Let's start with positives: I picked up this book to read about vampire folklore and this book is full of myths and creepy tales. It is a rare thing indeed to find vampire lore from around the world compiled in a slim volume. Also, the inclusion of a ritual for protection was a thoughtful addition and the letters from real "vampires" were fascinating to read. As for suggestions for improvement, I have a few. As another reviewer noted, Konstantinos doesn't document much and a lot of his evidence seems rather unreliable (for example, his entire theory explaining "unintentional psychic vampires" appears to have developed out of a single first hand encounter). Also, some of the arguments were very weak (I'm being kind here), such as when K. argues something to the effect that because a certain ancient culture had advanced math, they might have also been correct about their theories on the occult. And some of his info was downright wrong, like the statement that there was no vampire lore in ancient Egypt (a brief examination into the Ka/Ba relationship will show otherwise) ... But oh, I'm being too critical. I don't pretend to have answers about "occult mysteries" and who knows, maybe K. is right about everything. All I can say is that there are ways that K. could have presented this material to make it more compelling (citations, additional evidence beyond first hand experience, etc). Even as it is, I found this to be an enjoyable book, at times reading a lot like a Lovecraft story and I love Lovecraft. Would I recommend citing this book in any scholarly article? No. Would I recommend reading this book? To vampire lovers, yes. ( )

An entertaining read, Konstantinos fails to document anything. He does, at least, provide a bibliography. But that is full of pop-culture references, most of which were published in the second half of the twentieth century. ( )

Fourth printing

First edtion; sixth printing, 1999.
Originally published in 1996.