The novel is a paranormal suspense thriller entitled 'the CULL' and in it I have tackled the vampire issue from a drastically new standpoint.
The narrative pits two female Federal Agents against a serial killer and endeavours to keep you guessing, for most of the tale, whether their
prime suspect is, or not, the person they seek. A mysterious Vatican priest is also involved in the hunt, and he brings a deadly personal
agenda to the mix.
When writing this suspense thriller I started by asking the question 'what if vampires were real?' I researched the origins of the vampire myths and
legends that abound throughout the world, going back much further than Bram Stoker's 'Dracula', and discovered an eerie tale of potentially real creatures that might still be out there. Applying state of the art genetic science to the theme, I've developed an original premise for the vampire's
origin.
I weave this into a fast-paced hunt for a serial killer who turns out to be not what the Federal Agents expect. Soon they discover that they are the ones being stalked by the creature.
Several people asked me why I chose to write a vampire thriller, given that the marketplace seems to be overflowing with YA novels featuring romantic vampires themes and I felt that this approach was far removed from the original vampire tales I grew up with. 'Dracula', Bram Stoker's novel, is essential a horror novel, albeit with a romantic twist, the creature's lusting after the protagonist's fiancée. Yet Polidori's original, 'The Vampyre', is pure terror. I watched a fair number of vampire movies in my youth. These ranged from the B-movie Hammer Horror films with Christopher Lee to classics such as 'Nosferatu'. In fact, of all I've seen, this latter is the one that sticks in my mind. It manages to covey the essence of vampire terror still over ninety years later. I felt that I could produce a tale with some of the flavour of 'Nosferatu' and 'Dracula', yet set in present-day times. The story line is, of course, completely original as is the twist I have developed for my vampires.