"What would you do if you found you were a vampire?"
August 1979 -- Roger Darvell has terrible dreams. Dreams of
bloody murders that are all too real. Added to this, he
also has certain heightened abilities, an uncanny
capability to read people's emotions and an abnormal and
horrifying hunger for blood -- not just any blood, but
fresh human blood. As a psychiatric consultant for the
Boston police, he has more than one reason to know there
must be an underlying cause for this hunger, but he has yet
to find it. Hopefully, by accepting a partnership with a
lady psychiatrist in Maryland, Dr. Britt Loren, he may be
able to find some answers. His meeting with Sylvia LaMotte
at a party raises more questions about his condition, ones
she seems to share. She also claims to know the identity of
the perpetuator in the series of murders Roger will be
working on. Is Sylvia delusional, or is it just possible
that she truly is -- a vampire. If she is, where does that
leave him? Exposing what he knows of the murderer in Boston doesn't
bring an end to the horror. Sylvia and the murderer both
end up following Roger to Maryland. When bodies start
turning up in Roger's part of town, his partner Britt is
determined to see both herself and Roger involved. So the
nightmare escalates, complicated by Roger's own discoveries
about himself and an interesting request from Sylvia. Now
the murderer is after Roger and anyone he shows a close
connection to, including both Sylvia and Britt. "Dark Changeling" is an other species vampire story. I
didn't care much too for either of the main female leads,
though they did grow on me. I did become quite enamored of
the hero, Roger. I was disappointed in the scarcity of
interaction between the Roger and Britt during the majority
of the story. This deficiency lead me to wonder why Britt
felt that Roger had any reason to confide in her. Then
again, Britt appeared to lack common sense in some areas.
They did become much closer in the third part of the book,
which also moved along faster and was more exciting. The
fact that Roger and Britt tended to call each other
colleague a lot was irritating. I found the story a bit
over long, with more explanation and detail about this
particular species than I felt was really necessary. (Plus,
this species is not a very likable one.) It has more violence and death than I find entertaining
which made this a bit of a depressing read. Yet, if you
like vampires and don't mind horror, you should find this
to be a well written and entertaining story. One last note
here -- I personally do not consider this a romance. Sensuality--R This is more for the violence than the sex.
There is very little sex where there is actual penetration,
but there are some sensual love scenes. Some fairly non-
descriptive oral sex. Reviewed by Flora Bell
Posted February 13, 2002
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted November 18, 2006
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A successful, middle-aged psychiatrist tormented by an unquenchable lust for blood.... A vampire serial killer on the rampage.... At the age of forty, Dr. Roger Darvell discovers that he is no ordinary man. He also discovers that vampires exist, and that a few of them kill as wantonly and cruelly as any monster in a horror film. When a renegade vampire follows Roger from Boston to his new home in Maryland and attacks one of his patients, Roger must come to terms with the newly discovered truth about his heritage. And he must find a way to destroy the killer before his newfound lover becomes the renegade's next victim.
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