David B. Vermont is on tour this month with Pump Up Your Book sharing his urban fantasy/historical religious novel, The Last Confession of the Vampire Judas Iscariot. I requested to review this first chapter through his tour coordinator because the book blurb intrigued me.
After watching the crucifixion of Jesus, Judas despairs over what he has done and fumes that the Messiah he put his trust in has turned out to be just another pretender like all the rest. The toxic mix of emotions is too much for him to bear and Judas commits suicide by hanging himself.
He is restored to life by the Devil and made into a vampire apostle. The Devil teaches Judas to manipulate men and history. He becomes a king, a general, a teacher and a blacksmith, whatever is needed to effect the outcome of history and move it towards the goal of his new master.
Each time he is ready to move on to his next incarnation he must drink the blood of an innocent victim to be restored to his youthful vigor. But despite his many powers and abilities Judas knows there is one thing he desires and cannot have. Finally Judas meets a laicized priest, Raymond Breviary, and tries to steal from him what he was denied two thousand years before.
COVER: Very nicely done. The coins go back to Judas betraying Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. The dark shadows over the coins and the burgundy color of the cloth are a nice contrast. Love the detail of the blood smears on the top coin.
FIRST CHAPTER: The story opens in Ars, France in 1830. Father John Vianney has completed his hours long ritual of hearing confessions before heading home. He hopes for a restful night, but the evil that visits him is certain to make that impossible.
KEEP READING: Absolutely. As I mentioned above, I wanted to review this first chapter simply because the blurb intrigued me. I will sheepishly admit, however, that I didn't have high hopes for the book. The blurb, while intriguing, seemed long-winded and didn't end with a punch. I quickly discovered my folly as I was immediately drawn into the story of Father Vianney and his fight against the darkest evil in his small backwater town. Not wanting to give too much away--you simply need to experience this one for yourself--The Last Confession of the Vampire Judas Iscariot has an Exorcist feel to it, but it's much more than that. I'm not a fan of the omniscient point of view, but because of the nature of the plot it works well here. I definitely want to make time to read the rest of this novel.
Paperback: 242 pages
Publisher: Koehler Books (April 15, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1938467922
ISBN-13: 978-1938467929
You can read the first chapter of this novel for yourself at the author's website: http://davidvermont.com/
This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.
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1 comment:
Thanks Cheryl for your First Chapter Review. This is a very compelling read that is a page turner. And I had the same though, Excorcist. And the book gets even better with each page.
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