This was one of the first horor novels I read as a kid (so much for Enid Blyton!) and it was to change the way I wrote my own stuff from that day on. Dark, apocalyptic and very very good - the film/graphic novel '30 Days of Night' borrows heavily from this: a group of people trapped in Los Angeles by a vicious sandstorm are picked off one at a time by vampires... A great read!