Of Saints and Shadows – Book Review

by | Apr 17, 2017 | Book Reviews, Reviews | 0 comments

Of Saints and Shadows
Christopher Golden
Journalstone
September 23, 2016
Reviewed by A. Renee Hunt

There’s nothing better than liking a monster. Peter Octavian is a creature of the night, but he’s one of the good guys. Peter is a “Defiant One,” a vampire, but he’s so much more than that. He’s an investigator, and he’s on a case for a friend to find a missing young lady. Of Saints and Shadows, by Christopher Golden, goes not only into a crime drama, but how vampires go against the church.

When a book is stolen from the Vatican, a mission is set into place. The mission places, through the church’s clandestine army, a death sentence on all vampires. Unfortunately, with a particular killer, Liam Mulkerrin, on the job, there’s more than just vampires at stake. Anyone who knows of Vampires or who have had their lives touched by vamps are in danger. It’s up to the kind and humanitarian side of Octavian to set things straight, and bring an end to the mystery.

Of Saints and Shadows is an amazing book, though its basic premise is the same as most vamp tales. What makes the novel original, is Peter Octavian. He seems to still hold to his humanity, though he’s not been one for hundreds of years. He’s a gentle man, looking only to punish those who deserve it – not through his animal nature, but the law. Until a special legion of sorcerers step into the picture.

I’ve read nothing like it, so I was impressed. Golden found a way to keep the story in realms of both the real world and the paranormal. This book fits into the thriller genre, while bringing those things that go bump in the night to the surface. The narrator, John Lee, made this happen, just as much as the author who wrote it, with his cryptic reading style and perfect voice. The graphic imagery, the history, combined with the reality of the church and protection of the faith made Of Saints and Shadows an excellent vampire read.

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