Helpful Score: 3
Poppy Z. Brite creates dark and evocative settings and her moody troubled characters fit right in. Drawing Blood is the story of a lost soul named Travis, an artist whose father left him alone alive after a murder/suicide binge that left his entire family dead. It is also the story of Zach, a hot pepper munching computer hacker who has to go on the run to escape discovery of the crimes he's committed. These two find each other, and find some resolution to the demons that have been plaguing them throughout their lives. Characters and settings from Brite's other novel Lost Souls make cameo appearances in this story, which is fun if you've read the other book, but not distracting and not crucial to the plotline if you haven't. It isn't a true crossover effort, you don't really get a continuation of the Lost Souls plotline. But it was a good insider's perk to see the way the two stories interact if you've read Lost Souls before you read Drawing Blood. And, contrary to all the goth trappings that go with a Brite novel, this story has a happy ending. I liked it better than Lost Souls. Although I found both stories compelling, this one ties up the loose ends better.
Helpful Score: 3
Sexy and disturbing look at two young men trying to escape their pasts. I found it to be highly erotic, and I loved the character development. I stayed up all night to finish it. Pretty gory.
Highly recommended
Highly recommended
Helpful Score: 1
Mystery/horror genre. Author writes beautifully about awful things.
Helpful Score: 1
Trevor is a cartoonist haunted by what previously happened to his family in the house on Violin Road. In teh company of a friend, a computer hacker, Trevor has returned tot he same house on Violin Road to face his ghosts. As he loses himself in the lines and drawings of his cartoons, the hauntings begins and the lines blur even more between fantasy, reality, and the past.
Darker and more exotic than Anne Rice, more cerebral than Stephen King... Horror is rarely this good and Poppy Brite does it good.
Darker and more exotic than Anne Rice, more cerebral than Stephen King... Horror is rarely this good and Poppy Brite does it good.