There are times when one is in the mood for hearts, flowers, tenderness, and emotional romance. Then again, sometimes one is looking for something darker and a bit more edgy. Because I like action and vampires, werewolves, and things that go bump in the night, I looked forward to reading Savannah Russe’s debut novel. Sadly, however, the intriguing cover is probably one of the best things about this book.

Daphne Urban is the current alias for a centuries-old vampire living in New York. Living carefully through the centuries, Daphne moves around the world keeping herself one step ahead of those who would persecute the vampires among us. As the novel opens, it appears her luck has run out. The U.S. government is onto her and Daphne must agree to work for the secret Darkwing team if she is to continue her current existence.

Shortly after joining Darkwing, Daphne meets vampire hunter Darius della Chiesa, one of many over-the-top names you will either love or hate through the course of this book. Darius claims to be an agent for another secret wing of the government and he wants information (and lots of sex) from Daphne. The attraction between these two is immediate and apparently rather powerful.

From this point, the book started to fall apart for me. There are some really nifty action sequences interspersed throughout the book and a few good moments between the hero and heroine, but I had trouble sticking with the story because the characters never really got into my head. Russe tends to tell rather than show a bit too often. While we get lots of graphic sex between Daphne and Darius, the reader never really sees any relationship building between them. They meet, they lust after each other, and it seemed to me that I was to infer a deeper tie from this.

In addition, the prose in this story is just over the top. It’s not constantly flowery, but let’s just say that nobody feels lukewarm about anything here. At times this writing style can seem fun, but Russe still hasn’t mastered the art of timing purple prose effectively. With some writers, it’s obvious that the author is using camp for fun effect, but with others, the reader may wonder if it’s all supposed to be some kind of joke. I got the second feeling much more often while reading this book.

While the book definitely has some rough spots to it, the basic action plotline is rather fun. I did find myself rooting for Darkwing to succeed in thwarting the bad guys and I enjoyed the parts of the book dealing with Daphne and her odd cast of teammates. Though I could not get really attached to the characters, the action part of the plot does move at a good clip in the second half of the book and I found myself wanting to know how it would end.

Overall, Beyond the Pale is far too uneven to garner a recommendation from me. While the action plot is fun, Russe’s over-the-top purple prose does not fit well with the story, and I found it difficult to enjoy a romantic story where I could not make myself believe in the hero or the heroine. If you’re an absolute die-hard vampire junkie, you may want to check this out, but otherwise I would just stick with the other vampire tales already out there.