David Thomas Lord's Bound In Blood Review

by Elaine Lanmon

Trade Paperback, Kensington Books

May, 2001

ISBN 1-57566-764-9

$14 / $19

Labor Day weekend. New York City. Greenwich Village. Christopher Street. It is a humid summer carnival and a serial killer stalks the gay community, dressed to kill in the costume of the contemporary warrior. White athletic socks and black jockstrap. Blue jeans and black T-shirt. Black motorcycle jacket and boots. Black cap with visor. Black leather belt with stainless steel buckle and keys on a stainless steel clip. Black leather wallet. Black leather gloves. He joins the veritable cattle drive of fashion drawn toward the Hudson River like lemmings.

But Jack is no ordinary serial killer. He is Jean-Luc Courbet, bastard son of Noel Courbet, vain and willful mother, actress extraordinaire, wife of Phillipe, the Marquis de Charnac - maker of vampires.

BOUND IN BLOOD is a contemporary horror/thriller, encompassing Jack's dark and bloody personal history - from the present back to his beginning in Paris, 1844 - a critical number of decades in his existence as a vampire. Mr. Lord's crisp writing style propels the reader through Jack's unceasing love affair with his mirror; his hunt for only the very best specimens of humanity - body builders, lusty drug free young men - as only perfection of body and unsullied blood will sustain his vampire nature for more than a few hours; and his desire to be free of his fear of his mother.

Time is running out for Jack. Phillipe's premature destruction has left a big gap in Jack's education, and his lack of knowledge plunges him into ever-deepening depravity in search of answers.

Hunted by his human and inhuman counterparts as his immortal life rushes to its end, Jack is foiled in his attempts to create another vampire in his own likeness. Book 1 ends on an important revelation in the continuing saga of mother and son's search for immortality.

Mr. Lord's attention to detail gives the reader several new positions to explore for the creation and ultimate preservation of the vampiric condition, with promises of more books to come.

Elaine Moore

An occasional reviewer

X rated for graphic sexual content.