Admittedly I have not read the Invisible Life of Addie la Rue so Ms. Schwab was a whole new universe for me. She is a beautiful writer who plunges the reader full force into her world and you just let the current take you through her wonderful imagination.

The novel is about three sapphic vampires from different times and how their lives intertwine. The oldest, from Spain, originally named Maria decides to rename herself by taking the name of her maker, Sabine (whom she kills to escape her loveless marriage and hopelessness in 1532). Just so there is no doubt, Sabine is the queen bee of this tale; vicious, indomitable, a real horror. So we follow her through the years where she has interesting adventures, my favorite being with Matteo, Don Accardi in 1670s Venice and his lover Alessandro, an accomplished artist. Urbane and patient Matteo helps Sabine refine skills as a predator mostly during Carnival.

The story then switches to Alice (a Harvard student from 2019) a lonely lost soul, wanting more to her colorless emotionally screwed-up life. And the third of this trio is Charlotte Hastings known as Lottie from 1827 London. Lottie and Alice have a rendezvous in 2019 and Lottie turns Alice into a blood-sucker; which Alice is really not happy about.

As time moves inexorably along and centuries pass, Sabine finds herself even more nonchalant about death and ripping throats out. Lottie is more timid and less aggressive in her attacks and eventually, from being a bonded pair, Lottie has enough of Sabine controlling her life and escapes her clutches. But Sabine is tenacious and uncannily is able to track Lottie no matter where she goes. And as I’ve said, Sabine is such a monster and the novel picks up a desperate speed to a conclusion that is not really surprising, but ultimately justified.

I will add here that despite the wonderful writing, the forward motion of this tale was not, well, fascinating. We have three vampires dealing with their vampiric needs and lifestyles and…for me that’s it. Yes the characters are interesting but they are just traveling through time being themselves. Savagely kill people and moving on.

But to be fair, if you are enamored of vampires you’ll probably like this. ~~ Sue Martin

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