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Rovers
Two immortal brothers crisscross the American Southwest to elude a murderous biker gang and protect a young woman in this “utter triumph and delight” from award-winning author Richard Lange (Jonathan Ames, author of A Man Named Doll ). Summer, 1976. Jesse and his brother, Edgar, are on the road in search of victims. They’re rovers, nearly indestructible nocturnal beings who must consume human blood in order to survive. For seventy years they’ve lurked on the fringes of society, roaming from town to town, dingy motel to dingy motel, stalking the transients, addicts, and prostitutes they feed on.
This hard-boiled supernatural hell ride kicks off when the brothers encounter a young woman who disrupts their grim routine, forcing Jesse to confront his past and plunging his present into deadly chaos as he finds himself scrambling to save her life. The story plays out through the eyes of the brothers, a grieving father searching for his son’s murderer, and a violent gang of rover bikers, coming to a shattering conclusion in Las Vegas on the eve of America’s Bicentennial.
Gripping, relentless, and ferocious, Rovers demonstrates once again why Richard Lange has been hailed as an “expert writer, his prose exact, his narrative tightly controlled” (Steph Cha, Los Angeles Times ). Finalist for the 2022 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award
This hard-boiled supernatural hell ride kicks off when the brothers encounter a young woman who disrupts their grim routine, forcing Jesse to confront his past and plunging his present into deadly chaos as he finds himself scrambling to save her life. The story plays out through the eyes of the brothers, a grieving father searching for his son’s murderer, and a violent gang of rover bikers, coming to a shattering conclusion in Las Vegas on the eve of America’s Bicentennial.
Gripping, relentless, and ferocious, Rovers demonstrates once again why Richard Lange has been hailed as an “expert writer, his prose exact, his narrative tightly controlled” (Steph Cha, Los Angeles Times ). Finalist for the 2022 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award
304 pages, Hardcover
First published July 27, 2021
115 people are currently reading
4813 people want to read
About the author
Richard Lange
12 books329 followersAuthor of Joe Hustle, Rovers, The Smack, Sweet Nothing, Angel Baby, This Wicked World, and Dead Boys.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 223 reviews
December 24, 2025
There's little worse to the speculative fiction reader than a literary fiction writer who takes on the genre in an attempt to somehow "elevate" it. Conversely, magic happens when a literary fiction writer slides seamlessly into the genre not to prove something, but because that's where the story lies.
Rovers is most definitely an example of the latter.
Lange has a neat and visually descriptive writing style, which for me made this feel quite cinematic. Rovers reads like a Tarantino film looks and unfolds. Stylishly gritty, populated by archetype characters simultaneously larger than life and accurately reflective of reality, punctuated and ultimately defined by outrageous yet deftly framed violence.
The use of four different perspectives on the events that we see unfold add additional and distinct textural layers to this simple complex story. We learn what each character most desires, and see how that brings them to their ultimate place at the end, but are left to contemplate whether each truly got what they wanted.
Exceedingly well written, action-filled and immensely thought provoking, Lange has penned a clear winner.
Rovers is most definitely an example of the latter.
Lange has a neat and visually descriptive writing style, which for me made this feel quite cinematic. Rovers reads like a Tarantino film looks and unfolds. Stylishly gritty, populated by archetype characters simultaneously larger than life and accurately reflective of reality, punctuated and ultimately defined by outrageous yet deftly framed violence.
The use of four different perspectives on the events that we see unfold add additional and distinct textural layers to this simple complex story. We learn what each character most desires, and see how that brings them to their ultimate place at the end, but are left to contemplate whether each truly got what they wanted.
Exceedingly well written, action-filled and immensely thought provoking, Lange has penned a clear winner.
August 31, 2021
4.5 stars. Vampires, just as bloody and ruthless as you might expect. But for Jesse, traveling with and eternally taking care of his brother Edgar, humanity lingers painfully. This portrayal of existence as a rover, always on the outside of everything, is stark and dangerous. And lonely.
The writing, plot and characterizations for this was outstanding, I couldn't put it down. This is a harsh, remorseless, surprisingly emotional adrenaline-filled ride. Impressively good!
The writing, plot and characterizations for this was outstanding, I couldn't put it down. This is a harsh, remorseless, surprisingly emotional adrenaline-filled ride. Impressively good!
December 6, 2021
Audio 5 ++++ Stars
Story - 5 Stars!
Thank you, Lisa!!
Story - 5 Stars!
Thank you, Lisa!!
December 1, 2021
Rovers
“Rovers” is Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” revisited with two brothers, one big and dumb, and the other responsible for his brother. It’s just that it’s set in the 1970’s and these two are rovers, or creatures we used to call vampires, and they need to feed every thirty days, preying on those too far gone to be missed. They’ve lived for a long time and have many memories. Most folk don’t know what they are up to. The thing is though there are other groups of rovers about, including biker gangs and they don’t get along.
The tale is told in alternating chapters between the two brothers, Jesse and Edgar, with other chapters devoted to the bikers and one who hunts them because they took his son.
