The Shake

In The Shake, Mel Nicolai has turned to a hybrid genre combining hard-boiled realism with vampires. Contemporary central California is the setting. Shake is the vampire. Who to take off the menu is the question. Driven by contradictory needs, Shake pursues an elusive balance: a way to satisfy his need for human blood, preserve his suburban anonymity, and somehow acknowledge his debt to the people upon whom his life depends.