Blackout

FROM THE ARCHIVES (Buffy book reviews)

BLACKOUT

By Keith R.A. DeCandido (2006)

RATING: 5/5 Stakes

SETTING: Mostly prior to Season 1, brief Season 6

CAST APPEARANCES: Spike, Drusilla, Buffy, Nikki, Robin Wood, Roger Wyndham-Price

MAJOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Leroy Hawkins (pimp vamp); Reet Weldon (vampire crimelord); Bernard Crowley (Watcher); Arthur Landesberg (detective); A.J. Magnuson, Olaf Manguson, Marty (theater operators)

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: "New York City in 1977 is vampire heaven. Serial killer Son of Sam is often blamed for their hits, and a citywide blackout gives them free reign of the streets, allowing them to get away with murder. Spike and his beloved Drusilla are in the Big Apple taking advantage of the situation, as is Vampire Slayer Nikki Wood, who has hunkered down with her son, Robin, in a Times Square apartment where she thinks they'll be safe. But no matter where she goes, Nikki has to watch her back. Spike has only one thing on his mind: to slay a slayer. Adding to Spike's list of challenges is a corrupt local vampire community that catches wind of his presence, and when they start messing with him, things get bloody interesting."

REVIEW

Blackout is exactly the sort of book the Buffy novel line should be publishing: a well-written, well-researched novel that fleshes out an interesting and under-explored event in the show's mythology and fits nicely into continuity. In this case, the event is the death of Nikki Wood at the hands of Spike in 1977, first depicted in the classic Season Five episode Fool for Love.

DeCandido spent a lot of time researching New York circa 1977 and it shows. The reader gets a clear sense of a city on the edge and simmering in the summer's heat. He draws, in a respectful way, on movies of the time period like Shaft and Cleopatra Jones to place Nikki in the role of an urban folk-hero, a clear way of distinguishing her from Buffy's suburban California lifestyle. We get a much clearer sense of how Nikki lived and why "it's the mission that matters" even though she has a young son at home. Her Watcher, Bernard Crowley, is also depicted well.

Although Nikki's primary foe (a vampire crimelord named Reet) is fairly average, things are always exciting when Spike is around and DeCandido does a good job of handling his persona. Less well-portrayed is Drusilla, admittedly a difficult character to write for. Minor complaints aside, this is by far one of the best Buffy books and a must-have for readers interested in Nikki Wood or Spike.