Review: Beyond Sunlight by David Crane

A 29-year-old professional illustrator transforms into a vampire in David Crane’s Beyond Sunlight – an intelligent and inventive take on undead creatures of the night.

Melanie Brace is living comfortably in Manhattan when a chance encounter at a jazz club changes her life forever. She’s attracted to the bar’s featured musician for the evening, so she strikes up a conversation that ends with a startling premonition; Martin, the musician, claims that she has inoperable cancer and doesn’t have long to live. Melanie is, of course, startled and confused, and a doctor’s appointment reveals that Martin is exactly right. But how in the world did he know?

Turns out, Martin is a vampire who can see through human beings like a walking, talking x-ray machine. When Melanie and Martin are learning more about each other, they’re attacked by muggers, and Melanie is left with a mortal gunshot wound. Martin does the only thing he can to save her, turning her into a vampire. Melanie must now learn how to survive as an immortal creature, including abiding by strict rules and oaths and undergoing physical training to combat vampire hunters. Her life is soon filled with danger and intrigue, as she deals with the CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and a deadly serial killer.

Beyond Sunlight contains a number of fascinating additions to vampire lore and mythology, one of which is the concept of a donor. Melanie is tasked with finding a human who will let her feed off them in exchange for a protective relationship – like a living, breathing blood donor. In addition to this innovative detail, author David Crane expands blood drinking itself into a business enterprise. Melanie has to pay to get fresh blood from a vampire bank, an elaborate operation that reveals how long vampires have been existing in society right under a lot of people’s noses.

In terms of the writing itself, Crane makes a bold move by positioning Beyond Sunlight as a journal written in real time. The book starts with a frame story, where Melanie is writing down her life and times in the first-person present-tense point of view. The narrative then slips into the past tense, and then gradually morphs into more of a straightforward novel with scenes and conversations. This technique tends to work, as Crane proceeds slowly and confidently through these changes, guiding the reader through the story.

Sometimes, however, the writing can come off as a bit stilted, especially in more extended sections of dialogue. Certain scenes are also a little repetitive and seem unnecessary – for example, a section where Melanie is drinking from her donor recurs twice throughout the course of the novel, and both iterations are quite similar. Generally, though, Crane’s novel is compelling enough to make up for these small shortcomings.

Overall, author David Crane breathes new life into the vampire genre, which is a feat in itself. Fans of vampire fiction will definitely want to give Beyond Sunlight a serious look, as it offers a fresh take on the genre within an engrossing storyline.