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Night Lost

Lynn Viehl

Published 2007             287 pages

Synopsis (from the back cover)

A Nobel Prisoner - Gabriel Seran has fallen into the hands of the fanatical religious order known as the Brethren.  Though abandoned by his fellow Kyn, he remains honour bound to protect their secrets from his interrogators.  Blinded, nailed to a cross, and sealed in a chapel cellar beneath a ruined chateau, Gabriel faces an eternity of suffering.

An Obsessed Thief – Nicola “Nick” Jefferson has been travelling across Europe, looting churches of their precious artwork and fencing the treasures to make her living.  At each destination she liberates captive vampires, hoping they’ll provide her with information leading to the one artefact she so desperately craves: the Golden Madonna.

A Fateful Coupling – Gabriel and Nick has met before in each others dreams.  Bound together by more than coincidence, their destinies intertwine even as their passions ignite….

The Review

Night Lost is the forth book in Lynn Viehl’s series of Darkyn novels.  For anyone who hasn’t yet read any of the books in this series the Darkyn are vampires. 

Darkyn 101:  They are an unusual type of vampire.  All the original Darkyn were Templar Knights who caught a plague whilst crusading in the Holy Lands.  They returned home and died only to rise again as vampires (or Kyn as they call themselves).  Some of their family members also caught the plague and died although not all of them rose again as Kyn.  Apart from that initial contagious phase, no Darkyn has successfully converted a human to Kyn in about seven hundred years.  The Kyn feed on blood although they don’t need to kill in order to do so, they can influence humans with their scent and they all have a special talent or a gift that is unique to each individual.  They only have one enemy – The Brethren.  The Brethren are a secret order of the Catholic Church and are more evil than the devils they claim the Kyn to be.

In “If Angels Burn”, the first novel in the series, a human female doctor called Alexandra was changed into Kyn by Michael an injured vampire.  She was the first new Kyn in centuries but not the last, as more new Kyn were made in the next two books in the series.  Why am I talking about “If Angels Burn” when I’m reviewing Night Lost?  Well, the books are written in a series and whilst each story is a self contained romance, Alexandra and Michael’s romance continues beyond the first book and develops throughout the whole series.  In fact about half of Night Lost is following Alexandra’s continuing plot line and the other half is introducing Gabriel and Nick and their romance.  Does this make Night Lost only half a book?  No, it doubles the reading enjoyment!

Night Lost is a return to earlier form for Lynn Viehl.  I loved “If Angels Burn” but lost interest in the series when the next two books weren’t as good.  They were okay but didn’t really live up to the earlier promise.  Night Lost is a compelling read with darkly erotic romance balanced against horrific evil and fast paced action.  Gabriel is so strong and brave, yet incredibly gentle and Nick makes a prickly and unconventional romantic heroine.  This novel has a number of dream sequences, where Gabriel and Nick meet.  Usually I find dream sequences in a romance boring but these dream sequences are full of signs and portents which make them a whole lot more interesting and relevant to the story too.

As the story is split between Alexandra (kidnapped by the mad Darkyn king) Michael (launching a dangerous rescue attempt for Alexandra) and Gabriel and Nick’s romance, the pages speed by as the reader is pulled from one excitement to another.   

I did have a couple of small gripes with Night Lost, not least the terrible national stereotyping that the author applies to the people of Europe.  I can tell you for a fact that British people are not obsessed by drinking tea and eating pudding and the French are not obsessed by their baguettes either.  At least the author stopped short of populating the novel with a French onion seller in a stripy T-shirt and beret, riding a bicycle!  

If you haven’t read any of the books in the Darkyn series I would recommend that you read the earlier books first – that way you will be able to follow the Alexandra/Michael plot-line.  I whole heartedly recommend Night Lost to vampire romance fans anywhere. 

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