I had a really hard time with this one to the point of where i couldn't finish it. Vampire novels were one of my favorite types of books to read. I managed to make it about halfway and still wasn't sure when the author was going with the story. It was overly repetitive and had way too many characters. The author would go off on tangents that i felt just didn't add anything. The character development was severely lacking, considering one of the main characters went from being mortal to a vampire. It's not clear to me who the stealth vampire elder is being referred to in the title. Really not much of a story told overall.

I'm sorry but I just could not get into this book. According to my Kindle I'm at 32% and literally nothing interesting has happened. I feel like I'm struggling to read even a paragraph at a time. I find the characters annoying and materialistic(especially Steve, what a tool), to the point where I wanted to reach through my kindle screen and slap them silly. I just can't force myself to finish this book and am sad to say it is my first DNF ever. I would like to say though that my opinion is based on the story and characters not the authors writing. The author has some skills for sure but the story was nothing new or interesting. I feel bad that I don't like it and I HATE giving bad reviews but it is what it is. :(

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Over the course of this summer I've done a lot of reading on vampire fiction from an academic perspective, so I was both curious and excited to have the opportunity to read this book. Ever since a pre-teen obsession with Dracula I've had an interest in vampires and the vampire genre, and the claim that this book would bring something new to the table couldn't be passed over (especially in light of Twilight, which often gets cited as the death knell of vampire fiction).

Having now finished The Gloaming (a great title!), I can say that this novel does not bring anything new to the genre, apart, arguably, from an aggressive heterosexuality that I found both obnoxious and tedious.

The book begins from the perspectives of three MCs (Valentin, an immortal vampire; Steve, a douche-bro Californian on vacation in Europe; Veronica, a failed Big Brother contestant). Based on Steve's arrogant and irritating personality, I half-hoped he would be summarily eaten, but unfortunately the novel goes out of its way to paint him as heroic, "studly," and awesome. He is the best ever at computers, finance, and sex, despite seeming like the type of guy who would be terrible at sex.

All characters, female and male (but with an emphasis on female) are all described primarily in terms of their physique (which is usually related to their competence and morality). Copious verbiage is spent describing the main characters' watches/cars/computers/access to fine art in place of genuine personality and character development. There is also a baffling emphasis on the moral depravity of "Brits," with whom I can only assume the author must have had a bad run-in, as they seem to be the default baddie of the novel.

The writing itself, on a technical level, is adequate (a few typos and errors that could be chalked up to editing, etc), but the novel has a meandering plot, and no character development. An early female MC who seems promising[ is randomly killed part way through, after neither impacting the plot in any discernible way, and contributing only shallow POV chapters commenting on the relative sexiness of various men in clubs. (hide spoiler)]

Overall the novel reads like a series of lists of nice things the MCs own and attractive men/women (but mostly women) they have had sex with. In an erotic novel this would have made sense, but the sex scenes (though frequent), are short, generic, and boring. There are two disturbingly no-homo moments in the novel that raised my hackles. I'm not against a "straight" vampire story by any means (and I say this as a queer person--there are plenty of queer vampire narratives), but the aggressive heterosexuality of this book was bizarre and uncomfortable.

The whole novel reads like American Psycho if the satire was removed and the MCs were presented as remarkable and (supposedly) likeable characters.

External link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2109013085