You wouldn’t think there was anything new under the sun when it comes to vampire myths, but Lange takes the genre and shakes it up with a gritty edge to it. Set in the Southwest, particularly on the edges of the cities, this novel explodes with angst and is brimming with violence.
“Rovers” is Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” revisited with two brothers, one big and dumb, and the other responsible for his brother. It’s just that it’s set in the 1970’s and these two are rovers, or creatures we used to call vampires, and they need to feed every thirty days, preying on those too far gone to be missed. They’ve lived for a long time and have many memories. Most folk don’t know what they are up to. The thing is though there are other groups of rovers about, including biker gangs and they don’t get along.
The tale is told in alternating chapters between the two brothers, Jesse and Edgar, with other chapters devoted to the bikers and one who hunts them because they took his son.
You wouldn’t think there was anything new under the sun when it comes to vampire myths, but Lange takes the genre and shakes it up with a gritty edge to it. Set in the Southwest, particularly on the edges of the cities, this novel explodes with angst and is brimming with violence.
April 25, 2021
ROVERS is a bleak, gritty, violent, and mostly tender portrayal of life as an outsider that happens to be about vampires. The writing is equal to the story: achingly beautiful, by turns inspiring and devastating.
September 14, 2021
3.5 stars. Fast pace. Accessible writing. Multiple POVs. Like Of Mice & Men crossed with Lost Boys. Entertaining. Some adherence to classic vampire lore but with some new stuff sprinkled in. A few characters to invest in, especially Jesse & Edgar. The Fiends are fun but nobody in the gang are memorable enough to really invest in. Last 30 pages wind down to a disappointing ending but still worth the read for fans of vampire stories.
TW suicide/racial slurs/use of the “R” word and other derogatory language toward mental disabilities
TW suicide/racial slurs/use of the “R” word and other derogatory language toward mental disabilities
August 28, 2021
ROVERS is a bleak, gritty, violent, and mostly tender portrayal of life as an outsider that happens to be about vampires. The writing is equal to the story. Inspiring and devastating.
I just flew through Richard Lange's fantastic new novel, and loved every page. A new and unique take on the vampire story that incorporates Lange's expert eye for the downtrodden underbelly of the desert southwest. Memorable characters set in the seventies.
There are no heroes in this story. A well written masterpiece of vampire fiction. A must read.
I just flew through Richard Lange's fantastic new novel, and loved every page. A new and unique take on the vampire story that incorporates Lange's expert eye for the downtrodden underbelly of the desert southwest. Memorable characters set in the seventies.
There are no heroes in this story. A well written masterpiece of vampire fiction. A must read.
August 28, 2022
Sort of a cross between Of Mice and Men and Dracula, Rovers takes the reader on a strange voyage in 1976 with rovers who fear the light and need human blood every 30 days. It is pretty well-written and keeps you engaged. It is predictable though and I didn’t like the ending all that much, but it was still a decent enough read.
October 13, 2025
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I usually look for really deep emotionally driven stories and when I picked this up, I knew this wasn’t going to be that… but I really had a blast.
Rovers are essentially vampires… vampires who feed off the living and hide amongst the darkness trying to survive by trying to blend in at night.
This story is told from the perspective of two bothers, Jesse and Edgar who are two Rovers who meet a girl who reminded Jesse of a past love. A heartbroken father, Charles, looking for who was responsible for the death of his son. And a gang of biker rovers, who have learned that there’s strength in numbers.
This was action packed, and a super fast paced read that was perfect for spooky season.
Rovers are essentially vampires… vampires who feed off the living and hide amongst the darkness trying to survive by trying to blend in at night.
This story is told from the perspective of two bothers, Jesse and Edgar who are two Rovers who meet a girl who reminded Jesse of a past love. A heartbroken father, Charles, looking for who was responsible for the death of his son. And a gang of biker rovers, who have learned that there’s strength in numbers.
This was action packed, and a super fast paced read that was perfect for spooky season.
August 12, 2021
This was my first Richard Lange read, but it most certainly won’t be my last. From the cover to the words to the ending! It all added up to one badass read.
I love how Lange describes this book as Of Mice and Men with vampires. BOOM! I think that says it all. He gives us four points of view that slowly weave together to form one big, bad, bloody showdown in 1970s Vegas. I mean come on…what better place for the big bad to go down than Vegas, baby.
Rovers is bleak and gritty with its own quick and dirty vampire lore. There are no good guys vs. bad guys here. It’s all colored in gray. And revenge! The Fiends, a leather-clad motorcycle gang, really didn’t come into focus for me though. Truth be told, I kept mixing the bikers up. Jesse and Edgar’s story though…they broke my heart. As we make our way through the book, their chapters begin to shed more and more light on their history and brother love/tension. I liked ‘em. Even if they were blood sucking murderers.
What made my heart happy was the writing. I loved the relentless pace and bite of the words. Some of my favorite passages were the ones that played with light. Like “leaf shadows flitting across a patch of warm grass”. Or this beauty…
“A patch of sunlight lay on the empty bed like a brilliant quilt. Another spilled off the table onto the floor. The bright spots only made the rest of the room darker. I had to squint to penetrate the gloom.”
