'Paris, 1869. The Théâtre Saint-Siméon is the place to be, if you can get in. The black slips of paper that guarantee entry are rare and highly desired, and given only to certain persons. The actors on stage are magnetic and ageless, performing only at midnight and never seen during the day…
'Arnault and his clan of vampires have survived for as long as they have by observing a rigid set of rules. At night, they perform on stage at the Théâtre Saint-Siméon, picking off just enough people in the audience to survive. But they understand the city, and how to live in it without being noticed.
'Their peace is shattered first with a visit from Béatrice, a witch who forms a strange connection to Arnault; then with the arrival of Victor de Rouvray and his sister Françoise, vampires from a very different world. And, as Arnault grows closer and closer to the beautiful, enigmatic Victor, he risks becoming distracted from the constant bickering of his immortal friends, from the daily running of the theatre, and worse, from the premonitions of blood, death and starvation that he receives at night.
'For a terrible change is on the horizon, revolt and revolution are brewing in the streets and soon, the city, and Arnault will never be the same again.'
The Red Sacrament is a debut novel that you'd be hard pressed to believe was a debut novel. With many first works you can see where the author is still trying to find their voice and style, you can feel which parts were likely added or changed later down the line in the editorial process, and you can come away satisfied, but sure that the authors next work will be better. The Red Sacrament reads like Sarah Hinkley has been writing for decades. Hinkley delivers a depth of detail and flowing quality to her work that is impressive to see, even if you end up not being a fan of the entire work.
Borrowing inspiration from Interview with the Vampire, The Red Sacrament takes readers to Paris in the 1860's where we discover a coven of vampires that has taken up residence within the tunnels and catacombs of the ancient city, masking their presence and hunting victims by establishing the Théâtre Saint-Siméon, a secretive and exclusive theatre experience. Rather than being open to the public, the vampires, led by the Arnault, invite prospective victims to their performances via black invites, which cannot be purchased, and must be received as gifts.
The theatre isn't just a cover for the vampires, however, instead becoming an expression of them. Their performances are made for audiences soon to be fed upon, and so the plays and operas they pick to feature become a part of their hunts, an expression of who they are. These are vampires that live and breathe the theatre, and so the book heavily features references to works of the era that fill the early sections of the novel. These early parts of the book are crammed with tiny details and quotes from plays, and it's clear that Hinkley is either a huge theatre nerd, or did a ton of research into what a theatre of the time could have been putting on in order to present it here. And whilst other theatre lovers will probably get a lot out of this, these early parts of the book were some of the hardest to get through for me.
The first half of The Red Sacrament did relatively little for me. Long passages were given over to theatre talk, to discussions about what plays should be put on, who should perform what roles, how the shows went, what should be in the next show, and so on. Despite being filled with characters these moments were so packed with these extra details and long passages that I felt somewhat lost as to who every character was. It didn't help that many of them had little to nothing about their personalities to set them apart. I don't know if this was a deliberate choice, some form of commentary about how a community that's been together so long ends up losing individuality and becomes one homogenised whole, but even if it was it wasn't particularly enjoyable to slog through.
There are some hints at a larger plot scattered through these early few hundred pages, such as a witch who comes to visit the coven, or a pair of vampire twins from outside Paris who arrive at the theatre one night; but these elements are so scattered and light that I'd sometimes forget they were happening or even cared about them. For example, the witch who visits has a deeply disturbing effect on Arnault, and he becomes determined to track her down, but between each small step of the journey to figuring out who she is or where she's from there's dozens of pages of theatre talk; which not only felt like it was dragging out the plot too long, but also made it look like Arnalut didn't really care about finding her.
There is more than happens in the book, but this ends up being much later into the story, and by then you'll be hundreds of pages deep into the book. The Red Sacrament is a long novel, over 500 pages, but if it's taking hundreds of pages to even get interesting it's not going to be a book that I'm going to be able to easily enjoy. If it wasn't for the fact that I had agreed to review the book I would likely have not finished it, bowing out at a much earlier point.
That isn't to say that The Red Sacrament is a bad book, I just think that it's not for me. There will be people who love the slow pace and the focus on the theatre, and for them this will be a perfect exploration of those areas. As someone who likes to find something, even something small, to get interested in early on I was sadly left feeling somewhat deflated whilst reading The Red Sacrament. I think that there's definitely an audience and fanbase out there for The Red Sacrament, and if you're looking for a slower book to really spend some time with then it's definitely worth trying out.
The Red Sacrament is available now from Titan Books.
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