The Saint-Germain series, like any vampire novel, ultimately is traceable to Bram Stoker's Dracula, but beyond that there is little here that will seem familiar to devotees of the traditional vampire-as-child-of-Satan-bloodthirstykiller stories, or even to those who have come to appreciate the more recent vampire stories in which the vampires are intensely aware of their isolation and loneliness, and sometimes even fear that they will eventually be damned for their inevitable murders of their victims. While an occasional nod is given to Saint-Germain's world-weariness and other common vampire traits like a fear of running water and a need to sleep on his native soil, the emphasis in these novels is definitely action on the field and in the bedroom, combined with political intrigue and lengthy descriptions of gore. Further, because Saint-Germain never stalks a prey with whom the reader identifies (although the evil antagonist may), suspense...