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Vida Nocturna
Only the need will last forever.Sara has always escaped her real-world fears by reading fantasy and horror stories. Now, as a social-phobic college freshman, she enters a dark world where horror is not supernatural and fantasy is a trap.Evil is contagious. Victims become predators, and every predator was once just like Sara. Imagining she’d be different was her first step toward them. Now, draped in the decadent ‘80s subculture, she’s rendered helpless by powers she never imagined.
- GenresHorrorParanormal
232 pages, Paperback
First published May 12, 2011
136 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 26, 2012
Never had I been so back-and-forth on my feelings for the main character of a story before. Until Vida Nocturna.
Before I continue, let me warn you, if you're a fan of a linear, straight-forward, traditional style of story-telling, this book is not for you. But, if you're a little more open-minded and don't mind some jumping around between past and present, and some more past, then you may just find that this book will be to your liking. Okay. You've been warned.
Now, as for Sara. I feel almost like there were a few different Saras in this story. You have the Sara that is a little girl that we read about. The Sara that is a wavering, unsure high-school student, the Sara that is a desperate, lonely college-student, and then the latter Sarah. I won't spoil that one for you.
As for "litle girl" Sara, my heart broke for her a million times over. With parents like hers, it's no wonder she turned out as unstable as she did. It made me want to hug my kids a little tighter, reading about the abused little Sara.
"High school Sara" is sad, with a social disorder that seemingly keeps her from connecting even with her closest friends. This leads to all sorts of issues. Some of which, Sara brings on herself, in my opinion.
"College-girl Sara" is the one that seems to finally break. The one that inevitable seems to make the decision that instead of rising above her poor upbringing and social disorder, is going to go down the lower road and become an addict. Addicted to what? Well, I'll leave you to discover that for yourself.
I whole-heartedly love this story. I love how the author portrays such a sad girl and her lonely journey that leads to an ending that I couldn't have guessed at.
Just be warned. This book isn't really for the younger audience.
Christy @ Captivated Reading
Before I continue, let me warn you, if you're a fan of a linear, straight-forward, traditional style of story-telling, this book is not for you. But, if you're a little more open-minded and don't mind some jumping around between past and present, and some more past, then you may just find that this book will be to your liking. Okay. You've been warned.
Now, as for Sara. I feel almost like there were a few different Saras in this story. You have the Sara that is a little girl that we read about. The Sara that is a wavering, unsure high-school student, the Sara that is a desperate, lonely college-student, and then the latter Sarah. I won't spoil that one for you.
As for "litle girl" Sara, my heart broke for her a million times over. With parents like hers, it's no wonder she turned out as unstable as she did. It made me want to hug my kids a little tighter, reading about the abused little Sara.
"High school Sara" is sad, with a social disorder that seemingly keeps her from connecting even with her closest friends. This leads to all sorts of issues. Some of which, Sara brings on herself, in my opinion.
"College-girl Sara" is the one that seems to finally break. The one that inevitable seems to make the decision that instead of rising above her poor upbringing and social disorder, is going to go down the lower road and become an addict. Addicted to what? Well, I'll leave you to discover that for yourself.
I whole-heartedly love this story. I love how the author portrays such a sad girl and her lonely journey that leads to an ending that I couldn't have guessed at.
Just be warned. This book isn't really for the younger audience.
Christy @ Captivated Reading
August 14, 2012
I wrote "Vida Nocturna" in graduate school at the University of Chicago. As I learned about the publishing industry, it became obvious that the books corporate publishers picked up weren't necessarily good stories. The key to getting published was that the book be predictably profitable.
At that time, there was tremendous pressure to write a series about vampires in love. "Twilight" had been bringing good returns on the publisher's investment and the others wanted a similar product to market. Vampires sell, and so do romances.
But when authors are forced to chase the market like that, no new ideas can get in. It's a death spiral of creativity.
This book was my experiment, to see how far I could stretch the idea of vampires in love and create something new. Did it have to be real love? Did the vampires have to be supernatural?
I have known real vampires. They are real, you know. They're just not supernatural.
Vampires are creatures with an insatiable need to fill up that space where their souls used to be. I knew people who lost their souls. In fact, this book is largely based on the life of a good friend of mine who disappeared about twelve years ago.
In "Vida Nocturna," Sara, a college freshman crippled by social phobia, fantasizes that her new boyfriend is a vampire but discovers he's a cocaine addict.
The scenes are short and the transitions between them are abrupt so that readers experience Sara's trepidation and sense of unreality. As she slips further into the decadent '80s subculture, she becomes, in a non-supernatural way, undead. Fantasy, horror, and reality become one. When was the first bite that started her transition? When did the victim become the predator?
At that time, there was tremendous pressure to write a series about vampires in love. "Twilight" had been bringing good returns on the publisher's investment and the others wanted a similar product to market. Vampires sell, and so do romances.