Light and dark have to hold hands to show their true natures. Same goes for people. These characters wrestle with the little devil in all our souls. Come see if anyone survives to live—truly live--another day or night. For me, vampire tales teach the break out of the self-imposed boxes we tend to put ourselves in lesson oh-so perfectly. We’re not dead yet. Or are we?
Grab your shades and jump into Rovers! It’s one hell of a cool ride.
February 9, 2022
I got flashbacks to “Of Mice and Men” and “Interview with a Vampire” (and even a bit of “Buffy”) while reading this grittier, dirtier, road trip/revenge story of two vampire brothers, and the vampire biker gang out to get them. And the broken man investigating unexplained deaths like his own son’s, who stumbles on a whole, unexpected world that exists around him.
There’s plenty of violence, and fear and sorrow, with betrayals and death coming fast and suddenly.
It’s not scary, and is a slightly different take on the vamps, with the characterizations shining through. I particularly enjoyed the sections narrated by Charles Sanders, and how he comes to stumble on the world of the rovers, as well as the emotional cost on him for relentlessly pursuing his son's killer(s).
There’s plenty of violence, and fear and sorrow, with betrayals and death coming fast and suddenly.
It’s not scary, and is a slightly different take on the vamps, with the characterizations shining through. I particularly enjoyed the sections narrated by Charles Sanders, and how he comes to stumble on the world of the rovers, as well as the emotional cost on him for relentlessly pursuing his son's killer(s).
November 6, 2021
A horror book with a different take on vampires. Of Mice and Men with vampires and a biker gang. Alternating POVs with a diverse cast and two different audiobook narrators.
I breezed though this and really enjoyed it, not just because of the characters and the fast-paced plot—this would make a great movie—but also because of the entertaining and well done audiobook narration.
It‘s a dark, but not too grim. A little shocking at times. Quite a few heads fall, as is to be expected in vampire novels. Mainly plot driven with good action sequences and very tight writing, but various existentialist questions are mulled over as well by the main characters, without slowing down the pace. It all leads to a great ending and I would love to pick up the narratives of the surviving characters again.
Excellent stuff, recommended!
I breezed though this and really enjoyed it, not just because of the characters and the fast-paced plot—this would make a great movie—but also because of the entertaining and well done audiobook narration.
It‘s a dark, but not too grim. A little shocking at times. Quite a few heads fall, as is to be expected in vampire novels. Mainly plot driven with good action sequences and very tight writing, but various existentialist questions are mulled over as well by the main characters, without slowing down the pace. It all leads to a great ending and I would love to pick up the narratives of the surviving characters again.
Excellent stuff, recommended!
August 2, 2021
* 4.5/5 stars*
The nitty-gritty: A unique take on vampires, Rovers is an outstanding blood-soaked, tragic tale of revenge and redemption.
We walk out a ways and commence to digging. Six foot is Christian but we never go that deep. Ain’t no preacher looking. You got to bury your bodies or burn them. Make them disappear. That’s a rule for all rovers: cover your tracks. Otherwise folks’ll put two and two together and that’d be the death of us all.
Richard Lange is known as a literary fiction writer, and even though he’s veered into speculative territory with Rovers, there’s still a strong literary sensibility to the book, which is one reason I loved it so much. Fair warning, though: this is a dark, bleak and at times depressing story about a group of “rovers”—men and women who turn to dust in the sunlight and must consume human blood in order to survive. Yep, vampires! It wasn’t always an easy read, but Lange’s evocative prose, dusty desert setting, and surprisingly sympathetic characters make this a standout book.
The story takes place in the summer of 1976 and follows three different groups of characters. Jesse and Edgar are brothers, and because they are rovers and need human blood to survive, they travel the backroads of California and Nevada, never staying in one place for long. Edgar is mentally challenged and cannot survive without his younger brother Jesse, but he resents Jesse’s strict rules: hiding whenever they spot another rover, and only making a kill once a month. At one of their stops, they meet a bartender named Johona, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to Jesse’s old love Claudine, a rover who was dusted many years ago.
The second perspective is that of Charles, a man consumed with grief over his son’s murder—his throat was slashed and his body was drained of blood. The authorities were never able to find the perpetrator, so Charles left home and hit the road, determined to find the murderer on his own and bring justice to his son. One day Charles is approached by a man who claims that his wife was killed in the exact same way, and he offers Charles a chance for revenge. Charles’ chapters are a long letter he’s writing home to his wife about his adventures on the road (a nod to Dracula, perhaps?)
Finally, we follow a biker gang called the Fiends, rovers who have banded together to keep each other safe, but who have also gained a reputation among other rovers for being dangerous. In order to survive, they occasionally take on jobs from a rover named Beaumont—a sort of mob boss—earning enough cash to support their vagabond lifestyle. When the story opens, the Fiends have agreed to dust a rover who Beaumont has been after for years. In exchange, he agrees to give them the hefty sum of $ 25,000 plus a special perk: a live human baby, whose blood allows a rover to go an entire year without feeding.
