Rating: 
Summary: disappointing ending
Review: My husband is a huge vampire fan, and we listened to the cassette tapes on our vacation. Even though many of the descriptive scenes in the book are too graphic, the thread that kept both of us listening was the hope that she would solve the mystery of the woman's death. Unfortunately, the author decides in the middle of the book to abandon the search for the truth, and instead continues to listen to Rath's fruitless stories.
Rating: 
Summary: positive with hesitations
Review: Not graphic enough to be a trashy read and yet not insightful enough either to qualify as a psychological analysis of the vampire subculture but interesting enough despite being a good 100 pages too long. Very episodic as well. And she is a bit naive -- quotes casual acquaintances like they were believeable, reliable sources.
Rating:
Summary: A terribly childish and naive treatment...
Review: of a fasinating subject. There are three problems with this book: 1. It's self serving. The author has no special insight into the subject yet she insists on assaulting the reader with her bland opinions rather than reporting the phenomenon. 2. There are no shocking revelations here. Nothing a casual observer wouldn't pick up in a Goth or BDSM club. If Ramsland thinks this is a recent phenom she needs to do a bit more research. 3. If I wanted to know how Anne Rice felt about Vampyres i'd pick up one of her books. The author needs to stop name dropping and riding on Rice's coat tails. I find myself a little angry that such claptrap could be clothed in such an alluring title.
Rating:
Summary: Piercing the Darkness
Review: Overall, I really enjoyed this book, although I admit, I did have to wade through a lot of irrelevant information such as the tiresome references to Anne Rice books. I appreciated Ramsland's presentation of the different ideas of what a vampire is and what it represents and possible influences. I really don't feel that she was especially "deep undercover" though. She really didn't go too far past what I would consider to be "goth" culture. Whether or not some of the accounts were true or fabricated (i.e. the Wraith story) they were interesting and even occasionally thought provoking. It was a bit tamer than I expected it to be. I'm not sure the author was completely willing to take any serious risks that might have given the story a better climax.
Rating:
Summary: A Shot in the Dark that Missed!
Review: Ramsland's attempt to capture an overview of the vampiric subculture in today's society comes up shy of the bullseye (perhaps not even hitting the target at all). Her attempt to justify the research into the nightlife of the vampiric lifestyle by looking for the missing reporter Susan Walsh seems a flimsy excuse to go gallivanting from nightclub to nightclub in different cities at someone else's expense. The author's venture into the lifestyle of the vampire ultimately ends up being an adventure with s/m, leather and kink fetishes with a few, possibly disturbed and criminally deviant blood fetishists. The other half of the interviewees appear to be average nightclub attendants that enjoy dressing up in gothic attire and acting out the fantasy role of the vampire based on popular fiction and role-playing games. Ramsland's writing style is mildly entertaining (though it wears thin after the first few chapters) which makes the book good material for bedtime reading, but adds nothing more to the field of vampiric study that has not previously been discussed in other failed attempts. For the readers who are looking for a serious book investigating the subculture of true blood-drinkers, especially those seeking a pychological or sociological perspective, this may well be the worst choice of material in the already small list of published matter available. For simple reading enjoyment, my best advice is to purchase the paperback release when available in hopes that the pain of spending the money on such an amateur attempt at investigative reporting will not be so great when it comes time to trade it in. Sorry to diasappoint, but there is more blood in a hamburger from your neighborhood fast-food establishment than in these pages.
Rating: 
Summary: A must-have for vampire fans
Review: Ramsland's name should be familiar to fans of Anne Rice; she's the author of THE VAMPIRE COMPANION and PRISM OF THE NIGHT: A BIOGRAPHY OF ANNE RICE among others. In PIERCING THE DARKNESS, though, Ramsland moves somewhat beyond her academic interest in the Great Mother of the Vampires into the shadowy world of "real" vampires in America. And if a fault can be found with this book, I believe it's here at the most fundamental level, when Ramsland fails to define her terms to a degree which I could find satisfying. Ostensibly she has chosen to follow in the footsteps of another journalist, Susan Walsh, who disappeared in 1996 while investigating vampire cults in Manhattan. However it seems clear to me that Walsh is something of an excuse for Ramsland, and understandably so, since Walsh's story is a cautionary one. Using it as a foundation for her own investigation would be an aid in walking the fine line between investigative journalism and actually becoming involved in the subculture of America's vampires. Unfortunately it's hard to get a fix on Ramsland, and perhaps that's not a bad thing for a journalist in her position who should remain professionally non-judgmental, but I found it disturbing never to know quite what her position was in terms of what constitutes a "real" vampire as opposed to a poseur. Indeed, she has a discussion along these lines with another investigator, but I found no answer there either. Never mind all that, though, because the book itself is eminently readable and the subject matter fascinating to anyone who enjoys vampires in film and literature. I would strongly caution readers with delicate sensibilities to give this book a pass, though, since it deals with some very disturbing subject matter: descriptions of blood-letting, sexuality which some consider highly deviant, accounts of body modification and the like all serve to make this book a walk on the dark side. Ramsland is innately honest and doesn't flinch from the grotesque or bloody, nor from describing it, though without recourse to sensationalism. And she writes sympathetically about the people she encounters, never putting herself above or beyond them in any way. In fact, one of the most interesting aspects of the book is her own responses to what she uncovers, her fascination with and willingness to enter this milieu. For those who find the subject worth investigating further, Ramsland provides a good bibliography, and an excellent list of vampire resources both on and off the net. For my money this book is a fascinating read and well worth your time if you're a vampire aficionado. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: She is Human Garbage!
Review: So what we have is
human garbage discussing human garbage.
This book is a total POS - -
just like the author.
A 'psychologist' would NEVER
make such unverifiable claims.
Very sad.
Rating:
Summary: Why this book is....by J.Raoh
Review: The author spends a lot of time discussing her forays into Goth, vampire, and fetish communities, but gives mostly soundbites about the people she encounters. We go from anecdote to anecdote, without really figuring out why people enter these subcultures, and what their everyday lives are like. She meets some nasty, scary types, with some deeply internalized pain and hostility, and does little to help us understand or sympathize with them.
Rating: 
Summary: Piercing What Darkness?
Review: The author spends a lot of time discussing her forays into Goth, vampire, and fetish communities, but gives mostly soundbites about the people she encounters. We go from anecdote to anecdote, without really figuring out why people enter these subcultures, and what their everyday lives are like. She meets some nasty, scary types, with some deeply internalized pain and hostility, and does little to help us understand or sympathize with them.
Rating:
Summary: Amazingly Boring...
Review: This account of Ms. Ramslands investigation into the disappearance of Susan Walsh and subsequent exposure to the "underground vampire scene" is dead boring. Ramsland loses the Walsh story within the first two chapters and then the book cascades into her snooze provoking adventures into underground clubs (which appear to be your standard pseudo-bondage pick up bars). The contacts she meets are also of no particular consequence and the only slightly frightening aspect about them is their need desperate of psychologic help.
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