But when authors are forced to chase the market like that, no new ideas can get in. It's a death spiral of creativity.
This book was my experiment, to see how far I could stretch the idea of vampires in love and create something new. Did it have to be real love? Did the vampires have to be supernatural?
I have known real vampires. They are real, you know. They're just not supernatural.
Vampires are creatures with an insatiable need to fill up that space where their souls used to be. I knew people who lost their souls. In fact, this book is largely based on the life of a good friend of mine who disappeared about twelve years ago.
In "Vida Nocturna," Sara, a college freshman crippled by social phobia, fantasizes that her new boyfriend is a vampire but discovers he's a cocaine addict.
The scenes are short and the transitions between them are abrupt so that readers experience Sara's trepidation and sense of unreality. As she slips further into the decadent '80s subculture, she becomes, in a non-supernatural way, undead. Fantasy, horror, and reality become one. When was the first bite that started her transition? When did the victim become the predator?
October 28, 2012
Her name was Sara, an unwanted, mentally abused daughter of a insane narcissistic mother and a cold corporate father. Betrayed by her best friend and her only boyfriend, she has no one to turn to, no one to love when she emerges from a hated high school career into depressed young adult hood.
As a new college freshmen she finds solace in drink and self pity at the Vida Nocturna- a typical all night disco of the 1980s, and there she finds a strange new group of friends.. and she finds love in the deep green eyes of Alexander, the leader of a bizarre youth cult. These are youths with pale skin, glowing eyes, and strange appetites who only go out at night…
Alexander and his gang make the Vida Nocturna their home base, branching out from there to stay up all night, engaging in mysterious activity and battling other creepy gangs in gun battles and dangerous high speed chases.
Sara tags along at first, thrilled to be accepted with friends at last and then she becomes an unwilling witness to a brutal murder. Now an unspoken line is crossed and Sara has no choice but to become initiated into the cult's weird rituals. Or die.
Her college grades suffer and she drops out of college as she begins to join in the mind altering rituals of the youth cult- and though Alexander becomes her faithful lover- she finds a deeper attraction in the mind bending, degrading acts she undergoes as a new cult member.
Ostracized by her family at last, and with no financial resources; she finds a life line as a dishwasher at Vida Nocturna. There she also finds a friend in a fellow dishwasher named Miguel, who warns her "Sara, I think you are in danger... you are getting involved with something you don't understand."
The warning comes too late and the dark nocturnal world that Sara has been sucked into changes her life forever in an endless vicious cycle of weird sex, bloody violence and soul destroying rituals.
Now the question becomes: will Sara escape the Cult on her own and re-emerge into the sanity and daylight of the everyday world- or will she stay and become the twisted Queen of her own dark underworld of slavish worshippers?
I am not going to spoil the book and ruin the ending for you, but I will say this: Vida Nocturna's book cover advertises that 'some monsters are real' and this book is scary in its real life implications.
Is it a Vampire novel? Not in the traditional sense- but it is as terrifying as any of the classic vampire stories- because what happened to Sara- could happen to anyone- and does happen EVERYDAY.
Author Mark Diehl has written an excellent first novel. It is a fast paced thriller of psychological terror on many levels. This is no romantic Twilight novel. The bloodsuckers depicted herein are not people you want to fall in love with. But their terrifying lifestyle will grip you and draw you in - against your own will. And screaming will do you no good at all.
As a new college freshmen she finds solace in drink and self pity at the Vida Nocturna- a typical all night disco of the 1980s, and there she finds a strange new group of friends.. and she finds love in the deep green eyes of Alexander, the leader of a bizarre youth cult. These are youths with pale skin, glowing eyes, and strange appetites who only go out at night…
Alexander and his gang make the Vida Nocturna their home base, branching out from there to stay up all night, engaging in mysterious activity and battling other creepy gangs in gun battles and dangerous high speed chases.
Sara tags along at first, thrilled to be accepted with friends at last and then she becomes an unwilling witness to a brutal murder. Now an unspoken line is crossed and Sara has no choice but to become initiated into the cult's weird rituals. Or die.
Her college grades suffer and she drops out of college as she begins to join in the mind altering rituals of the youth cult- and though Alexander becomes her faithful lover- she finds a deeper attraction in the mind bending, degrading acts she undergoes as a new cult member.
Ostracized by her family at last, and with no financial resources; she finds a life line as a dishwasher at Vida Nocturna. There she also finds a friend in a fellow dishwasher named Miguel, who warns her "Sara, I think you are in danger... you are getting involved with something you don't understand."
The warning comes too late and the dark nocturnal world that Sara has been sucked into changes her life forever in an endless vicious cycle of weird sex, bloody violence and soul destroying rituals.
