The novel opens with Diana spending a rainy afternoon tending her friend's small store, Bell, Book and Candle. Although it is a low-key scene, many of the significant characters appear. Most of the major elements of the tale are set up here. Through Diana's thoughts and her reactions to various visitors, much is also revealed about her character. The gloomy weather and threatening storm foreshadow the atmosphere and revelations of later events. Much of the charm of Children of the Night, which goes beyond standard horror fiction in its appeal, is due to the evocative world-within-a-world shown in its opening scenes.

The book focuses largely on Diana's actions. As she goes about her mundane business, she is drawn closer and closer to the entities ravaging the city — a psychic vampire who feeds on fear and turns his victims into copies of himself, and the gaki, who steals...