Daughter of Darkness

April 28, 1997
The alloy of medical thriller and vampire chiller that Spruill forged in Rulers of Darkness (1995) proves not only strong but durable as this sequel reprises its predecessor's dramatic conflicts. Ten years have passed since detective Merrick Chapman buried his son, Zane, alive in a concrete vault to stop the murder sprees that threatened to disclose the family's curse of hemophagic leukemia, Spruill's clever medical term for vampirism. Zane's daughter Jenn, now a highly regarded intern at a D.C. hospital who's in a happy relationship with novelist Hugh McCall, controls her own vampirism by harmlessly siphoning blood from sleeping people. Suddenly, however, a series of pranks clearly intended to arouse her bloodlust reveals that Zane has escaped and is determined to use her as a pawn against her grandfather. With skill and subtlety, Spruill orchestrates several suspenseful challenges that force Jenn to walk the tightrope between divulging her true nature to unsuspecting human associates or throwing in her lot with her father. His credible rendering of supernatural beings as members of a dysfunctional family with conflicting ideas about how to manage their problems shows a delightfully oddball sense of topicality, yet he is never less than sympathetic and balanced in his portrayal. Despite several stray subplots and an ending that leaves the door open for further adventures for its hemophage heavies, this novel is that rare example of a sequel as memorable as its predecessor.

May 15, 1997
This sequel to Rulers of Darkness (LJ 7/95) focuses on Jenn Hrluska, a young resident physician in Washington, D.C., who is a "hemophaege"--an immortal being with human strength who must subsist on human blood. Jenn's father, Zane, from whom she inherited the gene that allowed her transformation from human to hemophaege, turned her into this vampiric being. With the help of her grandfather, a retired police detective (and fellow hemophaege), she chooses to take blood through a transfusion process that does not harm mortals. But Zane wants her to be like him and most other "phaeges"--a killer who enjoys the thrill of taking human life through drinking the victim's blood. Much of this novel revolves around the bitter contest between Jenn and Zane, but the tension that made Rulers of Darkness such fast-paced reading is less strong here. The first part of the book moves slowly, although things pick up toward the end. Recommended where Spruill is popular.--Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Bowie, Md.

December 1, 1997
YA-Fans of both the horror and medical suspense genres will enjoy this tale. Dr. Jenn Hrluska, a beautiful, talented intern at a Washington, DC, hospital, is a hemophage: a genetic defect requires that she feed on human blood to survive. In this sequel to Rulers of Darkness, Spruill tells the riveting story of Jenn's affection for her grandfather, Merrick, who raised her to transfuse blood harmlessly from sleeping victims to feed her hunger. He has decided that he no longer wishes to live the immortal life of a hemophage, so he takes special transfusions that will allow him to grow old with his present wife. As a police detective, Merrick hunted the deadly hemophages, including his own son, but now he is no longer a match for Zane's powers. When Zane escapes from his father's underground prison and vows revenge, Jenn must choose between them. YAs will enjoy this fast-moving variation on the traditional vampire tale and its many subplots. One of Jenn's young patients is dying of leukemia; a fellow intern plants drugs in her locker to get her fired; Jenn's new boyfriend experiences odd hallucinations that make her fear he may be "phage" as well; and an overly curious television reporter stalks Jenn and almost reveals her family's secret to the world. Perhaps, most of all, YAs will identify with Jenn's emotional turmoil as she untangles her complex feelings for a father who asks her to return to a "natural" but deadly life with him; and a grandfather who believes that she can transcend that life and care for the children of the world.-Pat Bangs, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

May 15, 1997
Times change: vampires are now called hemophages, or "phages" to others of their kind. Yet being a phage still entails certain advantages over "normals." When Jenn Hrluska, pediatric resident and title character of this vampire yarn, is mugged by a potential rapist, she grabs his wrist, breaks both long bones in that arm, and throws him 30 feet down the street. Jenn's father, Zane, and grandfather, Merrick, are also phages. Merrick is dosing himself with fraction 8 (blood) injections to destroy his phageness (after a thousand years or so of tracking down phages and putting them in a vault to protect normals, he has decided to call it quits). Meanwhile, Zane, vaulted by his father, wants to get back at him and disappear with Jenn. But Jenn thinks she's in love with Hugh, although she doesn't know whether he is a phage. When a beautiful TV commentator and a druggie resident become involved, things really heat up. Spruill keeps the story moving while he thoughtfully develops his phage characters' interrelationships. ((Reviewed May 15, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)