Now the question becomes: will Sara escape the Cult on her own and re-emerge into the sanity and daylight of the everyday world- or will she stay and become the twisted Queen of her own dark underworld of slavish worshippers?
I am not going to spoil the book and ruin the ending for you, but I will say this: Vida Nocturna's book cover advertises that 'some monsters are real' and this book is scary in its real life implications.
Is it a Vampire novel? Not in the traditional sense- but it is as terrifying as any of the classic vampire stories- because what happened to Sara- could happen to anyone- and does happen EVERYDAY.
Author Mark Diehl has written an excellent first novel. It is a fast paced thriller of psychological terror on many levels. This is no romantic Twilight novel. The bloodsuckers depicted herein are not people you want to fall in love with. But their terrifying lifestyle will grip you and draw you in - against your own will. And screaming will do you no good at all.
June 21, 2012
Never before have I loved, pitied, and hated a character more than Sara. As soon as the story begins, Sara is in trouble. She's failing all of her college courses and tries to hide this from her father, who both pays tuition and expects only the best from his daughter. And then we find out that she's involved in a vampire club. Then the books flashes back to a younger Sara and we get the first glimpse of her childhood. The first flashback is a happy one. Most of the ones that follow are not. At first, the non-lineral narration is confusing, but about a quarter into the book I was thankful for it. The present Sara is falling deeper and deeper into a fantasy world of addiction and Vampires. Some of the scenes are so intense that I want to scream at the book and the characters. Sara isn't your typical heroine. She makes very bad decisions, but worse are the people that surround her.
I think that Sara's parents are the most developed and intriguing set in any YA novel. Any child of divorced parents can vouch for the constant back and forth hatred and jealousy. Sara's father is jealous of her seemingly happy relationship with her mother and vice versa. Her parents have a huge impact on the decisions she makes and had either one of them acted like an adult, Sara might not have chosen the path she did.
Overall, this is a story about addiction. The powerlessness of addiction. This is a psychological horror in the fact that Sara loses control over herself and her life chapter by chapter. There are sections where the only relief to the darkness is the flashbacks.
The only escape for hardcore druggies is rehab, jail, or death. At different parts of the novel, I was hoping for a different one of these things. I hoped that she'd get better. I hoped that she'd get caught. I hoped that she'd find peace in death.
As for the ending, I firmly believe that she deserved it. And it scared me that I felt that way.
I think that Sara's parents are the most developed and intriguing set in any YA novel. Any child of divorced parents can vouch for the constant back and forth hatred and jealousy. Sara's father is jealous of her seemingly happy relationship with her mother and vice versa. Her parents have a huge impact on the decisions she makes and had either one of them acted like an adult, Sara might not have chosen the path she did.
Overall, this is a story about addiction. The powerlessness of addiction. This is a psychological horror in the fact that Sara loses control over herself and her life chapter by chapter. There are sections where the only relief to the darkness is the flashbacks.
The only escape for hardcore druggies is rehab, jail, or death. At different parts of the novel, I was hoping for a different one of these things. I hoped that she'd get better. I hoped that she'd get caught. I hoped that she'd find peace in death.
As for the ending, I firmly believe that she deserved it. And it scared me that I felt that way.
July 11, 2012
In reading Vida Nocturna, be prepared for a unique and emotionally intense literary experience.
The author employs a disjointed structure to give readers an unsteady and disconnected feeling, thereby instilling a sense of the main character’s state of mind. As the story jumps between past and present, between fantasy and reality, we are drawn ever deeper into Sara’s struggle to escape the fear and loneliness that threaten to consume her completely. Each carefully sequenced scene provides new perspective on the damaging psychological trauma she has endured. We cringe at the destructive choices she makes in her desperate search for something-- anything-- to fill the emptiness in her soul. Our feelings for her swing from profound sympathy to agonizing frustration and back again, never quite knowing where to settle. Even as she becomes more and more deeply immersed in the world of drugs and addiction, we can’t help but hold out more hope for her than she probably has ever had for herself.
As the darkest moments of Sara’s life are depicted, the writing is especially strong and strikingly visceral. The graphic and realistic detail with which her horrific experiences are described imparts a vivid impression that we are physically present witnesses, frozen and unable to look away.
It is a powerful novel. Sara’s story feels heartbreakingly real, and it is one you won’t forget anytime soon.
The author employs a disjointed structure to give readers an unsteady and disconnected feeling, thereby instilling a sense of the main character’s state of mind. As the story jumps between past and present, between fantasy and reality, we are drawn ever deeper into Sara’s struggle to escape the fear and loneliness that threaten to consume her completely. Each carefully sequenced scene provides new perspective on the damaging psychological trauma she has endured. We cringe at the destructive choices she makes in her desperate search for something-- anything-- to fill the emptiness in her soul. Our feelings for her swing from profound sympathy to agonizing frustration and back again, never quite knowing where to settle. Even as she becomes more and more deeply immersed in the world of drugs and addiction, we can’t help but hold out more hope for her than she probably has ever had for herself.