When Jesse and Johona inadvertently interrupt the Fiends’ job, they find themselves running for their lives. As the Bicentennial—July 4th, 1976—approaches, these three groups will converge in Las Vegas for a violent and bloody showdown.
Rovers is a complex revenge story with nuanced characters and an intriguing vampire mythology. Lange’s rovers are familiar in some ways but not in others. For example, they don’t have fangs, but use ice picks and stilettos to puncture their victim’s carotid artery in order to drink their blood. Just a touch of sunlight on their skin makes them blister, and only minutes exposed to the sun will result in their death. (It's ironic that the story is set under the brutal summer sun of the American Southwest.) They only need to consume blood every thirty days or so, and things like guns, knives and falling from great heights won’t kill them—in order to dust a rover, you have to cut off its head (or trap it in the sunlight). Rovers can also identify each other by the black aura that surrounds them, an aura only other rovers can see. Otherwise, rovers are pretty much human: they eat and drink and fall in love, seek revenge on each other and mourn the loss of their friends. They prey on the weak and the drunk, people on the fringes of society who won’t be missed, and they’re careful about disposing of the bodies so they won’t call attention to themselves.
Even though there are speculative elements in the story, Rovers reads more like a gritty literary crime noir, so even if you’re the sort of reader who would never pick up a vampire book, this might work for you, especially if you like your stories on the dark side. And this is very dark. Lange’s vampires live in constant fear of being discovered, homeless and jobless and always on the move. Jesse steals in order to survive, and as long as he and Edgar have enough money for a motel room and some food, that’s all they really need. The violent scenes seem to come out of nowhere, which made them all the more shocking. In a standard vampire tale, you know you’re dealing with otherworldly creatures, so the killing isn’t as horrific. But when your characters appear mostly human, it makes the act of murder seem so much worse.
But despite the violence, Lange manages to infuse his story with emotion and some surprisingly sympathetic characters. Take Edgar, for example. Edgar is fifty years old but has the mind of a child. He’s trapped in a body he doesn’t like—he didn’t choose to become a rover, that was forced upon him by his brother (and there are good reasons for it but I won’t go into them here). All of the characters broke my heart in one way or another, but I really felt for Edgar in particular, who doesn’t understand why he has to live with “the Little Devil,” what he calls the monster inside him. I also loved the Fiends and how carefully the author developed each of their characters. I adored Elijah and Antonia, the unofficial leaders of the Fiends, who are deeply in love with each other and are considering leaving the gang and their bloody lifestyle behind. Lange gives us some flashbacks that show how Jesse and Claudine met and fell in love, another heartbreaking tale that brought me to tears. Even Charles’ story moved me, although I found his plotline to be the most depressing and unsavory.
The setting and time period are perfect for this tale: the hot, sun-drenched small towns full of outcasts and desperate people, and the lawless feeling of the 1970s. Even the Las Vegas setting worked so well. Instead of the glitz of the strip and casinos, we see the seedy side of Vegas, where you just know some bad shit is going to go down. The final showdown was as bloody as you might expect, and the ending was an emotional punch that I didn’t see coming. Quentin Tarantino fans should definitely check this out, and if Rovers doesn't get a movie option, I'll be very surprised. Fans of complex storytelling and relatable characters—who don’t mind some bleakness in their stories—will love this book.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
The nitty-gritty: A unique take on vampires, Rovers is an outstanding blood-soaked, tragic tale of revenge and redemption.
We walk out a ways and commence to digging. Six foot is Christian but we never go that deep. Ain’t no preacher looking. You got to bury your bodies or burn them. Make them disappear. That’s a rule for all rovers: cover your tracks. Otherwise folks’ll put two and two together and that’d be the death of us all.
Richard Lange is known as a literary fiction writer, and even though he’s veered into speculative territory with Rovers, there’s still a strong literary sensibility to the book, which is one reason I loved it so much. Fair warning, though: this is a dark, bleak and at times depressing story about a group of “rovers”—men and women who turn to dust in the sunlight and must consume human blood in order to survive. Yep, vampires! It wasn’t always an easy read, but Lange’s evocative prose, dusty desert setting, and surprisingly sympathetic characters make this a standout book.
The story takes place in the summer of 1976 and follows three different groups of characters. Jesse and Edgar are brothers, and because they are rovers and need human blood to survive, they travel the backroads of California and Nevada, never staying in one place for long. Edgar is mentally challenged and cannot survive without his younger brother Jesse, but he resents Jesse’s strict rules: hiding whenever they spot another rover, and only making a kill once a month. At one of their stops, they meet a bartender named Johona, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to Jesse’s old love Claudine, a rover who was dusted many years ago.
The second perspective is that of Charles, a man consumed with grief over his son’s murder—his throat was slashed and his body was drained of blood. The authorities were never able to find the perpetrator, so Charles left home and hit the road, determined to find the murderer on his own and bring justice to his son. One day Charles is approached by a man who claims that his wife was killed in the exact same way, and he offers Charles a chance for revenge. Charles’ chapters are a long letter he’s writing home to his wife about his adventures on the road (a nod to Dracula, perhaps?)
