Another vampire story, but unfortunately one that’s not as successful as Roddy Doyle’s. Mosley’s protagonist is a student radical in the 1970s, when he is seduced by a woman who turns him into something like a vampire and dubs him ‘Juvenal Nyx’ – ‘child of the night’. Thirty years later, Nyx falls in love, sets himself up as a professional ‘problem solver’, and takes on a rather mysterious client.
‘Juvenal Nyx’ is constructed from several different elements, which may be fine in and of themselves – for example, Mosley is particularly good at evoking the uncomfortable desire caused by the vampirism – but they sit awkwardly together. For instance, into the midst of a tale which portrays its subject matter in an otherwise ‘realistic’ fashion, walks Nyx’s client, who is every bit the stereotype of a supernatural femme fatale; she just doesn’t seem to fit, and there isn’t room in the story to indicate her place in the wider scheme of Mosley’s fictional world. In the end, ‘Juvenal Nyx’ is too fragmentary to truly satisfy as a complete piece.
Rating: ***
Elsewhere
Walter Mosley’s website
19th August 2010 at 11:40 pm
This was one of the few so far that I didn’t really like. The narration in the audiobook was condescending in tone. The story too cliche’ to be that long and hold up.
3rd February 2023 at 11:49 am
I thought it was better than Roddys and loved the deep character acting of the narrator, which seemed far more believable that some Scottish bloke suddenly and out of nowhere craving blood. Iron deficiency, raiding hen coops? Can’t understand why that would entertain more than a vampires and werewolves detective story, but each to their own I guess. Anyway, I found Nyx very entertaining and well narrated and will be searching out more Mosley to read.