As I've stated many a time, I cannot get enough of vampires. Tall, short, ugly, beautiful, fat, thin, I love reading about them. Kate Hill's Revenge of the Court Jester is different than my usual fair though: the vampire is both beautiful and ugly. He comes from both heaven and hell, and there is nothing he can do about it.

Sadavis Baptista has a body of a god, but the face of a demon. Behind the horribly disfigured skin, is a man who, despite growing up as a freak, is caring, and good. He also has enough secrets to make the Pentagon envious. Living three lives, he has people in his life who don't know the real him, and then there are those who know too much.

In one life, he is a well-known vampire boxer, known to his fans as 'The Court Jester' because of a detailed tattoo on his chest. In another, he is a sculptor whose massive hands can create the most beautiful pieces of art. In the third, and most important life, he is an agent for the vampire Network. These people make the CIA look like the town gossip. His file is labeled under the highest secrecy rating the Network can give out.

With his looks, he's used to women coming into his bed and keeping their eyes closed through the whole act of sex. With their eyes closed, the women can pretend he's wearing another man's face. While it scrapes at him, it's only sex they're getting from him. It's not like he cares about them.

Enter Esmeralda Giordano. She was invited to a boxing match, and allowed back into the training room where Sadavis is warming up for the big match. As vampires go, she's very young, but she's mature enough to look beneath the skin and see the man Sadavis really is. Following instinct, she goes home with Sadavis, to let him sculpt her. One thing leads to another, and they fall in love.

But a budding relationship isn't conducive to his main job: secret agent for the Network. Soon after they fall in love, Sadavis is called out on a dangerous mission. To protect his heart, he shoves Esmeralda away with all the force a man of his size can use, throwing insult on top of injury with his 'it was just sex' attitude. And Esmeralda, unable to see past her broken heart, lets him go without so much as a good-bye.

But he'll come to need her, desperately. Sadavis is captured by the enemy, beaten, abused, and tortured. In order to protect the Network, and those he calls family, he casts a dangerous spell on himself, erasing his entire memory. And he keeps casting it, until he's not sure who, or what he is anymore. When he is finally back among those who love him, he'll need Esermalda's love to get him through the long, painful recuperation period.

Even with her by his side, it's not over yet. A la Nazareth, love hurts. And those who tried to take Sadavis out of the game permanently; they're not finished with him yet.

Can love really win out over the creeping taint of evil? Esmeralda hopes so. If it doesn't, she'll lose the man she loves and there won't be a single thing she can do about it.

Over the years, I've read countless vampire stories. And each of them had one thing in common: the vampire does things only for themselves. Never to better the lives of the future generations, or to help their fellow man. The world is their oyster, and they will take, take, and take. Revenge of the Court Jester paints the vampire as a 'human': people who will sacrifice for others, people who care. And that, my friends, is the best story of all.
 
 
Reviewed By Marissa
© January 2007