Finally, we follow a biker gang called the Fiends, rovers who have banded together to keep each other safe, but who have also gained a reputation among other rovers for being dangerous. In order to survive, they occasionally take on jobs from a rover named Beaumont—a sort of mob boss—earning enough cash to support their vagabond lifestyle. When the story opens, the Fiends have agreed to dust a rover who Beaumont has been after for years. In exchange, he agrees to give them the hefty sum of $ 25,000 plus a special perk: a live human baby, whose blood allows a rover to go an entire year without feeding.
When Jesse and Johona inadvertently interrupt the Fiends’ job, they find themselves running for their lives. As the Bicentennial—July 4th, 1976—approaches, these three groups will converge in Las Vegas for a violent and bloody showdown.
Rovers is a complex revenge story with nuanced characters and an intriguing vampire mythology. Lange’s rovers are familiar in some ways but not in others. For example, they don’t have fangs, but use ice picks and stilettos to puncture their victim’s carotid artery in order to drink their blood. Just a touch of sunlight on their skin makes them blister, and only minutes exposed to the sun will result in their death. (It's ironic that the story is set under the brutal summer sun of the American Southwest.) They only need to consume blood every thirty days or so, and things like guns, knives and falling from great heights won’t kill them—in order to dust a rover, you have to cut off its head (or trap it in the sunlight). Rovers can also identify each other by the black aura that surrounds them, an aura only other rovers can see. Otherwise, rovers are pretty much human: they eat and drink and fall in love, seek revenge on each other and mourn the loss of their friends. They prey on the weak and the drunk, people on the fringes of society who won’t be missed, and they’re careful about disposing of the bodies so they won’t call attention to themselves.
Even though there are speculative elements in the story, Rovers reads more like a gritty literary crime noir, so even if you’re the sort of reader who would never pick up a vampire book, this might work for you, especially if you like your stories on the dark side. And this is very dark. Lange’s vampires live in constant fear of being discovered, homeless and jobless and always on the move. Jesse steals in order to survive, and as long as he and Edgar have enough money for a motel room and some food, that’s all they really need. The violent scenes seem to come out of nowhere, which made them all the more shocking. In a standard vampire tale, you know you’re dealing with otherworldly creatures, so the killing isn’t as horrific. But when your characters appear mostly human, it makes the act of murder seem so much worse.
But despite the violence, Lange manages to infuse his story with emotion and some surprisingly sympathetic characters. Take Edgar, for example. Edgar is fifty years old but has the mind of a child. He’s trapped in a body he doesn’t like—he didn’t choose to become a rover, that was forced upon him by his brother (and there are good reasons for it but I won’t go into them here). All of the characters broke my heart in one way or another, but I really felt for Edgar in particular, who doesn’t understand why he has to live with “the Little Devil,” what he calls the monster inside him. I also loved the Fiends and how carefully the author developed each of their characters. I adored Elijah and Antonia, the unofficial leaders of the Fiends, who are deeply in love with each other and are considering leaving the gang and their bloody lifestyle behind. Lange gives us some flashbacks that show how Jesse and Claudine met and fell in love, another heartbreaking tale that brought me to tears. Even Charles’ story moved me, although I found his plotline to be the most depressing and unsavory.
The setting and time period are perfect for this tale: the hot, sun-drenched small towns full of outcasts and desperate people, and the lawless feeling of the 1970s. Even the Las Vegas setting worked so well. Instead of the glitz of the strip and casinos, we see the seedy side of Vegas, where you just know some bad shit is going to go down. The final showdown was as bloody as you might expect, and the ending was an emotional punch that I didn’t see coming. Quentin Tarantino fans should definitely check this out, and if Rovers doesn't get a movie option, I'll be very surprised. Fans of complex storytelling and relatable characters—who don’t mind some bleakness in their stories—will love this book.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
February 16, 2022
This title appeared on my radar after I saw a tweet by Stephen King(yes that one lol) praising it. Now although I consider myself a super stan of Sai King, when it comes to his book recommendations I find his taste only matches mine maybe 66%.
All preamble to say despite his tweet I began reading without positive or negative expectations.
I was super surprised when almost immediately I fell in love with this book. Maybe my favourite "vampire " novel since buehlman's the lesser dead.
This book is dark, gritty and Punk.
So glad I read it
All preamble to say despite his tweet I began reading without positive or negative expectations.
I was super surprised when almost immediately I fell in love with this book. Maybe my favourite "vampire " novel since buehlman's the lesser dead.
This book is dark, gritty and Punk.
So glad I read it
October 13, 2022
Review to come. This one was a special treat.
February 22, 2023
Pretty good noir book about "rovers" (aka: vampires) in the southwest U.S. during the bicentennial year. The viewpoint is split between a man hunting the rovers, members of a motorcycle gang (the Fiends) made up of rovers, a simple-minded rover (Edgar), and his brother and caretaker (Jesse). The disparate stories all eventually come together in not-so-surprising ways. Beautifully written by Lange, but, unfortunately, none of the characters is someone you can root for. They're all damaged and some are pretty monstrous, but none of them is someone you care about (maybe the hunter, but even that's a stretch).
