The vampire rules the dark fantasy of the last one hundred years. In the past, this creature would allow a female character to act out her secret fantasies of the less than chaste behavior of seduction. These days, however, such fantasies would be considered worse than passe, they would be laughed off the market.  After Sundown: Redemption reflects a more modern approach. Today's vampires are no longer mysterious counts or earls of some hidden away wealth and power, but un-dead creatures that need to find their purpose in life as much as anyone. They also seem to need, love. Ah, but there lies the source of delicious conflict. How can a human and vampire find love when the human’s very flesh is what must be fed on? Who would win, the Predator or the Prey?

Alyssa Edward is a successful author who has a problem -- a very dangerous, serious, and vexing problem. A stalker who wants to kill her. All suggestions of hiring a bodyguard set her independent teeth on edge. Her agent, however, insists that she has one. Enter stage left, Christian Galiano, who much to Alyssa’s increasing irritation about the whole deal, has touched in her an almost animal response. Being the no nonsense type, Alyssa would never have guessed nor believed that the man who stood before her was no longer a man. Galiano has been un-dead for centuries, and right now she was awakening in him a very dangerous hunger. Problem is, he must also protect her from all harm, especially from himself. Galiano might be a vampire, but one with a very human memory of love.

So here I am promoting this book, and yet the rating is a five. The reason being is I get bored by relentless sex scenes with no real substance. I learned more about rough sex than the why and what-for of the characters themselves. A real let down. One example is that another vampire, Bazhena Galichanin, who 'sired' or made Christian the vampire he is today. Why did she pick Christian? Was it because he is good-looking hunk, or do the good looks happen because he is a vampire. Why is she so keen on gaining back her ‘pet’ after all this time? (One hundred and fifty years ago he escaped her clutches. Either she is not that good a hunter, or more plausible, something changed to make her want to hunt him down.) Then there is Alyssa Edwards, the main character, or at least she is supposed to be. But she is not really able to hold her own again these much older, hints of mysteries and other character riches. Why would SHE hold the attention of a creature like Christian beyond the usual hunger pangs for humans? I am sorry but strong personalities do not a powerful draw make. Now dangle something like a past life, or family line and she carries the scent of an old love. Give me something more mystical than a practical female thrown into a mystical realm with nothing more than being a tough sexed up kitten in a skirt.

After Sundown: Redemption needs more plots and less sex manuals to get the heart pumping. (Spoiler Alert), the stalker really turns out to be nothing more than a sick man going after her and therefore a vehicle to get Alyssa into the arms of Galiano while trying to escape the triangle of Bazhena. The whole thing sadly falls flat and fizzles. There is so much more it could have been, if the plot had been worked out with more depth and the story given more meat to all that heat, or a build up to pleasure that never comes. 

Reviewed By: Nancy Louise
© September 2007