I love books and movies about vampires. I have seen several movies, including several of the old Dracula movies, and more recent vampire movies. I have enjoyed them all. I have read several books with vampires in them, but I have never read Dracula by Bram Stroker, or any of Anne Rice's vampire books. I will get to those someday. I don't know exactly what it is about vampires that fascinates me so much. I just really enjoy books and movies about them. That does not mean that I would ever want to meet up with one, or become one. I just like to read about them or watch a movie about them.

Beneath a Blood Red Moon, written by Shannon Drake, was the first book in a series of vampire books. The second one, When Darkness Falls, and the third one, Deep Midnight, are out now. I do have Deep Midnight, but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. I’m planning to get to it soon. The fourth book in the series was just released. I don’t have that one yet, and I can’t remember the title of it. I have no idea how many books Shannon Drake plans to write in this series.

I loved the first two in the series, and I will get the next one as soon as I can. The first two books do not share a common story line. There were vampires in both, but the plots were different and stand on their own. If you read the first, you don't have to read the next one, or you could start with the second book and not be completely lost. Some of the same characters showed up in first two books in the series. I don't know if that happens in the third book since I haven’t read it yet. Both of the first two books also mentioned reincarnation briefly. At the end of Beneath a Blood Red Moon, there are some exerts from three of Shannon Drake's books, including the prologue from When Darkness Falls.

I found Beneath a Blood Red Moon, as well as When Darkness Falls and Deep Midnight in the romance section of my local Waldenbooks. I’ve also seen this books in the romance area of a Barnes and Noble. Those are the only two bookstores I’ve been in recently, so I don’t know where these books could be in other bookstores, but I would suggest checking in the romance area first since that is where I have seen them in other stores.

Beneath a Blood Red Moon was a longer book and it had a complicated plot. There was a lot of different things going on. I’m not going to tell everything that happened in the book, but I will be discussing the plot a little longer for this book since it was more complex.

PLOT

The book began with a prologue set in New Orleans in 1840. Magdalena Montgomery had been seeing Comte Alec De Vereaux. Her father, Jason, didn't want her to see Alec again. He thought that Alec was dangerous. Jason wanted his daughter to marry a family friend, Robert Canady. Magdalena refuseed to marry Robert. She snuck out of the house to go to Alec. She planed to compromise herself with Alec so that her father wouldl be forced to accept her marriage to him. When she arriveed at his house, Alec seemed to be trying to tell her something about himself. That he was not the man she thought he was. Jason and a few of his friends believed that Alec was a vampire. When they realize that Magdalena was gone, they headed to Alec's house, but they were too late. Alec had already bitten Magdalena. Jason and his friends killed Alec. They wanted to do the same to Magdalena, but Jason said he could save her, prevent her from becoming a vampire. He later told his friends that he saved Magdalena and that she was going to have a child.

The first chapter took place in modern times, again in New Orleans. Sean Canady, a police officer, and his partner, Jack Delaney were investigating a murder. A man had been decapitated. The police and the medical examiner were reminded of a murder from a few weeks earlier, in which a woman had been found in one of the above ground cemeteries. The woman, a call girl, had been disemboweled. The men said it was like a modern day Jack the Ripper had killed her. Pierre, the medical examiner, and Sean thought that the two cases may be related. They discovered that the man was a pimp.

Maggie Montgomery owned a clothing store called Magdalena's in New Orleans. The business had been in her family for years. The women have been designing clothes since before the Civil War. The body of the pimp had been found near Magdalena's. Maggie and her assistant, Angie talked about the body. Angie had been to the coffee shop next door and heard gossip about the case. Maggie seems disturbed by the murder. Sean and Jack arrived at the store, wanting to talk to Maggie. Some small drops were found, forming a trail from the body to a door of Montgomery Enterprises. Sean thought that Maggie knew something about the murder, that she may have been covering up for someone. Jack was convinced that she was completely innocent.

Sean and Maggie ran into each other that night. Sean was very attracted to Maggie. He wanted to get to know her better. He told her that he didn't suspect her of murder, but he did think she was hiding something. Maggie didn't want to get involved with him. While working on the case, Jack did some research on his own on voodoo, Jack the Ripper and vampires. Sean and Maggie spent more time together. Sean was very interested in Maggie and fell in love with her. Maggie had reasons why she didn't want to get involved with him. Those reasons will be revealed later in the book.

