"At long last, Dante's tale! New Wings in the Night romance it not to be missed."
Maggie Shayne is known most recently, among paranormal
romance readers, for her wonderful immortal witch series:
ETERNITY (12/98), IFNINITY (10/99, 1999 P.E.A.RL. Honorable
Mention for Best Fantasy/Magical), DESTINY (2/01), and the
novella "Immortality" from the anthology OUT OF THIS
WORLD
(9/01, 2001 P.E.A.R.L Honorable Mention for Best
Anthology); but long before that she wowed us with her
WINGS IN THE NIGHT (Silhouette Books) tales. The best
selling Ms. Shayne was among the pioneers of vampire
romance, making her dark, dangerous, characters sympathetic
and love-worthy. Over the years as interest in the
publishing of paranormal romance fluctuated, loyal readers
never stopped clamoring for more of her tales. Thanks in
large part to her talent, and an enthusiastic editor
(Leslie Wainger), they continued to find their way to the
shelves. TWILIGHT HUNGER is the eighth story in the series,
and we
are assured that a ninth is already in the works. I much
enjoyed the long awaited tale of Dante, for it was so much
more than a simply a paranormal romance. Beyond the
vampires, beyond the love story, is a intricately woven
tale about relationships, family, friends, and lovers, who
make up the fabric of one's life. Whether or not that
fabric is strong is wholly dependant upon these
relationships, as TWILIGHT HUNGER so poignantly
illustrates. A little more than a century and a half ago a young gypsy
man, named Dante, lashed out for the last time at the
society which had treated his family so shabbily. He had
long since decided that if they were to be accused of
crimes for which they were innocent, he might as well
commit them and enjoy the fruits. A mortal wound is his
final sentence. But he is not left to die, for though his
disease had yet to manifest itself, he is one of the
Chosen. His Aunt Serafina, cursed and cast out by her
family, had taken a special interest in young Dante over
the years. It is she who bestows the dark gift upon him. It
gives him immortality, but at a cost. The large family he
had loved all of his short life will no longer accept him.
He must face his fate alone, with Serafina as his only
family. Though he now requires blood to survive, he does
not become a merciless killer. Over the years he had
compelled his victims to give willingly, leaving them to
remember him as a dream, or he had found those willing to
exchange their blood for coin. Segue to 1997. Two young women, aged twenty, both adopted
at birth, have led vastly different lives. Morgan De Silva
had been raised in a world of glitz and wealth. She had
been given everything her heart desired by her famous
Hollywood parents. Everything except their time. Now they
were gone, destroyed by their own excesses, leaving Morgan
disillusioned and destitute. In the face of the scandal and
her new found poverty, Morgan's friends abandon her. She is
not completely alone however. Her father's best friend,
David, a movie director, whom she loves like an uncle, does
everything he can to help her adjust. He sets her up in a
somewhat derelict house in Maine, to lick her wounds and
write a screen play he has promised to direct. Morgan is
unable to find inspiration for her work until she stumbles
across a collection of diaries left behind by a former
inhabitant. Before long she is obsessed with the ramblings
of a madman named Dante who had fancied himself a vampire.
Assuring herself he is long dead, she feels compelled to
tell his tale. Maxine Stuart had had a middle class upbringing by loving
adoptive parents in White Plains, New York. Her father had
died a few years ago, but her mother had continued to make
their modest home so welcoming that Max had chosen to stay
there while furthering her education. She has two loyal
best friends and an enquiring, if cynical, mind. She does
not trust the government, and has never believed that the
nearby so-called medical compound was researching incurable
diseases. There was too much security, too many visits by
military officials. She is convinced that a terrible
secret is being kept behind those closely guarded walls.
When her friends Jason and Stormy arrive to inform her that
the facility had erupted in flames, Maxine takes it as an
opportunity to discover the truth. Under cover of darkness,
while the firefighters are distracted by duty, the trio
sneak onto the property. She finds more than she bargained
for. The building is a smoldering ruin, most of the employees
and equipment destroyed, but Max takes home two souvenirs
which will rock her world, a badge and a computer disc. As
the government arrives to secure the site, the three
friends escape with the help of a local police officer,
Lou, who Max is more than a little fond of. Her acquisition
does not go unnoticed by one badly scarred survivor.
Viewing the disc Max discovers that the research facility
had been a cover for a top secret branch of the CIA. The
DPI (Department of Paranormal Investigation) was
cataloguing the background of .... Vampires -- marked for
extermination. An anonymous but convincing threat against
her friends and family, keeps Max quiet about her finds for
the time being. Five years later. Dante awakens shortly before dusk to
flames inside his current home. The hunters have found him
again. He faces a desperate choice, to burn inside, or in
the remaining sunlight. His flight is painful but he finds
respite in the nearby woods. He would have to relocate. He
chooses to revisit a home in Maine that he had long since
deserted. He finds it inhabited by a young woman. She is
ill, perhaps dying, one of the Chosen. He is strangely
compelled by her. Morgan De Silva, had at last achieved success and acclaim
with the third of her movies about Dante's life. TWILIGHT
HUNGER, a prequel detailing the vampires beginnings, has
been nominated for an Oscar. Morgan had become wealthy but
reclusive, solely immersed in the journals of a man she has
come to love but will never know. She had restored the
house to reflect Dante's tastes and refused to leave it for
the little time she had left. This latest release would
bring all the players including the vampire hunters to her
door. In White Plains, Maxine has been spent the intervening year
debunking paranormal fraud on the internet. She has finally
decided to pursue the career in earnest, becoming a P.I. In
that capacity, officer Lou brings an old friend to her
door. Lydia had been a former prostitute who, along with
her best friend, had turned her life around. They had given
back to society by helping other young girls escape their
fate. But Lydia's beloved friend has been murdered, and she
believes a vampire is responsible. Lou has hoped that Max
would dissuade her of that notion. Instead he finds out
more than he wishes to know about his government and ....
Vampires. In spite of Max's pleas to keep her secret, Lou
seeks information from an old CIA connection. This brings
the wrath of Max's nemesis down on them, leaving Storm
critically wounded and Lou implicated in the crime. They
need answers and fast. The trail leads to Maine, and screen
writer Morgan De Silva, whose movies have the ring of truth
to them. Maxines' purloined disc had contained names of
vampires, catalogued D through H. One of those vampires had
been called simply -- Dante. Their lives will never be the
same. Morgan's local fame has finally caught Dante's attention.
She had portrayed his life publicly for the edification of
his enemies. He is furious, and intends to exact revenge.
Hadn't Serafina warned him not to trust mortals. Hadn't his
one brush with love and betrayal taught him that? But
somehow he can't bring himself to harm her. He begins to
wonder about this strange connection his kind have to the
Chosen, those rare individuals afflicted with the rare
Belladonna antigen, which sentences them to early death -
The antigen that must be present to be able to receive the
dark gift. He wants her. She wants him. She's dying. He can
save her ... If his enemies and her friends don't stop him
first. Not much more can be said without spoiling the tale, which
as I have already pointed out is quite complex and very
satisfying. It is just chock full of surprises and
suspense. What emerges is a tale of love, devotion, and
sacrifice which will at times will bring the reader to
tears. Serafina is the only character whose life is not
neatly wrapped up at tale's end. One hopes there will be a
story in the future for her, as she sorely needs to have
her faith restored. TWILIGHT HUNGER is a tale not to
be missed. Highly recommended. Copyright © 2002
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted April 1, 2002
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