Tap, Tap

by David Lozell Martin

When Roscoe Bird's childhood buddy, Peter, shows up in Washington, D.C., wanting to renew their old friendship, bodies start showing up too. And when Roscoe is blamed for the killing spree, he begins a heart-stopping race against time to thwart Peter's secret plan of manipulation, terror, and bloodlust. Because Peter has a secret--he's a vampire.

Genres: Horror, Vampires, Suspense, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Mystery

291 pages, Hardcover

First published January 13, 1995

About the author

David Martin is the author of ten novels that range from the international bestselling thriller Lie To Me to the acclaimed love story, The Crying Heart Tattoo.

Reviews

[Bob Box · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in 1995. Off beat thriller in which a man must comes to terms with his best friends vampirism. A most terrifying read. One of my favorites that year.

[Will Errickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good bestseller fiction with some terrifically creepy and unsettling scenes of horror. Great ending too.

[A. E. S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel was the first mainstream horror I ever read as a child in junior high. I actually nabbed it from my dad's library, then put it back upon reading it. Grotesque yet comical at times, it was unfamiliar territory for me, who was probably too young to read it.

Tap, Tap was the first book that inspired me to read (and write!) mainstream horror. Very gritty and surreal, although the subplots were a little cheesy and annoying. I still think of scenes from this book from time to time, and am likely never to forget it.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read Martin's - Lie To Me, a good creepy serial killer story with some great surprises.

You can read the jacket blurb to get the jist on Tap, Tap. But this one had some terrific creepy moments, with some disturbing parts also. A tale of best friends since childhood, and a tale of revenge twenty years later.
I didn't expect where this one was going. Recommended page turner.

[Ferris Galloway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literally the best book I have ever read in my entire life. This book has changed me as a person. If you are like me and are gay and mentally ill this is the book for you. I will recommend this to anyone and everyone. I don't wanna give away anything about it so just read it please. I reread and highlighted the entire book because I loved it so much if that tells you anything.

[R.G. Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's books like this that first interested me in becoming a writer myself. Not a "literary novel" by any means, "Tap,Tap" is a tightly-plotted suspense novel with eccentric humor and genuine edge-of-your-seat chills (the type of book at which David Martin is a master). I read it when it was first published in 1994 and re-read it recently to find that all of the original chills and disturbing plot twists remained just as effective. There's a perfunctory B-movie epilogue that weakens the novel's closing, but otherwise "Tap,Tap" is the perfect genre novel--one that I wish I had written myself!

[Missy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a definite change of pace from what I usually read. It was a creepy surreal story of friendship and revenge. There were actually parts of this book that made me laugh out loud, even though the story was shocking and even disturbing at times. The character Peter Tummelier, friend of Roscoe Bird's who vowed to get revenge on whomever drove Roscoe's father to commit suicide, made a very poor Vampire, which added a comedic twist to the story. I would have liked a better ending to the story as well....I kind of felt like I was left hanging. All in all, this was an entertaining read. I'm going to check out some of his other books.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was so very disturbing, well at parts that is. Very well written. It had me laughing out loud so many times, thank god I was home when reading it. You know when watching a movie or tv show and something very disturbing or violently gross is shown and you can't look you need to turn away, interested yes so you look between fingers? Well I actually had to stop and look away while reading a certain scene in this book because the image in my head was so vived. This book was greatly written.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Peter and Roscoe were best friends as kids, but now they're adults and Peter is a vampire. Peter is killing Roscoe's enemies, and since Roscoe has a motive, he keeps getting blamed for it. The killings are graphic & gross. Peter has a brother named Richard who's in an insane asylum. And they have a doll named Dondo.

It's a fast read, but don't expect it to be any good.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a fascinating psychological thriller. At first I had a hard time getting into it for some reason,but when I got halfway through I literally couldn't put it down until I was finished. It also had a really twisted and shocking ending. Definitely very original.

[Jeremiah Tilley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was definitely entertaining. Even though parts were quite strange, i liked it. I was looking for something different and the title kinda jumped out at me from a shelf at a used book store. I'd certainly read another by him.

[R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nifty, quick and visual vampire novel. Read this at the suggestion of my mom.

[Dave Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! This book is a great burner -- just a total page turner with a terrific ending. It's out of print, as far as I know, but it's well worth digging up a used copy.

[Lindsay Whitaker]

Vy

[Robert Reents · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book.

[Kimoya Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

my second favourite Vampire book... love it

[Heidi Dover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this take o the vampire story, nice little unexpected twist toward the end, well written, engaging, interesting, suspenseful, intriguing, all the good stuff I look for in a read.

[Tarrat3717 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was creepy.

