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If I ever go on a cruise, I’ll probably plan for the old stranded-on-a-desert-island scenario. And if I can take only a few books with me, The Dark Riders by Howard Hopkins would definitely be on the list. I’ve already read this book three times, and I’ll probably read it again in the not-so-distant future. It’s simply one of the best vampire novels I’ve ever read.
In the black of a western night, an evil rides the wind with one goal in mind: to heap vengeance on a young man’s spirit and turn him into a creature that will never find peace. That evil’s name is Milus Clint. He was wicked and unmerciful in life, and death didn’t do anything but piss him off even more.
As a hardcase who died in a shoot-out six years ago, he takes those he loves one by one. Chris Durrin struggles to understand why—and how. Milus Clint shouldn’t be alive, yet he is. And he appears to be immune to any weapons fashioned by men. He simply cannot be killed—and neither can those who ride with him. As the blood-sucking desperados terrorize the town, Chris struggles to find some way to put Milus Clint back into the grave—and for good this time.
Howard Hopkins writes both westerns and horror—so, one day, he decided to combine the two. The result? The Dark Riders—the tale of a vicious gang of vampires on horseback, bent on destroying one man’s life and leaving him in eternal darkness.
Chris Durrin is pushed to the brink of madness, but the human spirit is much stronger than anyone can possibly imagine. I felt his anguish as he first loses the man who raised him as his own, and again when he loses the woman he loves, who then comes back as one of the undead. Hopkins is one of the few authors who can make emotions leap off the page and hit you square in the heart. I guarantee you’ll feel deeply for Chris, and you won’t soon forget this character.
Sensual and heart-wrenching, with a dose of pure evil, The Dark Riders will drag your emotions through the dust behind a galloping horse—until, like Chris, you’re mad enough to stand up and fight back. The climax explodes in a blinding rush as Chris unleashes his fury against a malevolent being that should never have been given life.
If The Dark Riders doesn’t leave you breathless with a pounding heart, then, my friend, you must be dead.
