This is a classic. So well-written. My favorite of Agatha's. I have recently completed my collection of her books, so the reading can begin!

About this one: I loved it when I read it that first time. Last Christmas, I watched and enjoyed the BBC version of it, then I reread the book..then I didn't like the adaptation so much... *hehe*

The best part was the ending. I love it when books surprise me! And I was surprised on this one.

I remember reading the murder of roger ackroyd and the man in the brown suit (I will review both of them in the next couple of days), so there is a lot of work to be done. I was thinking of picking up the endless night.

Which one do you recommend? Which is your favorite?

Burden Kansas - Alan Ryker

Re-posting an old review.  

One of the best vampire stories that I have read in a while. Economical prose, yet detailed enough to provide good characterization. Upon reviewing Ryker's bio I discovered that he writes both literary fiction as well as dark fiction. No surprise once I had read this very well written short novel. Ryker clearly not only knows how to fashion a well-paced, exciting horror novel with good characters, settings, and imagery, but he has the chops to tackle other genres as well. 

And the best part is that the vampires are old school nasty, unattractive predators. The story line follows these dangerous creatures, and some equally dangerous and aggressive humans, down a path that I think is original. Clearly the capacity for mindless cruelty goes both ways. 

If you like well written horror stories and you hate the "sparkly" type of romantic vampire, then this is the book to read. After I finished, I bought the sequel.

Post script:  the sequel is even better!

Saw someone was reading this.  I really enjoyed this book so I have posted my review from 2012.  I love Spanish horror.

This novella is just another example of the tremendous horror stories (novels and films) being produced in Spain.

A completely original treatment of the vampire myth. I never once felt that I was treading on familiar territory. Lyrical yet savage; hypnotic and dream-like. Definitely of the Spanish horror style. Primal and deeply disturbing. I want to read more by this author.

Needing something to read for the holidays, my boyfriend gave me a stack of books he had on his bookshelf, most he hadn't even read. The Devil's Breath was one of them. An exciting, fast paced book that I did enjoy reading, even if some of the events (such as Max instinctively knowing how to fly a plane with no training, and his transformations into birds) were a little far fetched, it was still an enjoyable read.

I think one of the reasons I wasn't really into this book was because I'd just read a couple of books in the Danger Zone series by David Gilman and found this book to be quite similar in a lot of aspects: both boys the same age, absentee parents they have to rescue, involving following clues left behind for them. While this book has an interesting premise, I found the writing to be a bit sloppy with the overuse of certain phrases and the story to be predicatable. For example, as soon as Matt saw photos of a girl 'who looked a lot like Robin', I could tell where that line of the story was headed. It wasn't hard to make out other parts of the plot.

I also found there to be little character development, particularly in Matt but also in Robin. For someone who is hiding a secret like hers, she wasn't very particular about hiding it, dropping clues so often I thought Matt had to be quite 'daft', as they say, to not realise. It also seemed that Matt had almost forgotten or disregarded the fact that his father was missing (I think this is the fault of the poor writing) once he started searching for the treasure, and so did everyone else. This frustrated me because this was supposed to be the whole point of the story, not just a "oh, what about Dad?" moment dropped in here and there.

The novel also seemed to be unfinished. Did I miss the significance of Smith's blue eyes? Couldn't work that one yet. I would say Richards was probably leaving himself open for a sequel.

2.5 stars