Night Rising by Chris Marie Green: Babylon Vampire Series Book 1

When Dawn Madison‘s father disappears she’s initially not too concerned. After all, her father is a bit of a free spirit and has a habit of getting on his Harley and going wherever it takes him.

So when she goes looking for him she’s pretty surprised to discover that her father has been working for a private investigation firm. He’s not one to hold down a job for very long. She’s even more shocked to learn that the firm specializes in investigating paranormal events. Her father’s co-workers are also concerned about her father’s disappearance and think it’s linked to another case they’re working on.

Dawn decides to join the hunt for her father and in doing so, becomes a member of the paranormal investigation firm. This begins her introduction to the world of supernatural creatures that she never knew existed.

The Story:

Dawn is a stuntwoman who’s worked in Hollywood films. As such she’s fairly strong, physically fit, and more than able to defend herself in a fight. She joins the firm thinking “how hard can this be?” only to discover that she has to face challenges most people only see in horror films.

The PI firm is run by a man referred to as “The Voice.” Why? Because no one has ever seen him. Dawn’s first encounter with him consisted of her entering a room and talking to a large blank television screen. Every meeting with him is like this; she’s simply talking to a mysterious disembodied voice. Think, Charlie’s Angels but with a much sexier voice.

The firm is currently trying to locate a dead male child star. The kid in question died at the age of twelve from a drug overdose. Although that’s startling by itself, that’s not the reason they took the case. They’re investigating his death because although the kid died several years ago his image appeared in some very recent film footage.

While investigating this case Dawn gets her first introduction to vampires. This encounter represents one of the most interesting aspects of the book: the mythology that Chris Marie Green creates about the vampires in the book.

It’s entirely different from any other urban vampire fantasy book I’ve read. The vampires have both an “above ground” persona and an underground life. As a matter of fact, they live in a place called “The Underground.” At times I found the vampire characters, their society, their interactions and the mystery surrounding The Voice to be more interesting than Dawn’s character.

As such, here are a few things that were somewhat annoying:

• The storyline drags at times and the dialogue can be a bit boring.
• The main character’s need for sexual stimulation was a little overdone. I mean honestly, this woman can’t see a good looking man without wanting to jump his bones? Chris Marie Green made Dawn into someone that almost shuts down physically if she doesn’t get a regular (i.e., daily) “fix.” It was akin to reading about a drug addict suffering through withdrawal pains. Although this book in no way falls into the vampire romance fantasy genre, a few scenes cross the line into fantasy erotica. Like most contemporary fantasy books these scenes do nothing to move the story along. Chris Marie Green is such a good writer that I’m thinking she’ll reveal more about why Dawn behaves this way.
• Too much emphasis is placed on Dawn’s issues with her mother, who died one month after Dawn was born. It definitely adds emotional depth to her character but I felt it was reinforced too often throughout the story.

Having said that I have to say that the positive FAR outweighs the negative in this book. There were times when I had a hard time putting the book down. As such Night Rising is a recommended buy. I’ll definitely purchase Midnight Reign, the next book in the Vampire Babylon fantasy series. I’m really curious about The Voice and who/what it really is. And I definitely want to know more about The Underground. As a vampire fantasy series I think there’s a lot of potential here. There’s room for Chris Marie Green to take some of the unanswered mysteries in the book and develop them into something even more exciting and full of intrigue. I’m looking forward to the second book.