After his younger brother commits suicide, 18th century plantation owner and emerging alcoholic Louis Pointe du Lac is turned into a vampire by Lestat, with whom he reluctantly stays for decades. Lestat slowly converts the morals-ridden Louis into a human-devouring vampiric lifestyle, though he continues a barrage of inner torment. Eventually, the two – along with their vampire child, Claudia – travel to Europe to search for other vampires and discover The Theatre des Vampires, led by Armand, in Paris.
What stopped me from liking Interview with a Vampire was all the talk about feelings. Louis feels that Claudia is wonderful. Or that Armand is wonderful. Or that Lestat is… whatever the hell he is.
I do not read vampire books because I want to know about feelings. If I wanted to read about feelings, I would be reading chick lit. But I’m not. I’m reading a vampire novel. And dammit, I want to see some remorseless killing with a side of gore.
I can also “get” that vampires are usually basically gender-free. But they also (at least in this case) have remnants of human personality, and are supposed to be sex-objects (at least a little. They didn’t cast Brad Pitt as Louis in the movie for nothing, after all). If I wanted to see gore without sex, I would (and do) read zombie books. After all, there’s nothing unsexier than the population of the local cemetery showing up at your door and getting rotting flesh all over the carpet. Um, unless that’s your thing.
On the other hand, The Strain, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, takes vampire mythology in nearly the exact opposite direction. Killing can’t even be called remorseless because the vampires have as much capacity for identifying with their victims as H1N1 and as much sex appeal as a car crash.
In The Strain, vampirism is transmitted as a deadly virus which transforms host bodies into blood-craving, sunlight-fearing monsters with no remnants of their former personalities or humanity. After a 777 lands in New York with everyone on it deceased, the rapid-response team discovers a vampiric virus that threatens humanity.
The only reason vampires – who have a tendency to attack those they knew in their previous lives, enjoy ripping out throats by forcing their mutated respiratory systems to leap out of their mouths and who are not dashing or debonair at all – haven’t taken over yet is because of a pact between the Old Ones, of whom there are seven. And one of them just broke it.
With minor exceptions, the first half of the book introduces the characters and the second half kills them all off. A good time was had by none – humans or vampires alike. But at least none of the vampires stops to have feelings before they crumble to dust or eat someone.