Darklost

Victor Renquist moves his group of vampires from New York to Los Angeles, but worries about the aging celebrities anxious for immortality, the attempt by a splinter group to bring back Cthulhu, a being of pure evil, and the plight of the darklost--humansmade into partial vampires and then discarded

From Publishers Weekly

The endangered fangsters of New York--who prefer to be called nosferatu rather than vampires--have found a new home in Los Angeles in this sequel to The Time of Feasting. Victor Renquist, their debonair Master, senses something amiss in the world of Dark Power, but he's so angst-ridden over the loss of his partner, Cynara, that he can barely consider the danger. The problem lies with the Council of Nine, which controls a religious cult. The council's leader, Marcus De Reske, has decided that his route to immortality lies in summoning Cthulhu to wreak havoc and chaos on Earth. Although De Reske's former ally and sidekick, Orton Ghast, points out, "Cthulhu? The great squid-headed demon who's supposed to be confined to the undersea city of R'lyeh? That's pure H.P. Lovecraft, Marcus," this does not deter De Reske and his new super-bimbo Tara Swerling from their evil path. But Philipa, Marcus's ex-partner--a classy dame and a true psychic power--lets Renquist in on the council's plot, so the Elder Gods don't have such an easy time achieving their nefarious goal, after all. Meanwhile, Elaine Dance, a "darklost" who was only halfway turned into a nosferatu by Cynara, has come to L.A. seeking Renquist and the rest of the tribe so they can either put her out of her misery or make her fully one of them, while the other nosferatu deal with their own problems in a maze of overlapping subplots. Farren successfully conjures up a vision of nocturnal Los Angeles as sexy and dangerous, but his extraneously detailed writing drags down the story line and his stilted dialogue makes it difficult to believe in his fantastical characters. (Mar.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is a sequel to Farren's The Time of Feasting. After a deadly encounter with a vampire hinter, Nosferatu leader Victor Renquest decides to move the remaining members of his small colony from New York to Los Angeles. Victor's immediate goal is to re-energize the colony; however, before he can do that, he must overcome the lethargy that has engulfed him since the destruction of his consort, Cynara. To compound his problems, he soon becomes aware of a monstrous evil in the city that is gaining strength and that threatens vampires and humans alike. The entity known by the Lovecraftian name of Cthulhu is being raised by members of a religious cult. Through nightmarish dreams, Victor discovers that the monster plated an important part in the development of the vampire race. This intriguing tale of horror could have done with some judicious editing, but readers of the genre will enjoy is, especially those who read the first book. For all public libraries.Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Bowie MDCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A sequel to Farrens debut vampire novel, The Time of Feasting (1996), about suave, thousand-year-old Victor Renquist (Master of the Nosferatu in Manhattan) and his problems with the police when his followers get out of hand. Victors vampires get by on plastic packs of donor hemoglobin, an only partially satisfying source of livelihood. Such sustenance, in fact, is against the vampires nature, which turns on bloodlust and the urge to kill. Periods come about when the vampires fall into a frenzy and go on killing sprees that are hard to disguisea condition known as Feasting. This kind of wilding, with bloodless bodies left everywhere, threatens to destroy Victors colony. So he leaves behind the chic attention he gets in New Yorks celebrity press and moves his colonys survivors to L.A., where the undead are fed by blood packs stolen by a larcenous Salvadoran orderly at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. The vampires deepest urges are filled by ex-sanguinating the influx of unknown and undocumented aliens from the Southvictims with brief or nonexistent histories. Power-hungry Julia, intent on pair-bonding with Victor back in Manhattan, has followed him to L.A. even though he still mourns Cynara, murdered by the hammer strokes of a whiskey priest. Victor also finds himself facing a problem with Elaine Dance, an inconsolably depressed dominatrix whose bouts of raging hysteria cannot be tamed by therapyas neither can her longing to join the undead. She was taken halfway to immortality by Cynara but then left among the Darklost by Cynaras death. Now, a rival cult named the Apogee, ruled by the Council of Nine, wants to bring forth Cthulhu, the squidlike, betentacled Lovecraftian monster of the underworld; if loosed onto this plane of existence, Cthulhu can destroy, enslave, or otherwise change the colony. Despite rich plotting and colorfully embossed characterizations, much remains unresolved at novels end; clearly a third volume is forthcoming. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From the Publisher

"Mick Farren is the Dark Prince of pop fiction." ERIK HIMMELBACH, Los Angeles Reader"Mick Farren brings to the vampire novel the same energy, originality,and sheer creative drive that he brought to his finest rock and roll performances." MICHAEL MOORCOCK

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