germank106's Full Review: F. Paul Wilson - Midnight Mass
Every once in a while I like to break out of my mold and read a book that is way out of my usual mystery/spy novel genre.
At times that doesn't go so well, because I either get bored with the subject, the style or the author, but sometimes I find myself immersed in little gems. F. Paul Wilson's "Midnight Mass" fell in between those two categories, but was able to capture my interest long enough to finish it.
At the start of the book the undead have conquered most of Europe and are firmly entrenched in New York City. Next on their list is a small New Jersey town. But unlike the other cities, where the population gave up hope long ago, this town has its own group of Vigilantes. A catholic priest, his outspoken niece, a nun and a Rabbi are the key figures that will do anything to make sure the undead won't take over the town.
The book is layed out in a round-robin style. Each chapter describes a certain character and his/her actions. This lets me ease into the story, because I only have to deal with one character at a time. But it's also a bit boring, because Wilson does not bring all of the characters together until almost half-way through the book. It feels like Wilson thinks I'm not capable of making the connections all at once.
The premise of the story, that the undead have conquered part of the world, is a bit far-fetched, but I am willing to let this stand as something that just is. Sometimes it's better not to have to many explanations of how things happen, and it does seem to work in Wilson's case.
What I don't quite understand is that Wilson tries very hard to make this a book about the Priest's journey to self-understanding and self-discovery. Once he is attacked by the undead, he becomes half human half Vampire and has to search deep within himself to see if he can overcome all of his beliefs and go against himself in order to save others.
Wilson gives me just enough to know what he's trying to do, but then stops short of fully developing the character. He describes the fact that the Priest now needs blood to survive, and the agony that the Nun and the Priest's niece go through to give him the blood. Yet there is not much about the battle the Priest has to fight with himself when he finds that the women are his only chance for survival.
The other main characters are equally lacking in development. They either die an early death or come up short when it is time to fully explain their actions. This leads to a lot of (minor) inconsistencies within the story and doesn't always make for easy reading.
What I absolutely love about this story is the fact that Wilson does not portray the undead as romantic figures.
I've read other Vampire novels and have always wondered if the romanticism should endear them to me. If there's a character out to suck my blood, I could care less if he enjoys music or art. All I would care about is survival.
One of the characters makes that quite clear when he says- "We're boring. We care nothing for art or music or fashion or surroundings. We bore each other and we bore ourselves. The only thing we care about, the only lust left to us, is blood."
Overall this book was interesting enough to keep me turning pages. At times the plot was tight enough that I would not do a task or chore and keep on reading, at other times I skipped over a paragraph or two because it couldn't hold my attention. As long as I was willing to let several things stand "as is" and not dwell too much on why certain things are inconsistent with others, it was not bad book.
Considering that this was way out of my usual reading material I will give this three stars. It's enough to keep me interested in the subject, but I will probably not exactly run to the Vampire novels next time I'm at the library.
As far as Wilson is concerned - I'll wait for his next Repairman Jack novel - I've never read one I didn't like.
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