Coffin Moon

Vampire lore is well documented, the rules and regulations differ from book to book, but in most cases if you are a vampire, you cannot do much during the day. In modern life not being able to escape during the daylight hours after leaving a few emptied bodies would be a problem. Cameras would catch you near the scene, police could track you with a phone, but in grungy USA 1975, these inventions are not a problem, and a vampire can go on a proper killing spree.  

Coming home from war was problematic enough for Duane Minor and he found resolve at the bottom of a bottle, but with the help of his wife and in laws, he got it back on track. With responsibilities including running the family bar and being a guardian to his niece-in-law, Duane is fighting back. Until a man called John Varley enters the scene. Varley is a drug dealer, extortionist, a killer, and a whole lot more. When Duane gets on the wrong side of Varley, tragedy hits and all Duane can think of is revenge and saving the one member of his family who survived. 

1970s Portland is not the America that is portrayed in the media in the past few decades. Big city USA in the 70s could be the underbelly’s underbelly, the perfect place for a killer to remain hidden for years, even decades. Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson reads like a noir new-wave vampire novel as written in the 70s. The decade is a character, providing a grim backdrop to Duane’s post-Vietnam experiences. It limits what the hero can do, there are no mobile phones, just the long roads and a sense of revenge. 

Coffin has the minimalist and realistic (as realistic as a vampire novel can have) of a Let the Right One In or Near Dark. There are scenes of great violence, so it is a horror, but it is more than this. This is a book about what you would do for love. Love can take us to wonderful places, but it can also bring you low. Duane’s story is one about how low he can get. At what point does he become worse than the monster? 

The three main characters in the book are Duane, Varley, and Duane’s niece, Julia. The three have a very twisted relationship. Duane and Julia decide to pursue Varley across America. How Duane justifies his actions marks his descent into darkness. It is these actions that are truly horrific, in a way you can forgive the undead with their addictive lust for blood. 

Part of the story is told in flashbacks as we learn about Varley’s origins. This is a great way of increasing the terror as this is not a nice man. Despite everything, Varley is capable of love, in his own twisted way. Varley’s story highlights some of the excellent vampire lore in the book. Rosson has done an excellent job of combining vampire tropes with a gritty and realistic 70s feel. 

Coffin is not an upbeat book. It is one of the darkest and most challenging vampire books you are going to read, but it is done so well. The sense of time and place is awesome and evokes the best cinema of the time. The characters are deeply flawed and just get worse. Duane can be equally pitied and hated for what he does, but what would you do for love?