My Rating
Blood Red Tear
Margot Hammer stepped through the doorway and into the quaint little shop marked Madame Xanadu Advisor. The jingling of the silver bells attached to the inside frame went unnoticed as the roar from downpouring rain outside masked the announcement. There was a new customer looking for answers, but somehow Madame Xanadu already knew this before the rain started falling earlier that day.
The sultry brunette seer beckons the troubled young woman inside to talk about Victor Christianson. Margot was stunned into cold silence. She almost turned and fled but what was her alternative? The rain outside? The bone chilling wind? No, a sudden calmness overtook Margot and her fight or flight response melted away. With her curiosity peaked, she needed to know how this tarot reader already knew the key player in Margot’s story? After a brief introduction Margot decides to sit for a reading.
This Victor Christianson was familiar to Madame Xanadu, but she said nothing to the troubled Margot. The man was more than a mortal threat, his life force was tied to something very ancient and sinister indeed. Margot watched as the cards were pulled from the deck and placed face up in a cross pattern. Madame Xanadu explained each one of the images in succession.
The final card revealed to Margot was the Hanged Man. This is the tarot representing deception. Madame Xanadu listens intently as the young woman begins to open up. Margot tells Xanadu everything about her financial troubles, her recent job hunt, and her new employer. After an hour the cards are collected and removed from the table. it’s time for the post reading analysis.
Madame Xanadu insists that Margot broker a face to face meeting with her new employer. Only then can she truly understand Victor’s motives. Margot is reluctant to agree. They both walk towards the front door of the shop. After a few more queries they are in agreement. Victor Christianson will be confronted at a socialite party the following night.
Why won’t the temp agency manager disclose the number of women who have worked for Victor Christianson in the past? Has Madame Xanadu crossed paths with the esentrict group of party guests in a past life? How can the death card be revealed more than once in a single sitting? Collect the series to find out!
Reviewer Notes
Strigoi alert, strigoi alert! It’s the era of post Hammer Films Dracula and the dawn of Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire. Oh the times are a changin. I do love seeing the early stages of new ideas being adapted into DC Comics classic monster mythology.
Bill Kunkel and Roger Mckenzie do an excellent job crafting this story in the style of Anne Rice but keeping some of the rules set by DC Comics previous horror titles. This mindset would happen in parallel with House of Mysteries and the “I, Vampire” storyline. Let’s not forget Nina Skorzeny and her future role in 1997’s Scare Tactics series. The children of the night are out there, you just have to believe.
On a final note, at the back of the book, writer Bill Kunkel gives us a full interview with one Dr. James Paulos. Material was needed for a mandatory fluff page, so what better way to fill the space than with some answers from a vampire “expert”. I would like to point out that they refer to the release of Anne Rice’s “Interview with a Vampire” which was released two years earlier in 1976. I was a huge fan of the original trilogy, and of Lestat, so I appreciate the reference. I’m giving this issue of Doorway to Nightmare five stars based on the story and post credits interview. It was very entertaining. Now to go find me a Fleur to play with.
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