Paromjit's Reviews > Dracul

This is a prequel to Bram Stoker's legendary Dracula, written by Dacre Stoker, related to Bram, with his original Stoker documents and JD Barker, the author of the Fourth Monkey trilogy. They write a seamless blend of fact and fiction with Irish folklore in this confection of historical horror. It's a gripping gothic supernatural thriller and chiller, that has the 21 year old Bram Stoker in 1868 in a dark and spooky tower, facing the longest night of his life with a strange collection of items that include holy water, a rifle and crucifixes. He is terrified out of his wits and desperately praying that he will live to see through the night as he recalls just how he came to be in his current predicament. It all begins with his sickly bedridden childhood at his family home in Dublin, Ireland.

As a child, Bram comes close to death with the medical profession little able to help him. It is their beloved nanny, Ellen Crone, who saves him and is later to depart rather abruptly from their lives. There are a number of deaths in a nearby town, Bram and his sister, Matilda become rather curious about Ellen's strange and bizarre behaviour and her odd absences. Years later, Matilda is studying in Paris, when she spots Ellen and goes on to inform Bram as their nightmare begins to unfold in this tale of blood, graveyards, the undead and vampires. This is a grisly and riveting read, well plotted with a tense and highly suspenseful narrative, with oodles of atmosphere and creepiness and it's echoes of Stoker's original Dracula. I recommend this highly to all those readers who have yet to read it, after all Halloween is not so far away, and this is ideal reading matter for that time of the year! Many thanks to Random House Transworld for a copy of the book.