BLACKWOOD FARM, Anne Rice, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2001, Hardback, 530 pages, $26.95.
What started out in "Merrick" comes to a finish, at least in the mortal world, in Anne Rice's new work, "Blackwood Farm."
While the continuing combined saga of the "Mayfair Witches" and the "Vampire Chronicles" reads quite smoothly in this new book, Rice does take readers' knowledge of her previous works for granted.
Inside references to works such as "Lasher," "Merrick," "The Vampire Lestat" and "Queen of the Damned" peek through the free-flowing prose, as the tale of 18-year-old Tarquin Blackwood unfolds to the listening ear of Lestat. It might help to read this work after reading the aforementioned books, or simultaneously with "The Vampire Companion" and "The Witches Companion."
Still, the new story is intriguing and seductive.
In "Blackwood Farm," Tarquin, who is known to his acquaintances as Quinn, is afraid for his life and the lives of the workers who run his bed-and-breakfast inn, Blackwood Farm. He leaves nothing out as he recounts his mortal life and the night he was turned into a blood hunter.
He speaks of a sadistic, mysterious stranger lurking about on a hidden island in Louisiana's Sugar Devil Swamp and the ghosts that haunt the farm. True to Rice's style, Quinn graphically recounts dreams and visions of adultery, intra-family feuds, incest and murder. And the newborn vampire speaks of his co-dependent relationship with a young ghost he has christened Goblin, which, at one time, was believed to be an imaginary friend.
Vivid descriptions of New Orleans, Naples and even Pompeii unfold throughout the novel's pages. And the relationship between Quinn and one Mona Mayfair, a teenage, spirit-seeing nymphomaniac witch, develops into a provocative subplot.
When the final page is turned and the story ends, the reader comes away with a small shot of elation that the "Dark Gift" of vampirism has been used in a selfish yet charitable way.
"Blackwood Farm," with all its descriptive prose and Gothic creepiness, doesn't reach the levels of "The Vampire Lestat" or "The Witching Hour." But Rice fans will feast on every word.
E-mail: scott@desnews.com