99 Coffins

The second novel in David Wellington's vampire series is an exciting improvement on the first. Trooper Laura Caxton is still fairly useless, but at least she is facing her fears - and this time, she is in charge. One year after the events in 13 Bullets, Laura and her miserable mentor Arkeley have been immortalised on film as vampire hunters, but all Caxton wants to do is forget and move on. When Arkeley asks for her help with another case, she tries to refuse him, but curiosity wins over her better judgement and the two end up in Gettysburg. An archaeological dig has turned up 99 vampire coffins on the battlefield, and Laura must make sure that the old bones are well and truly dead - but the 100th coffin is empty.

The combination of show more history and vampires in this story had me hooked - I didn't know anything about the Battle of Gettysburg, or the American Civil War, but Caxton's investigation into an undead army of Union soldiers really brought the details of that era to life (pardon the pun). And the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, where Arkeley tries to force a confrontation between ancient vampire hag Justinia Malvern and one of her creations was absolutely fascinating, and very atmospheric. The head vampire was actually very charming and amusing, too, which made a change from the usual feral monsters of Wellington's mythology.

The terror - and feeling of claustrophobia - generated by Caxton's battles with vicious and virtually unstoppable vampires is what sets this series apart from the many other examples of vampire fiction I have read recently - that, and the 'gay lady supercop' heroine, of course. I actually shared the Trooper's sense of despair and guilt, when she and the others were facing wave and after wave of supernatural killers in Gettysburg. Truly the tense, tortuous stuff of nightmares. show less

One of my issues with recent vampire stories is that authors have been watering down vampires until, in most cases, they seem like people with superpowers instead of terrifying monsters. To my mind, vampire stories lose a lot of their power when this happens. Wellington's books - 13 Bullets and 99 Coffins - definitely do not suffer from that problem. His vampires are evil predators that are truly other than human. Which makes the stories so much more gripping for me, especially as the humans have to cope with the otherness. Be prepared for some pretty graphic images, though. 99 Coffins is the sequel to 13 Bullets, and if you want to get the full flavor of the story, it's best to read them in order. If you don't have the first volume, show more though, go ahead and dive in. Wellington does a good job of catching readers up with the story.

The story starts with the discovery of a hidden cache of coffins at the Gettysburg battlefield, which turns out to be the remnants of a Union plot to use vampires to beat back the Confederacy in the darkest days of the Civil War. Unfortunately, that discovery leads to modern-day mayhem. The unfolding of the plot is wonderfully done, and my only complaint would be that Wellington tries a little too hard to be politically correct in his imagining of the main characters. Once he gets going, though, the development sucks you right in. show less

99 Coffins is something a bit different. At first I found the dual narrative irritating even though I understood its importance to the story - it felt like it interupted the urgency of Laura's story but in the end I didn't mind so much, and in fact find the whole idea of his premise intriguing.I generally don't like horror (with some notable exceptions) but I enjoyed this because it didn't dwell on the splatter and gore. It was dark but not gratuitous and the action was fast paced, taut and interesting. I havn't read the first in the trilogy but that didn't really affect my reading of this, though it was obvious there was some back story I could have benefited from knowing. I do plan to pick up the next book to see how they track down A.

A terrific 2nd part in the series. Laura Caxton kicks vampire Butt. She unwillingly assumes the Throne of Vampire Killer from her Mentor, Arkley. And finds herself facing vampires from the Civil War. Very clever plot, lots of thrills and gore...and a twist of an ending. Makes you want to turn to the next book to continue Laura's struggles. She is a compelling, sharpley drawn and very sympathetic character.

This was a very creative and original story. An archeological dig by a local college in Gettysburg unearths 99 coffins in an underground ammunition bunker on the famous battle field. Actually there were 99 intact coffins and one destroyed coffin. Of course the 99 coffins contained vampires with their hearts missing. State Trooper Laura Caxton, the famous vampire hunter, and her disabled mentor, Jameson Arkeley, were called in to help figure out what was going on. It turns out the destroyed coffin had contained a vampire, who was now on the prowl and really hungry. Believe it or not, the 99 “sleeping” vampires had been soldiers during the Civil War and had been waiting since the battle of Gettysburg to be awakened. The book show more alternates between present day and the Gettysburg Civil War battle, and the battle segments seem to be well researched. As you might have guessed, all 99 vampires are resurrected by their on-the-prowl associate and an all out war ensues. The vampires are really vicious, just the way they are supposed to be; and there is much action, volumes of violence and lots of fun in this book. I liked it very much. show less

Summary: Laura Caxton is now a famous vampire hunter and they've even made a movie about her ordeal with vampire, but the horror is just beginning when she is called to an archaeologist dig where 99 vampire coffins were discovered. All seems fine when she notices that they're all missing their hearts, but someone just might be holding on to the hearts and waiting for the perfect time to raise army of 99 vampires once again.

Review: At first, I was a little discouraged when I saw this was 'historical fiction,' but it didn't feel like a history--not at all. It was quite interesting tying the vampire horror in with a secret of the Civil War. This book was even better than the first one. Horror mastermind David Wellington brings us another show more great horror tale.

Series order: 13 Bullets, 99 Coffins, Vampire Zero, 23 Hours. show less

David Wellington's creative continuation of his action packed story of vampires and those who hunt them. Laura Caxton returns from '13 Bullets' when 99 coffins are unearthed below the battlefields of Gettysburg. The alternating storyline between the present and past is done very well and Wellington propels the action at breakneck speed making this a fast read. There's very little sense of foreboding though as you read through the action sequences. The outcome feels preordained. There are, however, some surprises along the way and I'm looking forward to reading the third installment.