SOURCE: “The Last of Lestat,” in Washington Post Book World, August 6, 1995, p. 2.

In the following review, Allman offers favorable assessment of Memnoch the Devil.

When it comes to fervent fandom, Anne Rice's partisans are up there with the Star Trek brigade. They love her dark imagination, her Gothic prose, her wry sense of humor and especially Lestat—the handsome, vain vampire who's become her signature character. Lestat and Rice are each the focus of a fan club, 'zines and an Internet group; Rice herself even pens a newsletter, “Commotion Strange,” full of Lestat-related news and views.

The latest issue of “Commotion Strange” brings the news that's broken the hearts of Lestatians everywhere: Rice has decided that Memnoch the Devil, the fifth installment in her Vampire Chronicles, will be the last Lestat story. That might be a wise decision, because Rice has painted herself into quite a corner with...