September 29, 2024
This was a good one. Taking place in 1976, a story about vampires (and a touch of romance, but not really). Several story lines come together in a suspenseful fashion by the end. My compliments to the shop keeper at the bookstore who recommended it when I asked if he had anything spooky!
August 6, 2021
Excellent vampire book. Vampires!
(I won this book through the Goodreads giveaway program, glad I did.)
The vampire trope has hardly been 'overdone,' any more than Victorian romance or stories about armchair detectives and serial killers. This one is unique, IMO.
Three individuals or groups are all heading toward a big clash - I could feel it from the start - as each have their own 'agenda' or needs. First off, Charlie Sanders, looking for his son's killer, the person who killed and bled his boy dry. Second, brothers Jesse and Edgar, rovers - code name for blood-drinkers; they're just trying to get by day to day. And third, the 'Fiends,' a motorcycle clan of rovers who kill on order, or just when they feel like it. There's humor here, but it's dark, the kind which feels like that moment when you're enjoying a beautiful sunny day and suddenly there's black skies overhead and thunder a half mile off. You run to bring in your food from the grill, get the kids in the house and the power goes out. Yeah, lame, but that's how it feels.
The locale is the Southwest USA, up to Las Vegas, and the feel is all there. Dry, dusty, throat-parchy place, yet with its own kind of beauty at night with the skies so clear you can see the Milky Way. (Or at least last time I visited Arizona that was still possible.) At any rate, the book is a little confusing at first, in that you don't know whose head you're in - the chapters are related by either Charlie, Jesse or Edgar, or focuses on the Fiends. But once you get the feel for each, it's an easy, entertaining and exciting read. I really enjoyed it. In fact, I dragged the read out to make it last.
A really, really good vampire book - and more.
Five stars.
(I won this book through the Goodreads giveaway program, glad I did.)
The vampire trope has hardly been 'overdone,' any more than Victorian romance or stories about armchair detectives and serial killers. This one is unique, IMO.
Three individuals or groups are all heading toward a big clash - I could feel it from the start - as each have their own 'agenda' or needs. First off, Charlie Sanders, looking for his son's killer, the person who killed and bled his boy dry. Second, brothers Jesse and Edgar, rovers - code name for blood-drinkers; they're just trying to get by day to day. And third, the 'Fiends,' a motorcycle clan of rovers who kill on order, or just when they feel like it. There's humor here, but it's dark, the kind which feels like that moment when you're enjoying a beautiful sunny day and suddenly there's black skies overhead and thunder a half mile off. You run to bring in your food from the grill, get the kids in the house and the power goes out. Yeah, lame, but that's how it feels.
The locale is the Southwest USA, up to Las Vegas, and the feel is all there. Dry, dusty, throat-parchy place, yet with its own kind of beauty at night with the skies so clear you can see the Milky Way. (Or at least last time I visited Arizona that was still possible.) At any rate, the book is a little confusing at first, in that you don't know whose head you're in - the chapters are related by either Charlie, Jesse or Edgar, or focuses on the Fiends. But once you get the feel for each, it's an easy, entertaining and exciting read. I really enjoyed it. In fact, I dragged the read out to make it last.
A really, really good vampire book - and more.
Five stars.
October 3, 2024
Reading about western/gangsta-like vampires was pretty cool and refreshing at first (tho very much fueled by American clichés ), but that ending ?
All along the story, we follow different characters. Most of the book, they all bring an interesting perspective and have a nice development. But JESUS reading at least five times a retelling of the same event with LOTS of details on that final fight was wayyyy too much. Kinda drove me in a reading slump. There was no need to do that and ruin the whole thing. Really.
All along the story, we follow different characters. Most of the book, they all bring an interesting perspective and have a nice development. But JESUS reading at least five times a retelling of the same event with LOTS of details on that final fight was wayyyy too much. Kinda drove me in a reading slump. There was no need to do that and ruin the whole thing. Really.
December 3, 2021
5 stars audio
3.75 stars story
3.75 stars story
July 3, 2022
Good vampire story. Enough variation on the theme to keep it interesting. I’ve liked everything I’ve read by Richard Lange.
August 8, 2021
Generally I am not a fan of vampire novels or films. It might be more accurate to say that I am selective. Books? ’SALEM’S LOT. Movies? 30 Days of Night, Near Dark and, yes, ’Salem’s Lot. I am adding the newly published ROVERS to the book list. It has been rolling around in my head like marbles in a boxcar since I finished reading it.
Richard Lange generally writes dark crime fiction, which is exactly what this novel is. It’s full of bad and dangerous people going at each other and everyone else who happens to cross their paths. Add the vampire element, and you have one of the best literary parties you will come across during this or any summer. Before we start, there are three things you should know: 1) The title of this wild tale is the term that vampires generally use to refer to themselves. 2) The book takes place in the American west, primarily in Nevada and Arizona. 3) It is set in 1976 in the runup to the United States bicentennial.
