Review: The Marchioly Project, by P.A. Piatt

In this supernatural thriller by P.A. Piatt, Alexandru Statornik is a criminal defense attorney who has recently been brought into "The Marchioly Project," a century-old murder case that he is tasked with investigating.

The thing is, the U.S. government is still holding the prisoner - a powerful vampire named Cezar Vena. The government has a problem: they may not have exactly afforded Vena all his civil rights in his capture and detention, and they are concerned he might actually win an appeal.

The story

Alex Statornik is tasked with poking holes in the case against ancient vampire convict Cezar Vena, so that the prosecution is prepared for anything that Vena's attorneys might throw at them on appeal.

As Alex digs further, he uncovers a nationwide cabal of vampires preying on sex workers, the homeless, and anyone on the margins of society. At each step towards learning more about the vampires’ atrocities, he also learns how to fight them.

By the end of the book, Alexandru becomes a veritable vampire hunter ready to match the most dangerous creatures of the night.

The characters

Alex is an attorney still dealing with witnessing the murder of his family by gangsters. When he is called by his friend with a position in the U.S. Attorney General's Office, he jumps at the chance, eager to bury himself in his work. He begins the story trying to find ways to defend Vena, but everything changes when the vampire escapes and Alex makes it his mission to track the monster down. The murder of his family both haunts him and drives him to bring Cezar Vena and his vampire minions to justice as he learns how to fight and kill them.

Vena is the perfect Hannibal Lecter to Alex's Clarice Starling - the Romanian immigrant was captured by the US Army in 1875 after massacring more than a dozen Indians in Montana. He was sentenced to death, but somehow escaped the hangman's noose and spent the last century and a half locked up in a federal maximum security prison.  Vena is the embodiment of an arrogant and crafty villain, toying with Alex at every turn. It seems that he is always one step above Alex, leaving bodies and minions as roadblocks in Alex's way. Piatt makes sure that the final showdown with Vena is well-earned.

The world

The world is our own modern day world, except that much of society has been infiltrated by a secret network of vampires. Piatt's vampires are not the sparkly kind, or even the suave sexy kind popularized by Hollywood. These vampires are true monsters that eviscerate their prey for the most part.

The vampires' strategy is well thought out to ensure that most of the world is unaware of their presence: for the most part, they feed off only the most vulnerable in society. Meanwhile, they have cults of human acolytes who serve them and act as human shields in Alex's hunt. And for it's part, the U.S. Government has its own reasons for keeping their existence from the public.

Alex's training as a vampire hunter is not as drawn out as might be realistic, but it does not feel easy, either. The holy medieval weapons he acquires through his training are icing on the cake, and he makes great use of them throughout.

The politics

There is no real politics to speak of in this book - it's all about killing vampires.

Content warning

This book is full of Tarantino levels of gore – there are no sparkling romantic vampires in this story. Know what you are getting into.

Who is it for?

If you like extremely fast paced thrillers and can stomach a lot of violence, blood, and gore, this novel is for you.

Why read it?

[easyazon_link identifier="B084SQBCNR" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]The Marchioly Project[/easyazon_link] is one heck of a ride that leaves piles of bodies in its wake. Absolutely no one is safe in this story, but even then, the author managed to break through my calloused heart by the end of the novel.