The Lost Years

After a three-book sojourn in the mythical ``Vampire World'' of The Last Aerie (1994), Lumley's epic Necroscope saga returns to contemporary Europe for this ripping yarn of espionage and occult intrigue set during the years separating the second (Vamphyri!) and third (The Source) novels of the projected nine-volume series. British intelligence agent Harry Keogh, who can converse telepathically with the dead, appears here, younger and less experienced than when last seen. He has just vanquished Soviet vampire nemesis Boris Dragosani and learned how to travel through space and time, but his problems are only beginning. His wife and infant son disappear. For different reasons, both his colleagues at British intelligence and new acquaintance Bonnie Jean (``B.J.'') Mirlu have used posthypnotic suggestion to prevent him from fully exploiting his extrasensory powers. With his usual aplomb, Lumley whips potentially confusing story elements into a fleet supernatural thriller that successfully prepares the Necroscope saga for a shift from its outdated Cold War setting to the current European political climate. In a literary landscape overpopulated with sympathetic soul-searching members of the Undead, Lumley's Necroscope novels are refreshing reminders that sometimes a vampire is just a bloody entertaining monster. (Dec.)