This book rested on my book shelf collecting dust for some time. If memory serves me right I have had this book for the better part of about three years. After reading so much young adult lately I wanted to dive back into the realm of good old hard core fiction/horror. So I started off with this. When I first started off reading the book I was pretty sure that I would like it. I truly believed that it was going to be "another one of those" vampire novels. You know the ones...all talk no bite (lol). Well this turned out not to be the case. I actually found the book to be rather rad. Del Toro and Hogan were influenced both by Stephen King and Bram Stoker. Stokers influence is evident in the way that the vampire uses dirt from him home land to travel across the sea to the Manhattan. They use one of our most populated cities to show us what a vampire out break could look like. And man does it turn into one hot mess. I loved the way that Del Toro and Hogan set this book up as back story for the trilogy. It is obvious, even within the conflict of this book that there is something bigger coming. Something much more dangerous is lurking in the dark and there is nothing that anyone is going to be able to do to stop it because the wheels are already in motion. Another really great thing about this book is that all the characters are flawed. The main character Doctor Eph Goodweather, is a recently divorced, recovering alcoholic who is in the midst of a fierce custody battle with his ex wife Kelly. Kelly has been eclipsed by her ex husbands shadow for way to long. She uses their son Zack as a way of hurting Eph. Eph finds some comfort in his on again off again fling with co-worker Nora; who has to take a backseat to Eph's job and his love and devotion to Kelly and Zack. And there is the old man; the professor. The professor is the most interesting of all the characters. He holds the kings to the kingdom so to speak. He knows all the dirty secrets about the vampires but somehow you get the feeling at the end of the book that he is still holding out. Still holding back from Eph, Nora and Fet. The Professor has been on the hunt for the "master" for some time. He has devoted his life to hunting him down and killing him. Of course we know that this is because of his past or at least that's what we think so far. However, I get the feeling that there is a deeper cause for this hatred of "the master". Maybe he took the life of someone the professor deeply cared for. That is the beauty of a well paced series...all the secrets are not given at once. I must say that I was deeply surprised by this book. I expected something all to different and I can not wait to read the next two in the series. I only hope that the books are as good as the first and that the magic captured in the first book continues until the very last page of The Night Eternal.
Interesting scenes: Gus in the police van....that was most likely the best vampire kill of the book...not going to write any of the details...but damn the kid got the job done right. Can't wait to see what he does in the rest of the series. The vampire in times square (also with Gus) was rather intense.
Creepiest Scene: When Zack was unable to sleep, looks out the window to see a naked man standing under the street lamp. He knew that it was weird and perhaps even a little funny, a homeless, naked, possibly drunk dude just chilling outside under the lamp light. Until the guy turns and locks eyes with him. Later Zack thinks back on seeing the "Y" shaped incision in the mans chest and knowing what that means (he thinks that the guy is a zombie).
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