Blood-Thirst

by Mark Ronson

Book by Ronson, Mark

Genres: Horror, Vampires, Pulp

210 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 1979

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a blast from the past. Dr Peter Pilgrim does research on narcolepsy in a London hospital. One of the girls, Britt from Sweden, is very focused on blood. She seems to be infected with tainted blood. Where did that happen? What about mysterious Swedish Doctor Stromberg? Is there a connection to the beginning of the story with an eerie boy at the end of WW2? What about Anne-Marie, Peter's wed girlfriend and Holly the journalist for Revue? How does their trip to the Camargue influence the further story? Great story on vampirism with a fine showdown in Lapland. End of 70s horror with lots of pulp inside but still absolutely read- and enjoyable. Loved some sentences like "the winter of his discontent has been left behind" or a boat named "Vlad". You are driven by the plot and can't stop until you have finished the book. Also liked the historic references and the typos (there were some) weren't too bad. Really recommended if you like 80s horror or if you want to know what it was about.

[Supratim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my Friday the 13th read. I wanted to read some horror novel and found this in my stack of unread books.
Initially, I thought of giving a 3 star rating to this one but eventually decided that 2.5 is what it deserves.
The story begins in Hungary during World War 2, when a small group of German soldiers retreating from the Russians hide in a ruined crypt. Very soon they are discovered and massacred by the Russians. The first chapter ends with “blood dripping into the coffin of a long dead child.” One thing I would like to mention is that, the author, instead of showing the Germans as heartless murderers, portrayed them as ordinary people who had been deluded by Hitler and wanted to go back to their lives and loved ones.
Then the story takes us to the 70's London, at the Hospital for the Diseases of the Nervous System. Here our protagonist Dr. Peter Pilgrim is conducting his research on children suffering from Narcolepsy. A little girl from Finland comes to the hospital and then the horror starts.
We have little children thirsty for blood, murder, old Hungarian legend about a Countess who bathed in the blood of young girls, murderous gypsies, mysterious buildings in a clinic in Lapland, fire fights between ex-members of Haitian secret police and rifle-toting Lapps. Who is the mysterious Dr. Stromberg and how does he fit into all these?
Peter, unable to rationalize the blood-thirsty behavior of the children he was treating, reaches out to his father, a writer of historical books for the masses, to research if there had been similar cases in the past which gave rise to legends & superstition. Reading such things is pretty interesting but wouldn’t a doctor search for the same in medical literature rather than in legends!
Anyways, the story will take us on a journey across Europe – England, France, Denmark, Lapland and there are moments when the story was interesting. I felt certain things should have been better if they were narrated while they occurred and not after.
I did not care for the turmoil in the love life of Peter but it did not take much space either.
This book is a work of pulp fiction. Meant to entertain, provide some cheap thrills so it’s better not to expect too much from it. I did enjoy it, but I felt that the story could have been much better. The author had the right ingredients but execution was not good. For one, he should have elaborated a bit on the main villain’s past, he should have tried harder to create an atmosphere of terror and the ending was a bit too abrupt.
If you enjoy 70’s British horror of the similar kind then may be you can give it a try.

[ItzSmashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled with this one at times. The opening setup is very intriguing, but by the second act the intrigue was lost and the plot shifted to a very meandering story about being on holiday. It picks up slightly again for the end, but there were definitely parts where I considered stopping. Very few horror scenes aswel, don't think I would reccommend this one.

A doctor studying narcolepsy in children excepts a new patient who starts biting other residents. When the victims start experiencing vampiric like symptoms, he must challenge the doctor responsible for bringing the girl to him before it is too late.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very conflicted about this book. I think that I may have been able to enjoy it more if the summary of the book were more accurate. The description included only covered the first chapter of the book-and inaccurately at that. The mention of Elizabeth Bathory was one of the things that drew me to this book; I love when books are based off of a specific historical figure or event, but although she was mentioned, she was not a character at all. The allusion that the main antagonist of the book was her son also fell flat as it seemed like an afterthought. Although I did finish the book, I spent most of my time wondering when the story that I was promised would begin. As a consequence, it tended to drag. I also felt that the inclusion of rape and an oversexualized child to be very uncomfortable; both felt like they came out of nowhere and did not seem necessary to the plot. The book also could have used extensive editing, even spellcheck would have helped.

I think that if the summary included with the book were more accurate that I would have been more engaged. The story about a doctor slowly sensing that there may be something supernatural about the illness of his patients and his quest to get answers was compelling, the scenery descriptions were vivid, and the allusions to the original Dracula were subtle and not overly heavy handed.

[Marissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The summary of Bloodthirst included with the book lead me to believe that it was going to be a story about the infamous blood countess, Elizabeth Bathory. While this historical figure did appear, she was more of an afterthought. For me, the author's intent was to take a scientific approach to a seemingly supernatural phenomena that was vampiric in nature (i.e. the bloodthirst). The story started out in a very convoluted way, making it hard for me to really get into. Parts of the story were disturbing to include scenes of rape and sexual references involving children. The version of the ebook I had was full of all kinds of grammatical errors and typos. Overall, it just didn't deliver what I was expecting.

