Death-Angel

Lamia Zacharias

by J.N. Williamson

She stalks the night in search of fresh human blood, Lamia Zacharius, the Death-Angel. She can be a sleek black raven or a large vicious dog hunting for human prey. She can be a menacing female hawk rising into the starless sky or a tall, slender woman with deep hypnotizing eyes into which a man might lose himself forever. She can be all these things and more. As long as she quenches her three-thousand-year-old thirst for blood.

Genres: Horror

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Gerald Neal Williamson (April 17, 1932 - December 8, 2005) wrote and edited horror stories under the name J. N. Williamson. He also wrote under the name Julian Shock.

Born in Indianapolis, IN he graduated from Shortridge High School. He studied journalism at Butler University. He published his first novel in 1979 and went on to publish more than 40 novels and 150 short stories. In 2003 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Horror Writers of America. He edited the critically acclaimed How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction (1987) which covered the themes of such writing and cited the writings of such writers as Robert Bloch, Lee Prosser, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, William F. Nolan, and Stephen King. Many important writers in the genre contributed to the book. Williamson edited the popular anthology series, Masques. Some of his novels include The Ritual (1979), Playmates (1982), Noonspell (1991), The Haunt (1999), among others.

He was also a well known Sherlockian and received his investiture (The Illustrious Client) in the Baker Street Irregulars in 1950.

Source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I spent the better part of twenty years trying to find this book. The copy I read in high school did not have a cover or label on the spine. I wonder now why I tried. Not a very good book. I almost feel like I need to hunt down and finish the series to be done with it in my mind. Not sure if I will or not. I guess we'll see.

[Werefox by moonlight: Half man, half beast, but all horror · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty much what I've come to expect from Williamson; i. e, a rather dull and meandering beginning and middle coupled with a completely insane ending. The focus in this book is on Lamia Zacharius, a vampire who served as a rather peripheral tertiary antagonist in the author's earlier novel Death Coach, but is now recast as a sort of anti-hero (perhaps the popularity of Anne Rice and similar authors influenced this change). As with most of the author's - I hesitate to say better, because I don't really think that word applies here, so I'll go with more interesting - books (Premonition, Horror House, The Longest Night, Playmates, and Dead To The World also fall into this category), he attempts, with mixed success, to jam a number of seemingly random supernatural elements into a single plot, often more than the book can seemingly hold; here we've got vampires, psychometry, giants, Greek mythology, astral projection, dragons, shapeshifting, and more (I can't help but wonder if he draws names out of a hat or something when planning what his novels will be about). Naturally, not all of these elements get equal prominence; for example, at one point a woman gives birth to some sort of goblin thing, which plays almost no role in the book after that point, while the original story, involving an archaeologist looking for someone with psychic abilities to aid him in an expedition, is forgotten by the end of the book, which by then has turned into a sort of low-rent kaiju film (more on the level of Reptilicus than Godzilla or King Kong or even Gamera) as a monster imprisoned beneath the surface of the earth breaks loose and rampages through the streets of Indianapolis, and only the immortal giant known as Demogorgon can stop it. This latter element leads to a sequence of unintentional comedy as the protagonist contemplates the difficulties of having sex with a giant, culminating in this gem of a quote: "Where in the world could she possibly find a seductive female body standing more than fifteen feet in height?" A number of aspects of the book tie back to the previous book in the series, and so it does not stand alone well. Hard to recommend to anyone who hasn't already acquired a taste for Williamson's particular brand of weirdness.

[Charlotte · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did NOT finish this one.
I struggled to get to page 128 before I just gave up. In the beginning pages there are so many odd names that could even pronounce. Since I couldn't pronounce the names, I had a hard time remembering who was who or what and that just gave this book a horrible start for me. I continued on, my I couldn't get invested into n the story and finally just gave up. As usual, I would suggest that you read this for yourself to form your own opinion.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable.