Merrick - Softcover

Anne Rice

Softcover

ISBN 10: 009954816X ISBN 13: 9780099548164

Publisher: Arrow Books, 2010

Synopsis

Louis is a vampire tortured by guilt. His status as a killer has left him conflicted for much of his immortal life, but after the murder of Claudia, his beloved child vampire, he spirals into a state of depression. And in a moment of desperation he decides to bring her back with the help of the beautiful witch Merrick. To save Louis' sanity, Merrick must use black magic to call up the ghost of Claudia - however dangerous this may be. But in the dark unknown of the underworld there are other spirits who will not lie still, and her search takes her close to the edge of peril.

About this title

Review:

Just when you thought it was safe for a bloodsucker to go out in the dark in New Orleans, along comes Merrick Mayfair, a sultry, hard-drinking octoroon beauty whose voodoo can turn the toughest vampire into a marionette dancing to her merry, scary tune. In Merrick, Anne Rice brings back three of her most wildly popular characters--the vampires Lestat and Louis and the dead vampire child Claudia--and introduces them to the world of her Mayfair Witches book series.

It is Louis who brings about the collision of the fang and voodoo universes. Louis made Claudia a vampire in Rice's classic Interview with the Vampire, in which she was destroyed, and now he's obsessed with raising her ghost to make amends and seek guidance from the beyond. (Claudia physically resembles Rice's young daughter who died of a blood-related illness. Rice nearly died of a diabetic coma in 1998, and writing Merrick turned her excruciating recovery into an exhilarating burst of creativity).

Vampire David Talbot lobbies Merrick to call Claudia's spirit and slake Louis's guilt, but Talbot winds up in the grip of an obsession with the witch. You see, Talbot, unlike most vampires, lived 70 years as a human, so his sexual response to humans is still as strong as his blood thirst. Merrick can cast spells to make men crave her, and Talbot is tormented. After she reads his palm, he muses, "I wanted to take her in my arms, not to feed from her, no, not harm her, only kiss her, only sink my fangs a very little, only taste her blood and her secrets, but this was dreadful and I wouldn't let it go on."

The secrets of Merrick are dark and sensuous, but the book is a romp animated by Rice's feeling of coming back to life through the magic of a literary outpouring. The narrative flashes back to the past, to an Indiana Jones-ish adventure in a Guatemalan cave, and to scenes from many other Rice novels. It may be helpful to read Merrick with the Rice-approved guidebooks The Vampire Companion and The Witches' Companion at hand.

After many books, Rice's grand Vampire Chronicles tale was in peril of getting long in the tooth. Merrick Mayfair's magic represents an infusion of fresh blood. --Tim Appelo

From the Publisher:

7 1.5-hour cassettes

About this edition

• Publisher: Arrow Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 009954816X
• ISBN 13: 9780099548164
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 496