As the darkest moments of Sara’s life are depicted, the writing is especially strong and strikingly visceral. The graphic and realistic detail with which her horrific experiences are described imparts a vivid impression that we are physically present witnesses, frozen and unable to look away.
It is a powerful novel. Sara’s story feels heartbreakingly real, and it is one you won’t forget anytime soon.
June 26, 2012
This book is definetly not for the faint hearted! Sara is a college age young women who is obsessed with horror. Through interwoven chapters we learn about her childhood, adolescence and what brought her to this point in her life. It is a frightening tale of madness & drug addiction. And the ending.......Wow....just Wow!!!
Mark Diehl is certainly an author to watch!
Mark Diehl is certainly an author to watch!
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November 1, 2012 Sara is lost, Sara is alone and Sara is an addict. Are some addictions too deep, too real to be just addictions.
Like any young adult, Sara goes off to college to study and began life as an adult. And like many young adults she feels the pressures of life. At first her drug use is under control. What’s wrong with a drink to calm pre-class jitters, marijuana to get you through and exhausting study session, or pills to give you that extra dose of energy for finals? Soon Sara begins to spiral, falling from grace as her selfish, controlling, and vindictive parents ways began to become the catalyst to her now over-whelming addiction. What will happen to this girl on the loose?
At first glance this book sent me in one direction, but the more I read the more I realized that there was a different message altogether. It’s a view into a personal tragedy like no other. This book will give you a glimpse into a world of sex, drugs, and addiction few get to see. The descriptions and references are so vivid you can see every hit, every indiscretion, and watch as a girl seals her fate. Read this book to gain more than a fictional story, but to gain the triple threat of fiction, realities, and life for those who are awake at night, need no food to survive, and suck the life out of their victims.
complimentary book given for a free review. come check out this review and much more on juliesbookreview.blogspot.com
Like any young adult, Sara goes off to college to study and began life as an adult. And like many young adults she feels the pressures of life. At first her drug use is under control. What’s wrong with a drink to calm pre-class jitters, marijuana to get you through and exhausting study session, or pills to give you that extra dose of energy for finals? Soon Sara begins to spiral, falling from grace as her selfish, controlling, and vindictive parents ways began to become the catalyst to her now over-whelming addiction. What will happen to this girl on the loose?
At first glance this book sent me in one direction, but the more I read the more I realized that there was a different message altogether. It’s a view into a personal tragedy like no other. This book will give you a glimpse into a world of sex, drugs, and addiction few get to see. The descriptions and references are so vivid you can see every hit, every indiscretion, and watch as a girl seals her fate. Read this book to gain more than a fictional story, but to gain the triple threat of fiction, realities, and life for those who are awake at night, need no food to survive, and suck the life out of their victims.
complimentary book given for a free review. come check out this review and much more on juliesbookreview.blogspot.com
August 27, 2012
This is not a book for kids but I think it's important for young adults. Sara had mean parents and grew up scared all the time, and made up stories to hide from her real life. When she's older she meets this guy Alexander and thinks he's cool like a vampire but instead he's on drugs. What you get from this book is never ever ever do drugs.
December 30, 2012
A young girl crippled by a social phobia fall develops an obsession with vampires. Well actually she develops several obsessions, her new boyfriend and coke included. A terrible childhood leaves her susceptible to predators who take advantage of her and give her drugs. She fancies her lover and friends vampires and considers herself slowly turning.
This book left me feeling disoriented. It jumps from childhood trauma flashbacks to abstract drug trips to bloody vampire kill. I was never sure if the vampire murders were a dream, or if she had a psychotic break and started killing sorority girls thinking she was a vampire. The realism in the drug scenes gave me goosebumps. The author is very good at creating a scene. I think this was an abstract and interesting take on vampires. The similarities between vampires and addicts is obvious.
This book left me feeling disoriented. It jumps from childhood trauma flashbacks to abstract drug trips to bloody vampire kill. I was never sure if the vampire murders were a dream, or if she had a psychotic break and started killing sorority girls thinking she was a vampire. The realism in the drug scenes gave me goosebumps. The author is very good at creating a scene. I think this was an abstract and interesting take on vampires. The similarities between vampires and addicts is obvious.
maybe-read-sometime
June 29, 2012I'm a wimp about scary things ... but I admit that this does sound somewhat interesting.
dearly-departed
April 2, 2014Won as part of the Goodreads first reads program. Review to come.
June 4, 2014
An interesting and genuinely weird horror novel.
January 20, 2013
This is a good book. Very dark and depressing. I think I need to pet some kittens and bunnies now that I'm done reading it.
June 24, 2012
WOW. Review pending.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews