3 Stars

Julian Livingston

Paganini, the Vampire Career

AuthorHouse

ISBN 1-4259-3776-4

2006

Set in 1882, this novel is told in the first person by Henry Feder, employed by the legendary P. T. Barnum to seek out new acts for the great impresario. Charged with signing a famed violinist of phenomenal talent, Nicolaties, Henry soon discovers layers of mystery surrounding the difficult young celebrity. The title, of course, lets us know from the beginning that Nicolaties is actually Nicolo Paganini arisen from the dead, but Henry, of course, takes a while to catch on. Even after he falls victim to Nicolaties' two associates, Count Le Baume and the alternately ravishing and repulsive Maia-Dida, Henry at first half believes he is being hoaxed. Gradually he learns of the (or at least a) holy grail, a Hermetic Order of vampires sworn not to kill their blood donors and devoted to advancing the progress of the human race, the secret history of Christianity (not surprisingly, involving a marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene), and the implacable hostility of the orthodox Church toward vampires. Pioneering scientist Nicola Tesla enters the story as one of the vampires' foes dedicated to their destruction, or so it appears. Although I'm wary of novels that portray famous historical figures as vampires (few can match the achievement of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro in that vein, not to mention the delightful alternate universe of Kim Newman), in my opinion Livingston's fast-moving plot draws these threads together fairly well. The dizzying array of new revelations continually sprung on the narrator saves the reader from having to examine any one of them too closely.

The grotesquely horrific appearance of Maia-Dida in her undisguised form is rendered quite effectively. Because the author himself is a musician and composer, the concert scenes, of which there are many, display deep and extensive knowledge of music and the musical trends of the story's era. On the negative side, a non-musical reader may feel that these scenes go on too long for his or her taste. On the other hand, I especially enjoyed one embellishment of the text, the eighty-one end notes that either amplify, explain, or wryly comment on details of the main narrative. It's too bad it apparently wasn't practical to make them footnotes, however, because flipping back and forth can become distracting. The book suffers from a few glaring typos/misspellings (e.g., "bazaar" for "bizarre" and, repeatedly, "erie" for "eyrie"). Henry, falling into a trap common to many fictional vampire victims, comes across as a rather passive character, dragged willy-nilly across Europe at the mercy of forces incomprehensible to him. I do, however, like the introduction of Tesla's automata into the story; robots and vampires are a combination not often seen in historical fiction.

Reviewed by Margaret L. Carter