AmazonIn Karl Larew’s second humorous and highly entertaining vampire spoof, the battle continues in which the Good Vampires seek to protect their own (and all good people) against the greedy aspirations of the power-seeking Bad Vampires.
The Good Vampires, Lance Blodgett and sidekick Nigel, along with their normal human and gorgeously sexy girlfriends Carol and Becky, are called to action again. The book has refreshingly laugh-out-loud humor with a smidge of the burlesque for the middle-age and over set who appreciate the irreverent early James Bond flicks, the original Wild Wild West and Star Trek series as opposed to the angst of the Twilight’s vampire and werewolf stories. All in all, a hoot of (or should I say a “woof”) of a read to be enjoyed with your favorite cocktail.
(If you’ve read Larew’s Bad Vampires, you already know of course that Good Vampires, while human in most respects, have a metabolic need for a periodic sip of human blood. This second tale, an especially furry one, begins exactly where the first left off, with Lance and Carol snug in bed…that is, until they are abruptly interrupted by a pounding on their door. Lance finds a disheveled and distraught Becky, crying that she has been attacked and bitten by a Bad Vampire in Central Park. Lance and Carol get the tall, beautiful Nigerian to the Good Vampire Dr. Griswold. Seeing fleas on Becky, Dr. Griswold tells the three that he has just been informed by Arleigh Granville, head of the New York Association of Good Vampires, that a Bad Vampire in Germany has concocted a drug to turn people into werewolves (good hosts to fleas), who then infect their victims with ‘werewolfism’. Becky must be such a victim—a diagnosis immediately confirmed when she appears to be transforming into a werewolf. Becky, however, turns out looking more like a Labrador retriever and is soon recognized as a ‘werewoof’, wagging her tail. Fortunately, the good doctor Griswold has an antidote, injections of which return Becky to normal—thank goodness! When Mr. Granville learns what has happened, he explains to the foursome that a Bad Vampire in Bavaria, Baron Wolfgang von Verdammte, is behind the werewolf plot. He appoints the four as Good Vampire secret agents, and they are soon on their way to Europe, tasked with squelching the werewolf plot and its aim of a Bad Vampire takeover of the world! Starting in Paris, the action moves on to Germany, with Carol ending up at the Baron’s castle in Bavaria (perhaps Mad King Ludwig’s Summer Palace). One incredible (believe it!) adventure follows another for the secret agents, with more human-werewolf or werewoof transformations, double agent and mole (not that little rodent) infiltrations of both the Good and Bad Vampire contingents (until neither side is sure who’s which!), a one-upmanship struggle over a coffin purportedly containing the remains of the Baron’s mentor, no other than Adolph Hitler (no kidding!), wild goose and car chases, one-sided shootouts (guess who always wins), and pussy galore (with even the werewoofs wanting their share). Be it known, however, that no matter how hard the Baron, aka Wolfie, craves Carol, both as his “little ginger snap” and as “the most Aryan uterus conceivable” (for his planned Fourth Reich), this sexy secret agent is one skillful evader whose heart belongs to Lance. If you’re not willing to join in this cock-eyed parody between the Vampires and cheer the Good Vamps on to victory, go find some other book (something by Mary Shelley, perhaps?). But if you’d like to laugh yourself to sleep, Larew’s zany tales—both Nazi Werewoofs and Bad Vampires—will offer you a fun and entertaining diversion. Then you can ponder how this retired college history professor came to write these amusingly unconventional tales.
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