed only with dirty mattresses. It seemed almost unimaginable to me that kids could be living in such conditions, unnoticed and unreported for years before the story finally broke. In a lot of ways, the suffering of those kids at the hands of ordinary human beings makes the vampires in this story seem almost insignificant. Why add scary monsters when the people charged with the care of those children, from the wardens and nurses to the government officials in charge of them, seem like monsters in their own right? And what makes it more horrifying is that these people were just ordinary human beings.

One thing I will say for this novel: it definitely made me want to learn more about life in Romania in the late eighties, shortly after Ceaucescu’s abrupt (and all-too-well-deserved, from the sounds of it) removal from office, if only to be able to sort fantasy from fact. Some story elements presented sound both heartless and all too pragmatic — like the refusal of entry to the United States for any adopted orphan/child infected with HIV. From a purely pragmatic standpoint, it sounds sensible: sick children require health care, which costs money. These kids were not born in the U.S. and therefore their health care costs should not the responsibility of the U.S. government. (And I’m using U.S. here because that’s the particular country with which Simmons’ heroine takes issue, not because I think any other relatively rich Western country would necessarily have behaved any better when it comes to the care of these orphans/children). The emotional argument, the fact that these kids are in desperate need of help, is completely overshadowed by the financial costs involved. This is horrifying in its own right, given that conventional wisdom has us mouthing off about how people cannot be valued in monetary terms. Apparently, this only holds true if you’re the right kind of people.

In terms of the story, I did not like the final twist in the tale, which I thought seriously weakened what had gone before. To me, it felt like Simmons had run out of steam when it came to the final act, and realized he still hadn’t dealt fully with various plot elements…so he opted for the simplest twist that might allow him to wrap things up more quickly.

In summary, then: Worth a read, but recommended only for those with strong stomachs and/or those who have an obsession with Dracula. ( )

Not your average vampire story, this fast paced story take you from the beautiful foothills of Boulder, Colorado to dark Transylvania. Alternating between the quest of a young doctor to save the child she has adopted and the first person memories of Vlad himself, Simmons, as always, leaves you with the feeling you have actually been to the places he takes you.

Definitely a page turner (I stayed up to 4 am to finish it) that brings Dracula into the 20th century! ( )