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Synopsis:
From the author of the “exciting, suspenseful, horrifying” (Stephen King) Fever House, a Vietnam veteran and his adopted niece hunt—and are hunted by—the vampire that slaughtered their family.
It’s the winter of 1975, and Portland, Oregon, is all sleet and neon. Duane Minor is back home after a tour in Vietnam, a bartender just trying to stay sober; save his marriage with his wife, Heidi; and connect with his thirteen-year-old niece, Julia, now that he’s responsible for raising her. Things aren’t easy, but Minor is scraping by.
Then a vampire walks into his bar and ruins his life.
When Minor crosses John Varley, a killer who sleeps during the day beneath loose drifts of earth and grows teeth in the light of the moon, Varley brutally retaliates by murdering Heidi, leaving Minor broken with guilt and Julia filled with rage. What’s left of their splintered family is united by only one desire: vengeance.
So begins a furious, frenzied pursuit across the Pacific Northwest and beyond. From grimy alleyways to desolate highways to snow-lashed plains, Minor and Julia are cast into the dark orbit of undead children, silver bullet casters, and the bevy of broken men transfixed by Varley’s ferocity. Everyone’s out for blood.
Gritty, unforgettable, and emotionally devastating, Coffin Moon asks what will be left of our humanity when grief transmutes into violence, when monsters wear human faces, and when our thirst for revenge eclipses everything else.
Review:
I have known for a long time that Keith Rosson is a talented writer. From his early novels with Meerkat Press to his most recent success with the Fever House books, his writing style and his storytelling is unique and powerful. In his latest novel Coffin Moon, he takes these talents and turns them up to make one of the best vampire novels that I have ever read.
The story starts with Vietnam veteran, Duane Minor, working at his mother-in-law’s bar, living in the apartment above the bar with his wife and his teenage niece Juila, making it day to day while taking care of his family. When some bikers start coming into the bar, Duane becomes suspicious, and when he catches them selling drugs, he becomes furious. What spirals from this single encounter between Duane and the bikers becomes the event that spirals Duane’s life out of control. Simply because in messing with the bikers, he messed with the leader, John Varley.
John Varley is a monster, and one of the scariest characters that I have read in a long time. He does not only want blood. He does not only want to kill. He wants to destroy people, rip them into pieces, make them suffer before turning them into a crime scene that will make detectives vomit. He has been a vampire for generations, and his singular focus is to get enough money to move to Alaska with his love Johan where it is dark for months at a time, and he can live off of the land. Of course they are being hunted, but Varley feels like his power as a vampire and his love for Johan will help him conquer anything.
I have always said that vampire stories have a homoerotic undertone to them, and I love that Varley and Johan are a couple, that they embrace this undertone and bring it to the forefront, make their love the reason why they want immortality, and how companionship and love can make you take the most extreme actions. I love all sides of this story, from the ruthless predatory acts of Varley to the driving anger of Duane. The entire novel flows so well, and the only thing that I could think at the end was that I want more John Varley story, but then Coffin Moon might be the perfect length with the perfect amount of Varley because his brutality never gets old, the feelings stay powerful, and in the end, it is one of the most satisfied vampire stories I have ever read. It makes me want to read everything else that Keith Rosson ever writes.
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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