Excellent international thriller with a supernatural/horror twist. Mind Vampires!!!

Dan Simmons is an excellent storyteller and after reading the Hyperion series and the Olympos books, I was curious to read one if his non Sci-Fi efforts. I wasn't disappointed. ( )

http://martlet-blog.blogspot.com/2008... ( )

Holy cow, was this a long book. On the advice of the Thingamabrarians that go bump in th night, I dove into this one head first. I was not disappointed. The chilling tale of a small grioup of humans with the ability to seize and control the minds of those around them, this one left me awestruck more than once. While it took me several sittings to get through, the story flowed easily and completely. The characters were likelable and hateable all at the same time and I found myself saddened when they were lost to the whims of others. My first attempt at one of Dan Si mmons stories, but there will definelty be more. ( )

I have to begin by saying this has always been one of my favorite books. I like the short story that it was based on even more. I first read the paperback edition shortly after it was published. I bought this copy next, but it was still shrink wrapped when I decided to reread it.

The story starts off with a group of three people, Melanie, Willie, and Nina, who have known each other for decades. They are all mind vampires, Users, who can control others to do whatever they want. They all have "servants" who have no minds of their own left at all. They have gathered to share newspaper clippings of people they have influenced to commit horrific crimes. But the group is shattered when Melanie, a faded southern belle with antebellum attitudes, is attacked by zombies controlled by someone else. While defending herself and killing Nina, Melanie kills a local photographer. His daughter, Natalie, teams up with a local sheriff, Rob, and a survivor of the Nazi death camps who was once "used" by Willie, Saul, to track down and destroy these mind vampires. While doing so they all discover that there are more Users in major positions of power with varying degrees of influence.

Dan Simmons is a major writer of horror, starting with his first book, Song of Kali. He can describe a bloodbath or scare you just as much with the sound of a tap on a window. If you love excellent writing and don't mind some gore, this is a wonderful book. ( )

A decent read, but a bit intense with the blood and gore for my liking. Psychic vampires using humans as pawns. Or something like that. ( )