A third body was found, this time in the bayou. The woman was murdered savagely, and in a similar way to one of the victims of Jack the Ripper. The woman had been dead for almost a week when her body was found, meaning all the murders had been committed on the almost full or full moon. This victim had also been a call girl. The police think it was a Jack the Ripper copycat.

Someone from Maggie's past came to see her, to warn her about something. No, I am not saying who or what the person said. You have to read the book to find those things out. Maggie knew more about the murders than she was saying. She eventually told Sean what she had been keeping from him - again I'm not saying - and he didn't believe her at first. She told him her theory about the killings too.

Throughout the book, there were some flashbacks. They are written in italics so you know right away that they are flashbacks. The flashbacks described what happened to Magdalena after she became a vampire. During the first flashback, she met Lucian, the King of the vampires. He taught her the rules and laws they must live by to survive. Some of them are that they can only create two vampires every century - otherwise the world would be over run with vampires and that would lead to their end because there would be no food for them. They are to be careful when they fed, and leave no evidence behind. The victims must be beheaded because that got rid of the evidence and prevented them from coming back as vampires. They can not kill one of their own kind. If they do, they will face a trial and execution by their peers.

During the second flashback, Magdalena is back in New Orleans after about twenty years have passed, going by the name of Meg. She was supposed to be the child her father said she was going to have. He just made up the child as an excuse to send her to Europe for a while and give her a way to return home later. She met and falls in love with Sean Canady - an ancestor of the Sean in the modern day portion of the book. Meg also met Aaron Carter during this time. Aaron was a vampire too, and he wanted Meg. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. Aaron was not nice, even for a vampire. He enjoyed causing humans great torment. A few other flashbacks happen during this time.

A few other flashbacks take place in 1888 in London when she is going by the name of Megan. This was when Jack the Ripper was killing. She had some friends, a doctor and his wife, and she helped the doctor with his practice. She saw Aaron again during this time and he still wanted her. He took great pleasure in causing trouble.

There is a lot more that happens in the book than what I have talked about here. So don't worry, I didn't tell everything.

**End of Plot Discussion**

Beneath a Blood Red Moon was a really good book. It kept my interest throughout the whole book and I didn't think any part of it was boring. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put the book down and I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next. I really enjoyed this book. Beneath a Blood Red Moon was very well written and descriptive. I could easily picture what the characters looked like, the settings, and what was going on. There was some swearing used in the book, but it wasn’t excessive.

Beneath a Blood Red Moon had mystery, romance, suspense, and a bit of history in it. The mystery involved the dead bodies that were turning up in the city. Maggie knew, or suspected something about the crimes that she kept to herself for a while. Who, or what, was killing people in New Orleans? There were several suspenseful moments in the book. I never knew what would happen next, especially in the ending. There was a bit of mystery during some of the flashback scenes as well. Some people may consider this a horror book since it dealt with vampires. There were a few scenes that were a little scary, but I didn’t think that the book was that scary overall.

The history in Beneath a Blood Red Moon came mainly during the flashbacks, first during the Civil War, and then in 1888 in London. Facts about Jack the Ripper were told throughout the book since the murders that Sean and Jack were investigating seemed to be copies of the murders that Jack the Ripper committed. Sean's dad, Daniel, was a history buff, and he talked about Jack the Ripper some, as well as other unsolved murders in New Orleans' past - like an ax murderer. There were several unsolved murders in New Orleans, and Daniel knew about them all and had some theories. I have no idea if the killers in New Orleans' past are true or not, but they fit in good with the story. Jack and Sean did research on Jack the Ripper for their case. I found the information about Jack the Ripper to be very interesting and I learned a few more things about those murders that I hadn’t know before.

