Sunglasses After Dark

About Nancy A. Collins's Sunglasses After Dark

The book starts in an asylum where "Blue, S." is the newest addition to the Danger Ward. Her interior monolog is awkwardly written; the segues into the life of an orderly and the antics of a female tele-evangelist seem more like poorly written subplots than actual narrative elements. Finally, around page 116, Sonja Blue breaks out of her institutional prison, and the pace picks up. Sonja's descriptions of her "birth" (becoming a vampire) and her years slumming around Europe are interesting, sometimes tasteless. The hunting sprees (she hunts other vampires) add some action, but are more or less pointless. The final climactic event (Sonja vs. Crazed Tele-evangelist) was one other high point, but on the scale of Sonja's life doesn't register higher than a blip. Thus, the entire book seems like an excuse to waste paper and the ending screams "sequel" but I won't be reading it. Sonja Blue is not a badass. She is a scarred, deeply disturbed girl (disappointingly, she became a vampire because she was stupid, and then runs around hating her maker). The book itself is filled with blood and guts, tasteless sex, none of it exceptionally well-written. Get this one from the library.