Dracula: The Un-Dead, By Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt

Reviewed,Anita Sethi
Sunday 01 November 2009 01:00 GMT
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History is repeating itself in many ways. For one, this is the "official" Dracula sequel, the book's blurb claims in blood-red font, written by a direct descendant of Stoker himself, and a well-known historian. Thematically, too, history is repeating itself, for Quincey Harker, the son of Jonathan and Mina, is prompted to explore his parents' dark secrets after coming across the troubled production of Dracula at the Lyceum, directed by Bram Stoker himself.

Twenty-five years on, evil is once more the force to be reckoned with. For those who have managed to miss the horrors of the original, the book helpfully recaps Dracula's traits in the opening letter from worried mother to son: how this most notorious resident of Transylvania feeds upon the blood of the living in order to attain immortal life; how he locked his guest up and sailed to England, there committing further atrocities.

This book is fast-paced, well-plotted, and gripping, as it stages the age-old struggle between darkness and light, warning the protagonist that, when there is at last nowhere to run and hide, "You must stand and fight", "look deep within yourself... find the brave hero within".

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