The decade of the 1950s in the USA was the great era of the drive-in movie theatres, and Sunnydale, California (the home of the Slayer) was no exception. But like in many other towns and cities the trend was short lived and the drive-in closed during the 1980s. But now a man has come to town and has set about renovating the long closed site in order to show festivals of classic movies. But this is Sunnydale so could anything really be just as innocent as it sounds?

Xander being Xander has taken an after-school job, and is working as a gopher at the drive-in site in the run-up to its grand re-opening.

But other things are on the mind of Buffy and her watcher. Odd events are happening, odd events of a ghostly nature, with werewolves and cheerleaders of the past appearing to Sunnydale residents.

Now that the TV series has finished, it is only in printed form that Buffy addicts like me can get new fixes. It's fortunately then that the Buffy line of books is still going strong and producing fine Vampire Slayer tales like this one.

This tale set in the middle of the third series of the TV series brings with it all the joyous feeling of the pre-college years of Buffy. Angel is still around, Cordelia is secretly dating Xander and Willow is the egghead still dressing in the clothes bought by her mother. Oh, and the gang all meet up in the library under the guiding eye of Giles.

This was the era of Buffy I liked most. For me the mayor-turned-worm arc narrowly beat out the latter stages of the fifth and the fight against Glory. The series still had the feeling of things being new, unlike the later been-there, done-that more cynical seasons – I'm not saying the show went downhill particularly but this period was it at its height. And this evokes all the feelings of that stage of the show. The world-weariness Buffy developed is not here. Everything is still optimistic.

This book impressed me. There are a number of repeat media tie-in novelists I have come to trust to deliver – Peter David, Christopher Golden, Nancy Holder and, of course, Kevin J. Anderson – and these people have raised the bar in terms of standards for the tie-in novel. No longer can authors hack their way through writing a genre novel, these now have to be strong novels in their own right. So Askegren had something to live up to.

It's fortunate then that he's delivered a great fun read, and a fine addition to the Buffy range.

Synopsis
Neither Willow nor Cordelia shows much interest in the grand reopening of the long-closed Sunnydale Drive-in. Only Xander, who has been spending his afternoons helping out on the work crew, is looking forward to the night-long festival of classic action and horror films. Buffy is too distracted to sit and take in a movie - as far as she is concerned there is quite enough action and horror in real life. Things are getting pretty peculiar even for Sunnydale. A werewolf evaporates like a ghost before her eyes. Suspicious people in dated clothing and hairstyles are spotted on the streets, but they don't appear to be the usual vampires. And most disturbing, a sleeping sickness begins to sweep over town, leaving those affected in a coma. And who is the distinguished looking gentleman of indeterminate age who may be connected in some way to these strange goings-on? His name is Balsamo. At least that's what he's calling himself this century. Xander, on the other hand, simply knows him as 'Boss'.