Blood Riders

Spradlin (Jack and Jill Went Up to Kill: A Book of Zombie Nursery Rhymes) makes the Wild West of 1881 truly rambunctious. Det. Allan Pinkerton dispatches disgraced Army captain Jonas Hollister on a covert assignment to destroy renegade quasi-vampires called Archaics that destroyed Hollister’s unit five years before and are now targeting small towns. Dissension within Archaic ranks pits Shaniah, who’s concerned for her people’s survival, against brutal Malachi, who is breaking Archaic laws by attacking humans. Hollister’s intrepid and colorful team grows to include Shaniah, Chee (who boasts of “Cajun, Chinese, Creek, and Negro” ancestors), engineer Monkey Pete, and valiant town whore Sally. Abraham Van Helsing, in a cameo appearance, supplies comic relief and James Bond–ish special protections for Pinkerton’s steam train. Romance alternates with mounting peril as a sleazy senator’s evil, cologne-drenched henchman pursues Hollister, and exciting encounters with Archaics lead to spectacular firefights. The final showdown convincingly resolves all the plot threads and provides fans of the vampire western genre a delightful read. Agent: Steven Chudney, the Chudney Agency. (Oct.)