Three primary storylines run through ROVERS. One involves a notorious group of rover bikers who call themselves the Fiends. It’s a gang of eight, and when we meet them, they are on the verge of being hired for a bit of over-the-top nastiness with even nastier, over-the-top compensation that had me screaming. Seriously. Another revolves around a pair of rover brothers, with Jesse being a bit older and much smarter than Edgar. There’s some tension between them, caused by Jesse having to boss around Edgar, who doesn’t like it one bit. The third concerns Charles Sanders, a grieving father whose son was murdered by a rover. He conducted his own investigation; after discovering the existence of rovers, he is on the hunt, driving around the west and passing out flyers while seeking information and hoping to exact vengeance.
Lange does not waste a whole lot of time bringing these storylines together. First, Jesse, Edgar and a young woman out for some thrills interrupt the Fiends just as they are completing their latest mission and get the whole gang after them, hell-bent on revenge. Sanders kind of stumbles into the middle of things at a later point, and the result is combustible, to say the least. Lange borrows from traditional and contemporary vampire lore but throws a few hand grenades of his own into the mix. All the while, he hints and foreshadows while providing plenty of gore, which adds to but does not overwhelm this compelling and surprisingly literate story. Think of Stephen King collaborating with Joe R. Lansdale, and it will give you a fair idea of what is going on here, though the end result is all Lange.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that ROVERS hews pretty much to my own worldview that there are folks on the fringes who have been among us for a while and stay in the shadows until they don’t. So I hesitate to call the book “fiction,” but I’ll go with that for now. Regardless of what you or I might believe, this is an addictive, one-sit read that will echo in your head just like it does in mine.
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Richard Lange generally writes dark crime fiction, which is exactly what this novel is. It’s full of bad and dangerous people going at each other and everyone else who happens to cross their paths. Add the vampire element, and you have one of the best literary parties you will come across during this or any summer. Before we start, there are three things you should know: 1) The title of this wild tale is the term that vampires generally use to refer to themselves. 2) The book takes place in the American west, primarily in Nevada and Arizona. 3) It is set in 1976 in the runup to the United States bicentennial.
Three primary storylines run through ROVERS. One involves a notorious group of rover bikers who call themselves the Fiends. It’s a gang of eight, and when we meet them, they are on the verge of being hired for a bit of over-the-top nastiness with even nastier, over-the-top compensation that had me screaming. Seriously. Another revolves around a pair of rover brothers, with Jesse being a bit older and much smarter than Edgar. There’s some tension between them, caused by Jesse having to boss around Edgar, who doesn’t like it one bit. The third concerns Charles Sanders, a grieving father whose son was murdered by a rover. He conducted his own investigation; after discovering the existence of rovers, he is on the hunt, driving around the west and passing out flyers while seeking information and hoping to exact vengeance.
Lange does not waste a whole lot of time bringing these storylines together. First, Jesse, Edgar and a young woman out for some thrills interrupt the Fiends just as they are completing their latest mission and get the whole gang after them, hell-bent on revenge. Sanders kind of stumbles into the middle of things at a later point, and the result is combustible, to say the least. Lange borrows from traditional and contemporary vampire lore but throws a few hand grenades of his own into the mix. All the while, he hints and foreshadows while providing plenty of gore, which adds to but does not overwhelm this compelling and surprisingly literate story. Think of Stephen King collaborating with Joe R. Lansdale, and it will give you a fair idea of what is going on here, though the end result is all Lange.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that ROVERS hews pretty much to my own worldview that there are folks on the fringes who have been among us for a while and stay in the shadows until they don’t. So I hesitate to call the book “fiction,” but I’ll go with that for now. Regardless of what you or I might believe, this is an addictive, one-sit read that will echo in your head just like it does in mine.
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
August 26, 2022
There's a lot to like about this book. Despite being a vampire tale, it's told in a very literary voice. There are three narratives, one of which belongs to a human hunting the vamps, which is relayed in epistolary fashion, much like Stoker's. It's set in 1976. The vamps portrayed in Lang's version are human in every way except their inability to die by ordinary means, sunlight aversion and, oh yes, the need to feed on human blood. These vamps need feed only once a month, with the exception of infant blood, which will sustain them for a year. I have to admit, that's something I found silly.
These vamps also have no fangs, which adds a level of grittiness to their feeding. They must puncture, rip or tear using tools. Lang does everything to make these camps human and then pushes back some of our sympathy by adding this inconvenience. I've never been a fan of the vampire movie or book that shows us vamps ripping out throats and making a mess of their meal. I think anything as hard to secretly obtain as human blood would be very carefully harvested. The extreme mess of this kind of feeding makes their survivable seem unsustainable to me.
The characters are all very three dimensional, and with few exceptions, solicit pity from the reader. Funny enough, the one human point of view we get got the least sympathy from me, since he has spent his life (after the murder of his son) on the road searching for his killers. This guy abandons his grieving wife, has no money or prospects and no hope of anything other than the vilest of revenge. I can't get behind that.
