Rice, Anne

Presents the confessions of Louis, a vampire, and tells of his relationship with the vampire Lestat.

Contains the confessions of a vampire which are hypnotic, shocking, and erotic.

The vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, hero, leader, inspirer, irresistible force, irrepressible spirit, battling (and ultimately reconciling with) a strange otherworldly form that has somehow taken possession of Lestat's undead body and soul... It is through this spirit ... that we come to be told the hypnotic tale of a great sea power of ancient times; a mysterious heaven on earth situated on a boundless continent--and of how and why, and in what manner and with what far-reaching purpose, this force came to build and rule the great legendary empire of centuries ago that thrived in the Atlantic Ocean.

Armand recounts his life starting with the ruined city he lived in as a child, and while he is there, he meets the great vampire Marius who makes him choose between the life he knows, and the mystery and immortality of the life of a vampire.

Almost immortal vampire David Talbot, having gone to Merrick to plead with her to raise the ghost of the dead vampire child Claudia thus easing the guilt of his friend and fellow vampire Louis, instead finds himself in the grip of an obsession with the powerful witch.

The vampire world is in crisis. Vampires are proliferating out of control and a strange Voice has awakened the Old Vampires, sending them on killing sprees in major cities around the world to destroy the maverick vampires. As Louis, Armand, David Talbot, the Talamasca, and others try to discover the source of the Voice, Lestat, the vampire rebel, is conspicuously absent.

Believer and nonbeliever alike are familiar with the story of Jesus Christ. But most tales tend to focus on his last days and eventual crucifixion. Rice explores Jesus' youth, and tells of his family's journey from Egypt to Judea and of the requisite strife they encounter along the way. The novel follows the young Jesus as he starts to learn about his divine heritage and experiments with his mysterious healing powers. Heine narrates in an earnest, youthful alto, and one might think this suitable considering that the story is a first-person account of the life of a seven-year-old Jesus; however, the story is actually told by an older Jesus, looking back on the events of his youth, so Heine's innocent and childlike performance is somewhat out of place. Though competent, Heine's reading lacks any spark or fire to it, making the overall result rather bland. Heine is also bound by the source material, which, while an honest and heartfelt attempt to explore the all-but-unknown youth of Jesus, fails to live up to its lofty ambitions.