The Delicate Dependency

This is the BEST vampire book ever written. You will love it.

I like others have read and re-read this book many a time. It's truly a literary piece of genious. Not just a novel about biting necks and drinking blood, but a brilliant story written with great images (no, not pictures...) and the most descriptive words/phrases of any of the vampire novels. Way more accessible, and far better written than the more popular Rice novels. If you can get your hands on this,do not let it out to anyone. This book has a tendency to disappear like a sock in a clothes dryer. Yes, I was foolish enough to let a few of my copies out only to have them never returned. My one copy now is stapled to my forehead...

It is a pity that this book is so inexplicably obscure and out of print. Michael Talbot is an author who can write with authority and imagination. It certainly makes me want to read other material he has written which, at a glance, seems to be of unusual variety. My guess is that he is a true renaissance man with an extensive working knowledge of a great many subjects. Contained in this tale is a "whodunit" of truly page-turning proportions and a morality play that sets this head and shoulders above any other story in its realm that I've ever read. I just wish I could get my hands on one copy (or a half dozen!) It seems to be one of those books that has a way of disappearing - (I've owned three copies) - If you're reading, Michael Talbot, let me know where I can find this - and thanks for a great read!

Michael Talbot has woven a tale of the vampire unlike any you have read. He places them historically in the development of the human race, identifying them as artists, popes,collectors and inventors. He depicts them as the curators of all things important to human kind. It is the way they obtain those things worth protecting that is the meat of his book, The Delicate Dependency. Set in London at the turn of the century, a kidnapping of a child occurs which sends her father and a renowned vampire hunter on a chase all over Europe. The father is a physician who has discovered a lethal virus. While on the search the fabric of vampire society and history is revealed to the reader. Complex, sumptuous, sensual and immortal, the vampire move about the world gleaning all that is best, surviving on the blood of willing victims who serve them. Revelations at the close of the book produce a "back to the future" which is all too keen and chilling. The book departs from the usual blood and gore of Ann Rice. Talbots style and understanding of the world surpass all other vampire books I have read. Devastating content for a feature film.