Rainbow Reviews

BOOK BLURB:
Step into the glittering midnight world of the ancient ... the immortal ... the vampyre. Intrigue welcomes Captain Vincent Bantry home to London in 1892: he's a veteran of the Far East, opium smugglers, Manchu warlords, but little in his experience prepares him for the young Irish occultist, Michael Flynn. Their future unfolds in the Tarot cards ~ danger, pain, struggle; but the end of their story cannot be told. And what of the past? The mystery of Flynn draws Bantry into an occult world, alien and irresistible. Instinctively he knows Flynn is different, not merely beautiful, brilliant, exotic, but unlike any other man he ever knew. Soon Vince is caught in a tangle of deceit, danger, one jump ahead of the law, and seduced by the grandeur of a midnight world into which he's glimpsed ... and which he desires.

BOOK REVIEW:
Vincent Bantry, an army captain, injured in a fight with pirates in the South China seas is given a medical discharge and returns home to London, leaving behind a sumptuous home and a boy named Lin. Thrown into the social whirl of Victorian London, Vincent escorts his doctor friend David Lockwood’s daughter Phoebe to an evening soiree where he meets Michael Flynn ~ a noted occultist and self proclaimed ‘child of the night’.

It’s not long before Vincent and Michael find themselves mutually attracted ~ a situation that presents many problems for them, not the least of which is society’s dislike of same-sex relationships, something that could land both of them in jail. Jail for Michael Flynn would be a death sentence. Vincent’s friend, David Lockwood says he suffers from a little known disease ~ phototonic mydriasis ~ an inability to be out and about in daylight.

As strange as the disease seems to Vincent, the truth is even stranger. Despite all the obstacles in their way, the men fall in love, but when Lockwood, obsessed with Michael’s condition, holds him hostage while he inflicts painful and dangerous experiments on him, it seems their love affair is doomed.

Mel Keegan has written a riveting account of life in a by-gone age, filled with fascinating anecdotes of real people mixed with the fictional, giving this paranormal story just the right touch of realism. The love between the two men feels honest and real, and Vincent’s desire to protect Michael at all costs from those who would destroy him is heart-warming. A spell- binding and different take on the vampire legend.

Highly recommended.

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. However, some books were purchased by the reviewer and not provided for free. For information on how a particular title was obtained, please contact us at reviews@rainbow-reviews.com.