The Dark Library
"I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson
I Am Legend dates back to the 1950s, but has been republished as part of the excellent SF Masterworks series. It's firmly planted as a vampire novel, but without the glamourising or 'cool' factor of modern vampire stories and films.
The story is set in the 1970s in a quiet American suburb. The world is now populated by vampires, both undead corpses and vampiric living people, and only Robert Neville remains unaffected. The story follows Robert Neville as he struggles to survive the loneliness and the nightly attacks by the vampires, and strives to find the cause of the vampire plague.
Richard Matheson, the author, does a skillful job of turning one man's solitude into a compelling drama, and especially conveys the waxing and waning grasp on sanity held by the lead character. I Am Legend is far more than a vampire story - it is a strong and carefully analysed study of one man. But alongside that, Matheson presents an original story with a good concept as to how the vampires came about.
The book is not long but makes superb reading, from the start to the ending that defines the title.
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