Autumn Christian's Reviews > Piercing the Darkness: Undercover with Vampires in America Today

What started out as an intriguing premise to investigate the murder of Susan Walsh at the hands of a secret vampire organization quickly degenerated into an cacophony of visiting vampire/goth clubs, talking to delusional people who liked to drink blood, and getting late night phone calls from a man who was clearly a pathological liar.

Yes, it definitely did "Pierce the Darkness", in the fact that vampires, if they exist, are good at hiding, and the people who come forward are attention seekers, pathological liars, or roleplayers.

I found her reporting to be lacking. Everyone who speaks has the same bland, wordy style of language. She wanted to immerse herself in vampire culture, yet when visiting the house of a blood fetishist immediately excuses herself and leaves. She justifies this by saying "there is a difference between imagining a blood sucker and actually witnessing one. These aren't real vampires." Wouldn't that have been an interesting way to explore the romanticism of blood drinking as opposed to the reality? No, she throws the whole experience under the bus to keep the romantic image of vampires alive.

There are lots of pages dedicated to her biography of Anne Rice (which is mentioned in nearly every chapter). This gets old quickly.

I am sure there are better books for uncovering this subculture than this one. It was an interesting read, but nonetheless disappointing.