Dark Road Rising

July 6, 2009
Elrod ties up some loose ends from Cold Streets
and picks up where 2006’s Song in the Dark
left off in Jack Fleming’s swaggering 12th adventure. Jack, a hard-boiled vampire PI/club owner in 1938 Chicago, subdues and wins over Gabe “Whitey” Kroun, “a big bad gang boss” from New York whom Jack soon discovers is also undead. Whitey’s vampire blood helps Jack’s best friend, Charles Escott, survive a deadly infection and injuries from a nasty fight, but it may turn him into a bloodsucker. Elrod sometimes gets too caught up in nostalgic gangster-style chatter, but the action is solid, and while newcomers might feel like they’ve wandered into a half-finished film starring Humphrey Bogart and Vincent Price, fans will be thrilled.

August 15, 2009
The 12th book in Elrod's series (after "Song in the Dark") follows the adventures of vampire Jack Flemming, now living in 1930s Chicago. Owner of a nightclub, Jack has made friends within the mobster community and has visited New York honcho Gabriel "Whitey" Kroun, who is a new member of the undead with a dark, frightening secret. Kroun has difficulty remembering his past and must search through dangerous territory to find answers. For Jack, the psychic wounds he suffered when he was tortured by the psychopathic thug Bristow have yet to heal. Still, he offers to help the clearly suffering Kroun. VERDICT As usual, Elrod does a fantastic job of creating well-developed characters and a fast-paced plot. Unfortunately, the first quarter of the book is mostly backstory filled with names and events of previous novels having little to do with the main plot. However, once the story takes off, it is impossible not to keep turning the pages. For series fans and vampire aficionados.Patricia Altner, BiblioInfo.com, Columbia, MD

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