The Last Vampire
Review by Hemogoblin, submitted on 22-Jul-1992

_The Last Vampire_ by Kathryn Meyer Griffith. Zebra Books, 1992, $4.50. ISBN 0-8217-3771-6

Planet Earth is slowly but surely falling apart. Earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions are commonplace. Homeless people by the thousands have left the countryside and congregated in the large cities looking for shelter and aid. Along with the turmoil of the planet itself came a virulent plague which is wiping out most of those who survive the upheavals of the earth. Civilization grinds to a halt.

Emma Bloodworth, our heroine, is at her office in downtown St. Louis cleaning out her desk when the big one hits. A nuclear strike? Through the aid of an office-mate she is fortunate enough to make it to a shelter where she survives alone for months reading survivalist literature and hallucinating about her family, who are surely dead. At length she emerges, no longer caring if the atmosphere is radioactive. She is determined to find out if her husband and children survived. As she makes her way cross country, doing her best to avoid the few vicious bands of survivors she encounters, she is shadowed by a suspicious wolf. As you have probably guessed, the wolf is actually a vampire. A very lonely vampire, who one day saves Emma's life by turning her into a vampire.

Will Emma survive with her new powers? Will she learn to accept the way she must live? And what of Matthew, the human male she finds and begins to love? Will he be turned? Are there other vampires abroad in the world?

I thought this was a fairly unique twist on the vampire theme. The combination of vampire novel and apocalyptic novel appealed to me. In a survival-of-the-fittest situation, there would be definite advantages, and disadvantages, in having vampiric powers. These are explored very well in the book. Parts of the book dragged a bit, but most of it was very good. It's not the best novel I've ever read, but it's well worth the time. I'd give it two and a half fangs out of five. :-L