The brothers depicted, lone vamps called Jesse and Edgar, were my favorites/ Edgar is mentally handicapped, never chose to be a vamp, and has a really hard time with the "nomad in the dark" lifestyle they live by necessity. When Jesse meets a woman he falls in...not love, but nostalgia with, my sympathy for him grew and grew. Life that feels unbearable can be lived because it won't always be this way. For vamps, it will. Always. For hundreds of years.
The final showdown takes place in Las Vegas, and setting it there in 1976, was a stroke of genius. In 1976 Sin City hadn't begun to cater to families yet. It was dark and seedy, Dirty and scary. Exactly the setting where a vampire showdown should take place! It was ironic that these vamps chose to travel throughout the parts of America with the longest days, harshest sunlight and grimiest underbelly.
Each piece, when examined on it's own, was good. It was the whole that failed to grab me. I found it almost a chore to pick up where I had left off, and I also found my mind wool gathering as I read and had to go back. This could have been me, but I still can't give this any more stars.
These vamps also have no fangs, which adds a level of grittiness to their feeding. They must puncture, rip or tear using tools. Lang does everything to make these camps human and then pushes back some of our sympathy by adding this inconvenience. I've never been a fan of the vampire movie or book that shows us vamps ripping out throats and making a mess of their meal. I think anything as hard to secretly obtain as human blood would be very carefully harvested. The extreme mess of this kind of feeding makes their survivable seem unsustainable to me.
The characters are all very three dimensional, and with few exceptions, solicit pity from the reader. Funny enough, the one human point of view we get got the least sympathy from me, since he has spent his life (after the murder of his son) on the road searching for his killers. This guy abandons his grieving wife, has no money or prospects and no hope of anything other than the vilest of revenge. I can't get behind that.
The brothers depicted, lone vamps called Jesse and Edgar, were my favorites/ Edgar is mentally handicapped, never chose to be a vamp, and has a really hard time with the "nomad in the dark" lifestyle they live by necessity. When Jesse meets a woman he falls in...not love, but nostalgia with, my sympathy for him grew and grew. Life that feels unbearable can be lived because it won't always be this way. For vamps, it will. Always. For hundreds of years.
The final showdown takes place in Las Vegas, and setting it there in 1976, was a stroke of genius. In 1976 Sin City hadn't begun to cater to families yet. It was dark and seedy, Dirty and scary. Exactly the setting where a vampire showdown should take place! It was ironic that these vamps chose to travel throughout the parts of America with the longest days, harshest sunlight and grimiest underbelly.
Each piece, when examined on it's own, was good. It was the whole that failed to grab me. I found it almost a chore to pick up where I had left off, and I also found my mind wool gathering as I read and had to go back. This could have been me, but I still can't give this any more stars.
January 24, 2022
Crackerjack vampire novel set in 1970’s western U.S.-think Of Mice and Men meets Near Dark. Full of vivid characters-extremely satisfying read.
February 18, 2021
His most commercial and spiritual work to date -- it accomplishes what great art does, in its own singular way it changes the way you see the world. Even though I was sad when it was done, ROVERS ends perfectly and beautifully, it moves from darkness to light, from the desperation of holding on fiercely with despair and fear to this sad world of dark blood and shadows, where lost souls feed on other lost souls, to the relief of letting go into the light and being free.
April 15, 2021
Just blew through Richard Lange's fantastic new novel, and loved every page. A new and unique take on the vampire story that incorporates Lange's expert eye for the downtrodden underbelly of the desert southwest. Memorable characters, a seventies setting and a high-octane action-driven plot that will keep you up well into the night. I nearly read the whole thing in one sitting. Highly recommended!
May 23, 2021
This was not what I was expecting at all. Picture Near Dark, without the love story, as written by Elmore Leonard with a bit of Tarantino thrown in. There are no heroes in this story. A well written masterpiece of vampire fiction.
Read
July 11, 2023Two undead brothers scuzzing immortal through the American West run afoul of love, bikers. Blunt, fast-paced, and well-written, Lange and I share an affection for deglamourizing vampires .
October 26, 2021
Vampire noir for Halloween! A bit of a trigger warning - not for the gore, you know what you're signing up for there, with a vampire book - but the audiobook contains random sound effects. They aren't consistent, but every once in a while there will be an actual knock when someone knocks on a door. The trigger warning comes in when some of the sound effects they use are gunshots. They aren't unnecessarily loud but they might be unexpected and alarming when they come out of nowhere with no precedent. I have no idea who decided to do that or why. It added nothing.
December 6, 2025
4.5 - tonally very similar to No Country for Old Men (at least the movie, I haven’t read the book) and the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke (in terms of atmosphere). Gritty, some Western elements, noir, character driven. It horrified me, made me cry, made me smile, I was heavily invested. I enjoyed the atmosphere, the diverse cast, the world building and backgrounds we got.
Read this after seeing a clip where Joe Hill recommended it for people wanting to get into reading/start reading. It got a bit heavy - emotionally and violently - at times but overall just a really great story.
Read this after seeing a clip where Joe Hill recommended it for people wanting to get into reading/start reading. It got a bit heavy - emotionally and violently - at times but overall just a really great story.
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