[Sussurri di Carta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ho appena terminato Una carezza nel buio di David Martin… e devo dire che mi ha sorpresa molto più di quanto mi aspettassi.
All’inizio pensavo fosse una storia abbastanza banale. Quando compare la frase “sono un vampiro” ho pensato: ok, so già dove andrà a parare questo libro.
E invece no… perché questo romanzo gioca continuamente con le aspettative del lettore. 🧠
📖 TRAMA
Peter Tummelier era un vecchio amico di Roscoe Bird, una persona che non vedeva da molti anni. Quando ricompare improvvisamente nella sua vita, Roscoe non immagina minimamente che quell’incontro segnerà l’inizio di un incubo. Quello che sembra solo il ritorno di un amico del passato si trasforma presto in qualcosa di molto più oscuro: Roscoe si ritroverà trascinato in un terribile gioco di vendetta, una spirale di eventi inquietanti e sempre più pericolosi, in una disperata corsa contro il tempo.
E nel mezzo di tutto questo compare una dichiarazione inquietante: qualcuno afferma di essere un vampiro. 🦇
🧠 LE MIE IMPRESSIONI
La cosa che mi è piaciuta di più è proprio il modo in cui la storia si sviluppa.
Il libro:
• prima ti fa pensare che ci sia qualcosa di soprannaturale
• poi sembra darti una spiegazione razionale
• e quando pensi di aver capito tutto… ribalta di nuovo le carte.
È uno di quei thriller che giocano molto con la percezione del lettore.
Non è perfetto: alcune scene e alcuni dialoghi mi hanno convinta un po’ meno.
Però devo dire che l’idea alla base del romanzo è davvero interessante e la lettura scorre velocissima.
⭐ Voto: 4/5
📚 Un thriller che dimostra come una premessa che sembra quasi un cliché possa trasformarsi in una storia molto più intrigante del previsto.
❓ Domanda per voi:
vi piacciono i thriller che giocano sul confine tra soprannaturale e spiegazione razionale?
#bookstagram #recensionelibri #thriller #thrillerpsicologico #libridaleggere

[Allison Simms · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover of the copy I got from the library said "Guaranteed to Scare Or Your Money Back," it's a good thing I took this out of the library. If I had paid, I would want my money back because this book wasn't scary. I think the villain's eccentricities were meant to be unnerving, but instead it came off as annoying to me. The ending felt really out of character.

-Spoilers-

Does becoming a vampire somehow make you enjoy the Shargri-Las, even if you didn't before? Does it make you want to keep a puppet around that you previously disliked? I thought that Peter and Richard were weird because they always had been, not because they were vampires, so why did Marianne change the way she did? And while I know that Roscoe loved her, and likely felt responsible for what happened to her, if it were me, I would not be okay with helping her kill people. It would be a divorce at the very least, and possibly killing her considering her say "If I were me I'd leave me" suggests that her "true self" doesn't want to be this.

The one thing that did seem realistic was the police constantly bungling their investigation and not taking people seriously because of their backgrounds.

It is technically a vampire book, but those who are interested in traditional vampires may find these vampires to just be blood drinking weirdos with little supernatural about them.

[Robby · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Tap, tap. He opens his eyes." (Portion of first paragraph). // "He turns toward the bedside clock, ... 3:40 A.M. What's wrong? (Part of second paragraph). // "They say you sometimes experience a terrible foreboding right before you have a heart attack, ... checking for signs of thready pain, bracing for an internal explosion, a vessel rupturing, blood loose everywhere in his chest cavity __ Tap, tap." (Quite a bit of paragraph three). One of the best first pages to start a book that you'll read. This is just a glimpse of a storyline that will take you where you least expect it to and a twist on a tale that may be all too familiar. These are a few explanations for my 4-star rating. I had this book on my TR shelf for years and after finally reading it I can say it was worth holding on to. Recommended reading for those interested in the bookshelves/tags listed above.

[Stacy Meireles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve owned this book for like 100 years. Finally got around to reading it. Sigh….as a fan of outrageous 80s horror books (yes, I realize this isn’t technically an 80s horror book), this one was pretty okay. I’d say, if you have it on your self already, go for it, but don’t go seeking it out. I’ll say, IF you have a vivid imagination, the ending is pretty “gross”, but if you have the hard shell of a lifelong of horror it’s fairly blah.

[Shreyan Das · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know what is weirder - the story, or what drove the author to write it.

I couldn't have thought of a better waste of time. The only reason why I kept going on in this story was just to get to the end of it so that I could begin with a new book.

I wouldn't hesitate putting it on my worst reads list.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This was actually an excellent horror novel (other than one silly scene where a detective fakes being insane, you'd have to read it to understand) but the ending hurt it for me. It's a polarizing ending, as I'm sure some readers will love it, but for me it just didn't fit the tone of the novel.

That being said, this is an underrated read.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author of BRING ME CHILDREN, this novel is just as fun and a bit disturbing and perverse. Tap, Tap is about a vampire that wants to rekindle his childhood friendship with a man. Don't expect your typical vampire tale here. This was a fun and weird and fast-paced read. Several scenes made me squirm. A bizarre ending too!

[Emily Ley · Rating 4 out of 5]

if the ending had been different, it would have been 5 stars because this was a very enjoyable read with interesting characters. silly me, though, for always expecting a sort of fairy tale ending when i read primarily horror/mystery/murder books

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked the idea, but was let down by the ending. Finished it in a day though, so the pacing was good and the plot very fast paced.

[Cassandra Glissadevil · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
Welcome addition to any serious vampire horror collection

[Joy Feazell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly good, a quick read. Unlike the usual vampire stories.

[Cornelia (Corrie) Maston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great characters and intriguing back stories.
And my favorite introducing a new character and killing them off within a chapter, even those characters had good backstories.