Kim Newman may largely inhabit the general territory of the supernatural novel, but his particular gift lies in his thoroughgoing re-examination of material that the reader may think they know thoroughly. Newman shows that there are unexplored areas to explore. His highly successful Anno Dracula series has gone from strength to strength, and this latest addition is as coruscating and inventive as anything he’s written. At a New Year’s Eve party in Daikaiju Plaza thrown by the vampire Princess Cristina Light, a variety of movers and shakers in the worlds of technology, finance and culture gather. But there are some extremely unwelcome guests in the form of Transylvanian mercenaries and Yakuza assassins, and soon the schoolgirl Nezumi — herself a vampire and member of the famed Diogenes Club — finds that the sword-wielding skills she has acquired are to be put to bloody usage. Two of the book’s blurbs reminded me of things I’d written about Newman: for the Independent, I once described his talent as ‘outrageously inventive’ – and, similarly, writing for the Financial Times, I used the phrase ‘a bracing, witty, allusive vampire tale’. All of those adjectives will do service again for this latest book, one of the most playful and richly textured is in the series. Newman aficionados need not hesitate.
Daikaiju: Anno Dracula 1999 by Kim Newman is published by Titan
