If Donald Goines wrote a vampire novel....., November 25, 2008

By	Jordan Krall "film noir fan, author.." (Noir Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

Truthfully, I'm not the hugest fan of vampire fiction. It's not that I don't like vampires..it's because there is so much trash that passes for vampire fiction nowadays (i.e. Twilight, etc). So I was pleasantly surprised when I had the chance to read this book.

It's sort of like Donald Goines writing a horror novel. It's similar to Goines because of the detailed use of the urban/drug culture. The author seems knowledgeable in the subject unlike many horror/crime authors who stick drugs into the story without knowing a damn thing about it.
The author writes dialogue as if he's actually hearing it (similar to how Elmore Leonard writes dialogue.) With the drug dealers and murderers we meet in PILATE, it would sound pretty silly if sounded like people straight out of suburbia. This is one of Rage's strengths.

Some of his prose is unique and relaxed which might turn some people off but will definitely grow on you as you read on. It also presents a style that is all his own.

I guess one problem I had was that it was a little bit confusing as to which side each character was on. I felt a little bit confused but I thought that the author more than made up for it in the violent and suspenseful scenes.

The idea of transferring biblical mythology and vampires to a modern ghetto setting is pretty unique. If you think about it (vampires in the ghetto..) it could've very much came out campy but Steven Rage avoids this completely.

Those of you who are fans of Hardcore Horror will be pleased. There are some pretty violent and bloody scenes.

Overall this is a unique book. I guess it could be considered a horror novel but it's not really scary. That's not a BAD thing, really. Edward Lee is horror but his stuff isn't scary either (at least not to me...). This is a new take on the vampire subgenre that's worth reading.