Night Life

by Ray Garton

Book Overview

The long-awaited follow-up to the vampire classic Live Girls, from the Bram Stoker Award-nominated "horror maestro" (Publishers Weekly). Night Life, a brilliant sequel to the classic novel of vampires... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0843956755
• ISBN13: 9780843956757
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Leisure Books
• Length: 338 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.3" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Worthy sequel to Live Girls

Was this book as good as Live Girls? No, but how could it be, Live Girls is a horror classic, not only one of my favorite vampire novels, but one of my favorite novels period. I really enjoyed catching up with these characters nearly 20 years later, even though some of them wouldn't survive. Ray Garton has built on the facinating world he created in Live Girls, and I hope he really continues writing novels set there. **spoiler** One complaint, I hated that he killed off Anya, she was a fantastic villain, and if he's going to continue writing in this world, she should have been a part of it. If a movie is ever made of these novels, Dita Von Teese should play Anya. **end spoiler** If you liked/loved Live Girls, then you should enjoy this novel, sure it suffers a bit in comparison to Live Girls, but it's still a very good read, and better than most other vampire novels out there.

fascinating modernization of the vampire legend

Private investigators Karen Moffett and Gavin Keoph are linked by multi-millionaire horror novelist Martin Burgess. He wants them to investigate former New York Times reporter Walter Benedek under a pseudonym wrote an article about evil vampires for the New York Post. Mr. Burgess wants to know if they are real. Karen tracks Walter down to a small town in Upstate New York where he tells her vampires are real and he did battle with them. He gives them an introduction to nice vampires Casey and Davey, a married couple who drink blood from containers obtained through an underground network. The "brutals" believe mortals are meat to do with as they choose and they dine on anyone looking for them. They never forget a slight and when Davey, Casey and Gavin are in the home of a psychic vampire, Karen and Casey are kidnapped and placed into a hotel belonging to the most dangerous brutal of all. The place is a fortress but they are going to make a rescue attempt regardless knowing there will be casualties on both sides. NIGHT LIFE is the direct sequel to Bram Stoker nominated LIVE GIRLS and it is a fascinating modernization of the vampire legend. These vampires can stay awake in the day, wear sunblock to go outside, are allergic to garlic but religious objects don't bother them unlike in most vampiric novels. The characters are full blooded and the storyline is fast paced, action packed and totally terrifying. Ray Garton writes horror fiction at its most frightening best. Harriet Klausner

Great sequel to the fantastic novel 'Live Girls'

"Night Life" isn't quite as good as its predecessor, "Live Girls", but it's still great. I almost couldn't put it down. Usually that's an exaggeration. People say "I couldn't put it down", but they don't mean it literally. But with "Night Life" I read the entire book in one day. It was that gripping. I'm a big horror fan, but I'm not specifically interested in vampires. I'll read a vampire book by an author that interests me. Garton is just fantastic, so horror fans should read his books regardless of what they're about. I recommend "Live Girls", "The Loveliest Dead", and "Darklings" for starters. Don't read "Night Life" before "Live Girls." Also, don't read them back-to-back. They were written about 17 years apart and they are set just as far apart. Give yourself a breather between the two books.

A worthy sequel to a classic horror novel

NIGHT LIFE is the sequel to Garton's memorable 1987 paperback original LIVE GIRLS, published by Pocket Books at the end of the "horror boom" of the late 1980s. Described in blurbs as "The most nightmarish vampire novel I have ever read" by Ramsey Campbell, and as "gripping, original, and sly" by Dean Koontz, LIVE GIRLS is one novel that nearly lives up to the hype of its cover copy. Set in a gritty urban landscape of New York City's Time Square, and exhibiting an overt sexuality not common at the time it was published, LIVE GIRLS accelerated the process of moving vampires out of their traditional Gothic settings by placing them squarely in the modern world. Its protagonist is the luckless Davey Owens, who, as the book begins, has just lost his job and his girlfriend. Seeking distraction from his problems, he drifts down to the seedy environs of 42nd Street, entering an establishment called Live Girls. There, he falls under the sway of the vampire Anya, who sustains herself by taking blood from clients who pay her for oral sex. At first seduced by the new life she offers him, Davey later turns against her, resulting in a bloody, violent and, ultimately, explosive confrontation with Anya and her extended vampiric family. NIGHT LIFE picks up in 2005 as horror writer Martin Burgess hires two private investigators to look into the destruction of Live Girls in 1987. Their investigation puts them in contact with the retired Walter Benedek, a newspaper reporter who covered the bizarre story for the New York Post (the disaster, which was at first covered in the mainstream press, has since become tabloid fodder). Unfortunately, their activities draw the attention of the vampires who were forced to flee New York almost two decades earlier, triggering acts of retribution against all those who know the true story behind the events chronicled in LIVE GIRLS, including Davey Owens, now "living" near Hollywood. Intense and swiftly paced, NIGHT LIFE should satisfy both new readers and long time Garton fans. After a slow build up, Garton plunges you into a ruthless and depraved world of sudden violence so intense it seems as if he's daring you to turn the next page. While not quite the book that its predecessor was, NIGHT LIFE is nevertheless a well conceived, tautly executed piece of work, one which once again demonstrates Garton's enviable ability to shock and surprise his audience. Although the loose ends left dangling in LIVE GIRLS are resolved, Garton has by no means exhausted the story possibilities generated by the brutal reality he's conceived; the characters he's created cry out for further development, and the latent plot lines suggested by the action of NIGHT LIFE seem too numerous and fruitful to ignore. It will be interesting to see how Garton capitalizes on those potentialities should he decide to pursue a follow-up.