There were some very violent scenes in Beneath a Blood Red Moon. Some things that happened in this book were a bit gruesome. The book dealt with vampires, horrible murders, staking and beheading vampires. All of the bodies were described in great detail, and one of the murders was described a bit while it is happening. The staking and beheading of vampires was described as it actually happened. Those things were described in great detail and may be too descriptive for some people. Some of the scenes that took place during the flashbacks were also violent and descriptive. If reading about things like this will offend or upset you, you should stay away from this book. This was a great book that I loved, but it isn't for everyone. Some people just don't like books or movies about vampires. If you are one of those people, skip this book.

Most of the romance in Beneath a Blood Red Moon was between Maggie and Sean in the modern day part of the book. They met for the first time near the beginning of the book, so the reader can watch as their relationship grows and develops. There was some romance during the flashbacks to the Civil War time too. The romance wasn’t the main focus of the book, though it was important to the plot. I thought that the mystery related to the murders in New Orleans and what was going on with the vampires was the main focus of the book. The romance didn’t detract from the mystery of the book. There were some sexual situations and acts described over the course of the book. The scenes were very descriptive and explicit at times, so they could offend some readers. People who are offended by descriptions of sexual matters shouldn’t read this book.

Most of Beneath a Blood Red Moon was set in New Orleans in either the present day or in one of the flashbacks. The book began in 1840 in New Orleans, though not to much happened at that point. Later, one of the flashbacks took place during the Civil War in New Orleans. The city of New Orleans was a great city for the setting of this book. Voodoo was part of the history there, and it is the home of Anne Rice. The city was described really well throughout the book. I have never been there, but the descriptions in this book made the city come alive. Some other scenes, during another flashback, took place in London during 1888 when Jack the Ripper was on the loose. That city was also very well described so that it came alive to me, though, I have no idea how accurate Drake’s descriptions of London at that time were.

The characters of Maggie and Sean were the main characters of Beneath a Blood Red Moon and they were very well developed. The character of Jack, Sean's partner, was developed fairly well considering he was a supporting character in the book. More was learned about Magdalena through the flashbacks. The other characters weren't as well developed, but they were not in much of the book, so enough was known about them.

CHARACTERS

Magdalena Montgomery - Young woman that fell in love with the wrong man, Alec. Because of that, she was turned into a vampire. Her father told people she was ok, and going to have a baby. She went to Europe for several years, returning later as the daughter she was supposed to have given birth to in Europe. This continued for years and years. She would stay in New Orleans for a while, then go to Europe. After about twenty years she would be back as the daughter. That way, there was a reason for her staying young.

Jason Montgomery - Magdalena's father. He suspected that Alec was a vampire and tried to keep his only daughter away from him. Jason and a group of his friends staked and decapitated Alec, but it was too late to save Magdalena from becoming a vampire. He worked to save her, and told people she was going to have a baby.

Lucian - King of the vampires. He has been a vampire for hundreds of years. He taught Magdalena the rules and laws vampires have to live by. He had a soft spot for her and showed up to help her when she needed him.

Aaron Carter - Vampire that wanted Magdalena. He kept showing up through the years, determined to have her. He wouldn’'t take no for an answer. He was a truly vicious vampire, killing for the thrill and not to feed. He continued to kill people in modern times when most vampires go to blood banks for that. He enjoyed killing and tormenting people.

Maggie Montgomery - Owner of Magdalena's. She had secrets in her past she wasn't sharing. She had reasons for not wanting to get involved with Sean. She knew more about the recent murders than she was saying. She could be stubborn at times.

Sean Canady - Police detective working on the cases of the recent Jack the Ripper like murders. He thought Maggie was hiding something. He was attracted to her and wanted to get to know her better. He was a good cop and he was determined to solve the case.

Jack Delaney - Sean's partner. He hasn't been on the force for long and got sick when he saw some of the bodies. He knew all kinds of things about Jack the Ripper and vampire movies. He once wanted to be a director and make a great vampire movie.

Beneath a Blood Red Moon was a very good, interesting, engrossing book. Anyone who likes books or movies with vampires should like this book. It is worth reading for fans of vampire books. I really enjoyed it. People who don’t like those types of books or movies should stay away from this book.

Beneath a Blood Red Moon
Shannon Drake
Zebra Books, 1999
353 pages
Paperback
$6.99 U.S.
$8.99 CAN
ISBN # - 0-8217-6298-2

Recommended: Yes