In 1867, a sailor was caught drinking the blood of two dead men on a whaling vessel. He was pardoned for insanity and died in an asylum. At least, that's the cover story. In fact, nineteen-year-old vampire Nathaniel Cade was secretly recruited by the president to defend the United States against "unnatural" threats. Cade is the ultimate secret agent, battling nightmares before they can break into the daylight world of the American dream.

When Zach Barrows, an ambitious twenty-six-year-old White House staffer, is assigned as Cade's new handler and presidential liaison, he soon learns that the world is far stranger and far more dangerous than he ever imagined. Their mission reveals the truth about the real Dr. Frankenstein, a shadowy conspiracy within the government, and a plot to attack the United States with a gruesome biological weapon: an army of undying, unstoppable killers.

Christopher Farnsworth is a screenwriter and first-time novelist. He has also worked as a staff writer, columnist, and investigative reporter whose work has appeared in the New York Post, New Republic, and Washington Monthly. After selling his first script, "The Academy," to MGM, he moved to Los Angeles, where he now lives with his wife, daughter, and performing dog, Sadie.