The Delicate Dependency

By: Michael Talbot

Narrated by: Matt Godfrey

They are cool to the touch and alluringly beautiful in their ageless youth. Their laughter seduces, their brilliance beguiles. They guard the secrets of science and history, and the answers to the mysteries of life and death lie within their vastly superior knowledge. In centuries past, they were known as the Illuminati. They are the vampire.

Dr. John Gladstone, a scientist in Victorian London, is thrust into their world after his carriage runs over a young man of angelic beauty named Niccolo. When Niccolo kidnaps Gladstone's child and vanishes, the doctor must go in pursuit, with the help of his daughter, Ursula, who is enticed by the lure of eternal life, and Lady Hespeth, whose demure exterior hides a dangerous obsession. Why are the vampires taking children, and what is the connection to Gladstone's experiments with a deadly virus? And how can he possibly prevail against a race of immortal beings with power and intelligence infinitely beyond his own?

Michael Talbot's The Delicate Dependency (1982) is often cited as one of the best vampire novels ever written.

©1982, 2017 Michael Talbot (P)2018 Valancourt Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"The tension builds page by page to a stunning climax...I doubt that I will ever forget it." (Whitley Strieber, author of The Hunger and The Wolfen)

"[O]ne of the most impressive explorations of a vampire mind ever written...a novel of considerable suspense...compelling and deeply original." (Darrell Schweitzer, Encyclopedia of the Vampire)

A Must Read for the Vampire Aficionado

“I told you,” she said bitterly. “I warned you at the very beginning that you were blind and did not see what others would see.”

This is an absolute must read for the vampire aficionado. It should be better known.

The Good: the most original ideas about vampires I’ve ever read. My favorite, vampire monks in the Dark Ages hanging out safely in monasteries with their books.

The Great: an alternative history in which everything in the Library of Alexandria was preserved. (You know you were pissed off the first time you read about that... and every time you thought of it thereafter)

The Bad: it’s an exhaustive exercise in paranoia. It’s one lie after another after another. Also the MCs are dislikable, Ursula most of all. As both of these are best seller trends I’m again surprised more people don’t know about this book.

I’ll end with Niccolo’s words:
“Never trust the vampire, for everything they say and do is for some other purpose. They will play a cruel and enigmatic ‘game of the mind’ with you and it will be up to you to solve the puzzle...”

"Nothing is as it seems."

Early on, the author, through more than one character, tells the reader that 'nothing is as it seems' and this is true right on through until the very last page.

Typical Vampire story but not...

I like this, it had a unique flavor with the vampire stories told over and over again. Yet it had an interesting twist to it. I will probably read it again someday.

Great Book!

I had no idea a vampire novel could be so philosophical and profound. I had heard this was the best ‘vampire’ novel ever written, and I have to agree with the sentiment.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT

I listen to audible books on my drive to work, which is an hour. The book was so good that I couldn’t wait to go to and from just so I could hear more of it. It’s a great story.