Our Own Unique Affliction

Moses (Hunger Pangs) blends all the gore and violence of a bloodthirsty vampire tale with tender meditations on what it would mean to be undead in this surprisingly sweet horror novella. In 1831, young Alice Ann and her older sister, Hannah Grace, are turned into vampires by a drifter who kills their parents and flees, leaving the girls with only each other to lean on as they navigate a world they no longer belong in. Over the years, they develop some systems: to avoid detection, they keep a low profile and travel from city to city with human companions known as “wranglers,” who protect them during daylight. It’s a simple enough existence, though Alice Ann finds her vampiric powers are not always a fair trade for the ability to walk in the sunshine. When one of their kind leaves a victim on the street with her throat torn out, Alice Ann must find the reckless responsible vampire—and what she learns undoes everything she understands about the world. As much about the power of grief, loss, and love as about the spatter of blood and the thrill of the hunt, Moses’s novella packs a hefty emotional punch, giving new, quite literal, meaning to the term “heart-wrenching.” (Apr.)