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I'm not much of a horror fan, so I I'm surprised I liked this as much as I did. The story is an interesting take on the vampire legend, but not at all in the Stoker tradition. This variation would appeal more to fans of ancient aliens theories than to those of traditional vampire stories. It also has echoes of fantasy tales of good vs. evil (Tokien, et al.). What makes the story particularly interesting, though, is that Wilson takes what is, ultimately, a derivative idea and uses it to explore evil in a way that makes the reader a participant in the dialogue. Just as we watch one of the main characters struggle with the idea of fighting fire with fire, we realize that part of us enjoys seeing Nazis, especially the SS, suffer the same kind of fear and suffering they inflicted on so many others. At first, that enjoyment seems uncomplicated. Bad things happen to bad guys; it's kind of fun. But as the story continues, two things happen: first, we are forced to recognize that most people are not 100% "bad guys" or "good guys," and second, we see that even fairly solidly good people can be lured into evil by their own fears and weaknesses--and that includes us. Wilson makes his readers feel the temptation to use evil to fight evil. Sure, his example is over-the-top--it's a horror novel--but he makes the point very clearly that evil doesn't care about the morality of those it destroys and while the evil in this novel is supernatural, the lesson he teaches applies to real life as well. Lest I make it seem that this is some kind of heavy-handed moralistic fiction, let me be clear--all the philosophical content I'm on about here is inherent, not explicit. You can read this novel as a straight-forward horror novel and enjoy it very much. Although it is more than 30 years old, it has lost nothing over the years (in part due to its historical setting) and is well suited to today's reader.
(Review originally published on Goodreads.com)
(Review originally published on Goodreads.com)
