In tracking this new vampire, Caxton must find even more courage in the face of horror. When a local policeman is killed by the vampire, she is asked to help out with the investigation, despite conducting a disastrous press conference about the situation. Almost immediately, she not only almost hurts her lover Cara by mistake, but is kidnapped by the vampire. But this vampire isn't like any she's faced before; instead of killing her right away, it gives her a chance, driven by the remnants of its Old Southern attitude toward women. The results are devastating enough, though, with a college professor murdered and Caxton unable to get free.

Arkeley tries to help, but it's ultimately a night watchman who comes to Caxton's rescue. Then, with Arkeley back on the team, the two of them must fight a force that only gets stronger with each feeding, and unravel a mystery that goes back more than a hundred years. This mystery involves the Civil War-era statement of one Alva Griest, excerpts from which are interspersed with the modern-day chapters.

As they get closer to the heart of the matter, they find that they're combating not just one vampire, but dozens of them, raising the stakes for Gettysburg and the wider world outside the sleepy tourist town.

Creepy, character-based vampire action

Much of the success of David Wellington's novel comes from his commitment to solid, well-crafted writing and an equal commitment to the character of Laura Caxton. However, Wellington also does much to revive what has been, for me at least, a moribund subgenre: the vampire tale. Wellington's vampires retain a few human attributes while seeming utterly inhuman at the same time. Some of the familiar folklore-based information about vampires still applies, but Wellington has tweaked it enough to make it new. The great description of emaciated old vampires, the diminishing returns they get from blood paired with their desperate, crazed strength, makes for exciting reading.

Although I haven't read 13 Bullets, I found this sequel, part of a trilogy, easy to follow, with Wellington doing a great job of giving the reader the information necessary to make 99 Coffins a stand-alone novel. In particular, he makes Caxton and Arkeley very real by showing how they've changed from book to book. Their experiences have diminished them and scarred them, while also hardening them. Caxton, in particular, lives in a peculiar world where she is idolized because of a movie made about her experiences, but she cannot seem to convince others just how dangerous a vampire can be. Arkeley, as the grizzled veteran of vampire lore and vampire attack, gives added depth to the novel. Wellington isn't just playing around with tropes here—he's an honest, articulate writer who believes in the situations he sets up.

If I have any quibbles about the novel, it's that the action scenes sometimes run long or don't seem individual enough. Wellington also sometimes writes himself into a corner, as in the scene where a night watchman saves Caxton by shining a flashlight in the vampire's eyes. If it's that easy to fend off a vampire, why isn't everyone, including Caxton, carrying a huge flashlight with him?

Still, in general, 99 Coffins is impressively constructed, and I even enjoyed the Civil War entries of Griest, in a ploy that usually puts me to sleep. Wellington knows not just his horror tropes, but also his mystery tropes, and scenes of pitched battle between police and vampires are ambitious and powerful.