A Different Kind of Vampire Novel

Hahn, Mary Downing. Look for Me By Moonlight. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.

Cynda goes to live with her dad at an isolated Maine inn. She finds life there predictable at best until an unexpected guest arrives. Vincent Moranthos is handsome, educated, and charismatic. Cynda finds herself drawn to him. Their relationship starts out innocently enough with moonlight walks. Cynda is infatuated with Vincent. Her infatuation blinds her to his flaws. Vincent is a vampire. He wants not her love, but her blood. Can Cynda break the unnatural hold Vincent has on her?

What I thought: In a world inoculated by the Twilight novels, this book came as quite a surprise. Hahn's book is a different sort of vampire novel. There are distinct similarities between Look for Me By Moonlight and Twilight.

Both Edward and Vincent are handsome and charismatic. They both know the power they can exercise over humans. The difference is that Vincent uses that power to his own advantage. Edward has ethics that prevent him from doing so.

Bella and Cynda both come from broken homes. They both go to live with their dads in remote locations. However, Bella is more astute than Cynda. She realizes quite quickly what Edward is and the fact that he won't intentionally hurt her. Cynda's infatuation with Vincent blinds her to the obvious clues that reveal what he is.

Vincent is comparable in nature to the nomad vampires in Twilight (James and Victoria). Too bad Cynda doesn't see how evil Vincent can be.

It would be interesting to recommend this book to Twilight fans. In Meyer's world, vampires can be and often are good. In Hahn's world, vampires are evil incarnate.