Immortal Pleasures

A great premise falls flat in the execution in this meandering vampire confessional from Castro (The Haunting of Alejandra). For centuries, Malinalli, a Nahua vampire from the 16th century, has been desperately seeking two skulls that once belonged to Chantico, who was “like a mother to [Malinalli] when [she] first became a vampire.” Malinalli travels to England in pursuit of the skulls, but what she’s really seeking is a soulmate. Horror writer Colin catches her eye, but their graphic and often cringeworthy sexual connection (“My ass is like a monstrous squid pulling its prey deeper into its mouth”) gets interrupted when Hernán Cortés, a vampire, tracks down Malinalli, who was his former slave and translator, aiming to use her body to create a magical line of beauty products. Malinalli must team up with Judas Iscariot, also a vampire, if she wants to repatriate the skulls, kill Cortés, and save Collin. The narrative suffers from a serious case of “tell don’t show” and reads almost like a summary of plot points and backstory. Overlong and over-frequent flashbacks throw off the pacing and defuse the tension even further. Though readers may be drawn in by the Anne Rice-ian quality to Malinalli’s claustrophobically close first-person narration, they’ll have a hard time seeing this one through to the end. Agent: Beth Marshea, Ladderbird. (Apr.)