In The Vampire's Assistant, the sequel to Cirque du Freak (with more to come), Darren Shan is trapped as a half-vampire. The narrative device of "If I hadn't... maybe things would..." was effective and heartfelt in the first book, but here is used just to crank up tension.Certainly the scenes of dismemberment are described with more relish than in Booth's book, and the author is brave enough to have an innocent and sympathetic character fiendishly munched to death, but it is difficult to see quite where this saga is taking us.