Best Vampire Novels

Why it's a best pick:
This one, published in 1975, picks up the Stoker-style vamp and drops him in the middle of Maine.  A book about dark secrets being dragged into the light (one apparent inspiration was the Watergate hearings), it makes the reader feel as if he has been to sleepy Jerusale... read full review

Why it's a best pick:
This is more of a novelette, but deserves its place here.  It's the story of one man against a world of vampires.  The original survivalist horror piece.  The main character spends his days boosting his home defenses, drinking, experimenting with crosses, garl... read full review

Why it's a best pick:
Volume one of a four book series.  It follows a vampire outcast (named Peter Octavian) through a modern vampire underground.  He has sworn off the idea of humans as cattle and has been ostracized for it.  He also has this crazy idea that the Vatican made up th... read full review

Why it's a best pick:
I almost put Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat here, but I absolutely love the prose in this one.  While it can be angsty, that's to be expected from an author just out of high-school (she was 19 when this was published!).  It's about a half-vampire teen named Nothing... read full review