They Thirst - Softcover

McCammon, Robert R.

3.91

12,841 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380771802 ISBN 13: 9780380771806

Publisher: Avon Books, 1981

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worn, used, paperback, McCammon, Robert R. 1981 "Evil as old as the centuries descends upon the City of Angels--the deadly immortal kiss of those who will not die." (quoted from back cover blurb)

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From the Inside Flap:

First published in 1981, ''They Thirst'' was Robert McCammon's fourth novel, and it remains one of the major milestones of an ambitious, constantly evolving career. Like its predecessors--''Baal, '' ''Bethany's Sin, '' and ''The Night Boat''--''They Thirst'' made its initial appearance as a paperback original. In the years since, it has acquired an intensely devoted following, and is now widely regarded as one of the significant vampire novels of the 20th century.

The story begins in the tiny Hungarian hamlet of Krajeck, where nine-year-old Andre Palatazin awaits the return of his father from an unspecified--but clearly dangerous--mission. The man who finally returns is no longer Andre's father--is no longer, in fact, a man. Pursued by this undead entity, Andre and his mother barely escape with their lives. Decades later, Andre--now Andy--Palatazin is a homicide detective in the Los Angeles Police Department, and spends his days dealing with the quotidian terrors of a large metropolis. His life takes a darker turn when the demonic forces he first encountered in Krajeck arrive in L.A., led by an ancient vampire known as The Master. The Master's plan: to overrun the city and use it as a stepping-stone toward wider, ultimately global, domination.

''They Thirst'' marks the earliest appearance of McCammon's penchant for epic, wide-angled narratives. With the unobtrusive ease of a natural storyteller, the author propels a wide assortment of vividly created characters through an apocalyptic scenario that combines gritty urban realism with a powerful portrait of supernatural forces at large in the modern world. The result is a genuine classic of the genre, a novel that is as fresh and absorbing today as it was more than thirty years ago.

From Publishers Weekly:

Prince Vulkan, master of the vampires, has loosed his army of the undead on Los Angeles in this seamlessly written horror novel by the author of Mine. Vulkan's plan is to replace humankind, city by city, with the living dead. Four people stand in his way. Homicide detective Andy Palatazin, a Hungarian immigrant who fled this scourge as a child, is determined to stop it now. Young Tommy Chandler, whose parents were killed before his eyes, wants revenge. TV star Wes Richer hopes to save his beloved by tracking Vulkan to his lair. Father Silvera, a dying priest, believes that God has chosen him to destroy the vampire prince. Wreaking death and carnage, Vulkan proceeds to a final confrontation between the forces of good and evil. McCammon delivers terror with skillful ferocity as he pays tribute to masters of the genre and raises the standards for the craft a notch or two.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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