Children of the Night: Book Review

Today, we will be reviewing Children of the Night by Dan Simmons. Find out what we thought of this horror novel by one of my favorite authors!

Children of the Night Summary

Kate Nueman is an immunologist in Romania helping deal with the orphanage crisis. She comes across a baby in the orphanage that she decides she wants to adopt and take him home to the United State and provide the proper care for him.

But Kate soon finds out that baby Joshua is not a normal baby. He may hold the cure to cancer and AIDS. Kate and her team in Boulder, Colorado try to isolate the virus to study it. However, an intruder breaks into Kate’s home and hovers over Joshua’s crib, endangering all of their lives.

Who is Joshua and why are people trying to kidnap him? And why can these people survive multiple shotgun blasts? It is up to Kate to discover the secrets of this ancient family to save Joshua from their evil grasp. But that means going against enemies that are anything but human who can’t seem to die.

Commentary

Children of the Night was published in 1992 and is the second book by Simmons in his Seasons of Horror series. The novel takes place in Romania and Simmons traveled to Romania to do research for the novel. 

I enjoyed the novel a lot and that the point of view of Vlad Tepes are all true. The novel is gruesome and while it is labeled a horror novel, it feels more like a thriller with vampires. And because this is a Simmons novel, you will be hooked once the action starts rolling.

Kate and Mark are both great characters and I even enjoyed Lucian’s jokes. Throughout the novel, you don’t know who to trust and Simmons does an amazing job of leaving the reader in the dark. Still, I don’t think I would call this a horror novel even though I enjoyed it.

Conclusion

This might be the first novel I read that takes place in Romania. Simmons makes the country feel alive and it adds to the suspense in the novel.

Do be warned, the novel doesn’t hold anything back and if you know anything about Vlad the Impaler, then you know that it isn’t for the faint of heart. Still, Simmons writing makes this a must read and I recommend it to anyone who likes a good thriller. Happy reading!

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