The Book of Common Dread

Read The Book of Common Dread Storyline:

    Vampire Vincent DeVilbiss's existence is part infernal
bargain-and lie. And only the Scrolls of Ahriman, safely hidden in the fortress
that is Princeton University's Firestone Library, stand in the way of his
finding the ultimate satiation of them all. But he does not count on his passion
for a woman-or the man who becomes his rival for her-to become even more
dangerous or insurmountable obstacles to his goals than a sophisticated security
system or his satanic master.
    
***
    
    From Kirkus Reviews
    A vampire at Princeton! Do you long for a horror novel
full of bookish but lively, intelligent people (no thuggish middlebrows!), and a
piano-playing, 500-year-old vampire whose great earthly love is for Bach and a
classically beautiful (let's say ideally erotic) woman-a vampire who is himself
only semimortal (a once-a-week bloodsucker who nonetheless fearlessly wolfs down
richly marbled cheeseburgers with deep-fat fried potatoes drowned in ketchup
while pitying the early death of others seated about him in an arterially
disastrous restaurant), yes, a gent with a gusto for dead languages whose great
herbal remedies knock out flu viruses and open your nasal passages so you can
float into a good night's sleep and who doesn't believe in talking with the
dead, though he fakes it expertly for a living, and so on? Well, after a
slippery, slightly banal opening, Monahan (DeathBite, 1979-not reviewed)
finds his footing and goes the distance like a seasoned aerialist. Under orders
from Below, Vincent DeVilbiss's mission is to take out peacemakers and folks who
might lessen the hell of earthly life. What better place than the Princeton
think-tank? He sets himself up there as a psychic in residence, since even a
superstrong vampire who can bound like a leopard has to earn his bread. When
Frederika Vanderveen, a beautiful man-eater who lives alone in her late father's
big house, comes to DeVilbiss for help in making peace with dad, DeVilbiss
pretends that it can be done but that she'll have to pay him by getting him
access to an ancient leather manuscript in the highly protected Rare Manuscripts
room. The manuscript has dangerous necromancy written on it that the Bad Guy
wants burnt. Luckily, Frederika has just taken in young Simon Penn, a rare-books
curator, and goes to work on him. But Simon has a brain of his own and seeks her
release from psychic disorder while Vincent prepares her for… hmm, long life.
Enrapting!
    
***
    
    "Here's horror served up in rare style-a real
page-turner. If chills and thrills are to your taste then Brent Monahan provides
a feast."
    -Robert Bloch, author of Psycho
    
    "The Book of Common Dread is a book of uncommonly
dark pleasures. Intriguing plot, compelling characters (human and otherwise),
and a setting sure to fascinate any book lover, this one has it all. A terrific
novel!"
    -Chet Williamson, author of Reign
    
    "I've never read anything so clever and yet so real.
The Book of Common Dread is one of those rarer novels you actually
believe could be true."
    -Thomas F. Monteleone, author of The Blood of the
Lamb