The Midnight Guardian: A Millennial Novel

Vampires fighting Nazis! What more could you want?! But even beyond the undeniably perfect hook, this story unfolds into a thing of beauty. The vampires are deep, intriguing characters with hundreds of years of back story among them. The plot focuses around Brigit - a beautiful, smart, cunning, loving, and theatre-going vampire, as she infiltrates the Nazi inner circle while leaving her immortal beloved behind. Author Sarah Jane Stratford describes how vampires come to be, what qualities make some survive for millennia, and what constitutes the vampire code of ethics in her Stratfordverse. Most of the time, Brigit and her fellow vampires kill for nourishment, and they have particular tastes. (Nazis taste bad. Figures.) But sometimes they kill out of vengeance or anger, and the lucky reader learns all about those moments - but more of the emotion behind the killing than graphic descriptions of guts and gore. (Okay, there's some guts and gore, too.) Vampires all quite literally have inner demons. Nice accuracy in the descriptions of period details, which is something that I always notice in historical fiction. The Midnight Guardian was a pleasure to read - fast and fun, but not fluffy. I can't wait for the sequel!

This the best vampire novel I've read since Interview with a Vampire got me interested in the genre. I love the setting and the way we meet the lead character, Brigit, who is engaging and compelling. The novel totally sucked me in (which actually was poor timing--I had so much work to do--so start it when you have time to get sucked in--it is not a "chapter" book, in that I couldn't put it down after a chapter, if that makes sense). I can't say much more without giving away stuff that you'd much rather read in the book than in a review. But I will say that this is a marvelous and compelling read.

This book exemplifies why it's a pity that any novel featuring a vampire is automatically pigeonholed as genre fiction and avoided by anyone for whom vampires aren't their cup of tea. Yes, the main character and her cohort are undeniably undead, but their great age provides a clever framework for exploring human nature and examining history. Mors, for example, is over two thousand years old. Looking at the rise of the Third Reich through the eyes of someone who also witnessed the rise and fall of the Roman Empire provides a novel take on leadership, power, conquest, and survival. The madness of the slaughter of innocent people due to their race, religion, ethnicity, etc. takes on a fresh perspective when condemned and resisted by characters who supposedly lost their own humanity millennia ago. Paranormal aficionados will certainly adore this book -- it gives good vampire, but anyone who loves history and a great story should not hesitate to pick it up as well.

The Midnight Guardian is a fast-paced, fun read. It's ideal when you want to curl up by the fireplace with a smooth scotch and great page turner. If you like vampires and you're too grown-up for abstinence porn, this will surely satisfy a more sophisticated palate. Set in both London and Germany during the brink of WWII, vampires try to dismantle the Nazi regime through cunning, force and a dash of hope. Brigit the vampire protagonist has a wicked sense of humor and a soft heart, and the interplay among her cohorts, as well as their "dinner" companions, is engrossing, well developed and thoroughly enjoyable. Sarah Jane Stratford is clearly a rising star.

By 1940 Hitler had succeeded in killing all the vampires on the continent. He created a special hunter unit, the Nachtspeere whose mission was the vampiric genocide. However, Millennials, millennium old vampires are not easy to kill as they double in strength and other powers in their thousandth year. Only a few special hunters can kill a Millennial because each vampire has a demon inside who feeds on their hunger and gives them the skill to strike back at their enemies. With the Millennials dead on the mainland, the British Millennial vampires send a group to Germany to prevent a human war as memories of the destruction of WWI lingers when their food supply killed one another that led to a vampire civil war. Brigit and the others plan to kill key SS men in order to prevent Hitler from occupying France. In Germany the unit is stunned by Hitler's Final Solution and hope to create enough chaos to slow down Hitler's master plan as he and his leadership teams prove they are greater monsters than vampires with what they are doing to the Jews. Brigit leaves Germany with two orphaned Jewish kids as the Nazi vampire hunters stalk her on a train ad boat on her way home to England. Told from Brigit's perspective, readers learn through flashbacks how she was turned, how she became freed of her sire, and how she met her eternal love Eammon who waits for her back home. Their love sustains her as she rides the trains towards the Channel with the real evil in pursuit of her and her precious cargo. THE MIDNIGHT GUARDIAN is an intriguing take on what is evil as Sarah Jane Stratford makes the case that deeds not species defines malevolency. Harriet Klausner