If you are one of those people that have only seen the movie '30 Days of Night' then STOP!! Do not sigh already and move on to something else as I can assure you this book is actually very different from the not too great offering served up on the big screen.
While books such as the Twilight series have received critical acclaim the '30 Days of Night' series seems to have passed unnoticed by many. This, dear reader, is a damn shame as it offers up a fresh perspective on our bloodsucking friends. I mean, really, how did vampires not decide to invade Barrow, Alaska before this novel where the sun sets and doesn't rise for two whole months?!?
So what makes this worthy of a 'Hall of Fame' spot? Well, the characterization is second to none. I don't recall a single book in the past few years where I have cared about the fate of the main character as much. His name is Andy Gray (which was the only downside of the novel for me as he shares the same name as an annoying, British, soccer commentator and when I would read his name I would get the tones of the soccer commentary reverberating through my head) and he is unwittingly thrust into a world of vampires when his FBI partner and friend, Paul Norris, is turned into one of the undead.
Put aside all thoughts of your vampire erotica and Edward Cullen because this is a different cup of blood altogether. The world of Andy is a very solemn one and the whole story is very grim and gritty. For instance, Andy is warned against investigating vampires by his undead former FBI partner, a message he doesn't heed, and as such his wife and daughters are slaughtered by him. As I said...it's grim, but that's part of what makes this such a gripping read. In a book market that is flooded by sexed-up hunks and sultry vamps it's actually refreshing to have vampires portrayed once more as evil, sadistic, killing machines with no remorse for their prey.
If you're looking for a read that will disturb you and have you thinking about the characters and events long after you have finished reading it then I highly recommend you sink your teeth into '30 Days of Night: Rumors of the Undead'. ( )

I was prepared to really enjoy this book, but instead found myself totally underwhelmed. Whereas the movie (and, I figured, the book)focuses on what happens to the town of Barrow, Alaska, this book puts that incident in the background and instead focuses on FBI Special Agent Andy Gray.

Based some time after those events in Barrow, Andy is trying to figure out exactly what happend to his partner, Paul. He spends a lot of time going back and forth with himself (Is Paul a vampire? There's no such thing as vampires. Is Paul a member of the blood-sucking undead? There's no such thing as the blood-sucking undead.) until I was ready to scream.

Although there are slightly enjoyable parts to the book, the majority of those center around Stella Olemaun, a survivor from Barrow who wrote a book about the events that happened there.

I'm going to pass on picking up the other books in the series, unless I can find one that starts out as good as the prologue of this book, which dealt exclusively with Barrow, Alaska, and its residents. ( )

Not a bad read, but not a good read either. There are much better vampire tales out there right now, so I would recommend finding one of them. ( )