'Nightblood' (322 pp) was published by Warner Books in January 1990. The cover artist is Greg Winters. A quintessential 'Paperbacks from Hell' cover !
This is one of the more rare Paperbacks from Hell, and copies in decent condition have steep asking prices. I was able to get this rather battered copy for about $12.00. According to the Too Much Horror Fiction blog, Valancourt Books will add 'Nightblood' to their lineup of trade paperback reprints of the best of the Paperbacks from Hell inventory. Until they do, I wouldn't recommend spending a lot of money for the 1990 mass market paperback version.
As Grady Hendrix states in his review, this book 'supersizes 'Salem's Lot'.
The little Indiana town of Isherwood (the sort of small town where the little old lady sitting at the counter of the local diner asks for 'Coky-Cola') is a stand-in for Jersusalem's Lot; instead of the Marston House, we have in Isherwood, the Danner Mansion; and instead of Susan Norton as the love interest, we have spunky waitress Billie Miller.
The novel's initial chapters take their time acquainting us with the novel's hero, Vietnam veteran Chris Stiles, who is depicted as so much the laconic, cynical, Man of Action Who Nonetheless, Deep Inside Himself Yearns for Love, and Life Not Dedicated to Hunting Vampires and the Existential Anomie that Accompanies Such a Lifestyle, that the author soon (inadvertently) turns him into a kind of Horror-Hero parody.
Once he arrives in Isherwood - brought there by a Premonition of Evil, of course - Chris Stiles begins romancing Billie Miller, makes friends with Miller's two sons, investigates the rumors of disturbing phenomena at the Danner Mansion, and becomes the object of some scrutiny by the town's police deputy, Charlie Bean.
The vampire onslaught hinted at on the book's back cover blurb doesn't start up until page 229, but once it does, it has sufficiently frenetic action to redeem the slow pacing of the earlier chapters. There are plenty of vivid descriptions of firearm, sword, bludgeon, and simply hand-to-hand, acts of combat and author Martindale shows a willingness to let the vampires win some of these contests, keeping the story from getting too formulaic.
I won't reveal any spoilers about the ending, save to say that it avoids contrivance.
The verdict ? 'Nightblood' stands the test of time as a good representative of a Paperback from Hell. It has the strengths of the genre, as well as some of its weaknesses. If you are a devotee of the Paperbacks from Hell, than you'll want to investigate the Valancourt trade paperback version.
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