[Μιχάλης · Rating 1 out of 5]

One mess of a novel. There is a girl in a London hospital that suffers from catalepsy and bites people for their blood. Her doctor connects her condition to vampirism and is off the case, so he goes on vacation in Southern France with his nurse girlfriend, then meets a reporter that was bitten by a vampire and blahblahblah.
The novel as a whole features a fragmented narative that jumps from event to event without making much sense. Even the climax at the end feels rushed and has little impact on the reader.

Very weak.

[Gaston Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, interesting...

I enjoyed reading Bloodthirst and thought that it was an interesting storyline. Marc Alexander, the book's author, does an adequate job as a story teller and makes the characters come alive.
I had a problem with several grammatical errors in the text that could have been alleviated by better proofreading and editing.
All in all, I would recommend this book for readers of the vampire/horror persuasion.
Gaston D Sanders, author

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't expect too much from this novel, but have to admit that I enjoyed it far more than I expected.

Whilst 3.5 is a more accurate numeral rating, the book kept me turning the pages and, suddenly I'd finished it in one sitting. So I've bumped it up to 4 stars.

I get why people have problems with this book, and I don't claim it's a lost classic. I probably enjoyed it due to it being a pulpy mix of a Rabid era David Cronenberg flick with a dash of a Alistair Maclean spy thriller.

[Αγγελική · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very, very weak and boring...There isn't a lot of connectivity among the events.In my opinion it was a little bit rushed work...

[Polly Krize · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The historical figure, savage Elisabeth Bathori, slaughtered hundreds of young women in her search for eternal life. Walled up in her castle, she died (?). Years later, during WWII, German soldiers take cover in a crypt, and disappear...is her spirit still alive? An intriguing, well written book. Recommended.

[Carol Bosselman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Between the slang, typos, mispellings and overall terrible editing, this was almost impossible to read. Had a lot of potential...one thing I noticed was the constant use of "die" instead of "the". Is the writer German? That's something glaring that should have been fixed.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid but not spectacular vampire novel that takes a more science-based approach to the bloody legend. The main character is a doctor who discovers one of his patients, a young girl with a serious sleep disorder, has a craving for human blood and that those she bites acquire the same tendencies. The doctor begins looking into the girl's background and gradually discovers a link between her and others who may be even more dangerous than she is. Author Mark Ronson writes in a direct, forward-moving style that keeps the pages turning and populates his story with several interesting characters, including the aforementioned doctor, Peter Pilgrim, his girlfriend (a nurse), an adventurous photographer, and a mysterious reporter named Holly that may be the key to a whole set of secrets. Sadly, the Blood Countess herself, Elizabeth Bathory, is barely mentioned in the novel, despite the fact that the book's promotional copy promises a story based on her horrific legacy. The villain we do get is suitably malevolent, but I was still disappointed that Countess Bathory is really only a footnote in Ronson's modernized vampire tale. More disappointing was the poor editing which was evident in the Kindle version of the book, as there are multiple proofing errors throughout the novel, and these were irritating enough to take this reader out of the story. Still, editing aside, BLOODTHIRST is an undemanding and painless reading experience that mostly succeeds in telling an entertaining yarn while putting a somewhat different spin on the familiar vampire mythology.

[Mr Chuck · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the front cover...that's about it.

A little girl gets put into a ward that specializes in narcolepsy with other children; she has a sniff and bite, which makes one of the staff go a little crazy. A doctor goes on a long holiday with a nurse and meets a reporter who sees some clear pedo sex show and then they all burn down a doctor's house who may have been a vampire or just someone who likes blood.

It was a deplorable story, and the whole holiday scene was boring. Although I enjoyed the 80s writing style and the cover is pretty nice.

Would you even call this a vampire book?

[. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really ... get the point of this story. So you've got two couples who hang out together in France. One of them is a doctor who is investigating a new mental disorder that makes people want to drink blood. Another one of them is a woman who, shockingly, is also developing an obsession with drinking people's blood!

Somehow this is all vaguely related to Elizabeth Bathory because her son was a vampire ... or something. It's never really explained. Why does this book even spend so much time focusing on Elizabeth when she's not even relevant to the plot?

And then it just pretty much ends.

But oh, wait, now the doctor's girlfriend has that weird blood obsession!

Anyway. I bought this for $0.99 at a used book store and it took me about 2 hours to read. So I guess it could have been worse ...

[Leslie Wiederspan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Kindle version description of the book is wrong. It has nothing to do with the book, which was a huge disappointment. This guy needs an editor. So many spelling mistakes, even in other languages. 'Die' instead of 'the', 'even' instead of 'every', 'comer' for 'corner', 'eve' for 'eye', and so on. Just awful. Even entire sentences made absolutely no sense. All of this combined made for a very aggravating read and not enjoyable.