In just about two weeks, on August 9, I will be at Boutique du Vampyre in New Orleans to sign copies of my Scarlet Order vampire novels. I’ve enjoyed visiting this French Quarter shop since I discovered it in 2014. In 2020, when much of the world went into lockdown, owner Marita Crandle had the terrific idea of starting an online vampire book club. I was honored that Marita, along with book club host Steven Foley, chose to feature my novel Vampires of the Scarlet Order as one of their selections. Another novel featured at the club was the wonderfully atmospheric Dracul, which is a prequel to Dracula written by Bram Stoker’s great-grandnephew Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker. My visit to the boutique reminded me how much I’d enjoyed Dracul, so I decided to check out Dracula the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt.

Dracula the Un-Dead is a sequel to Bram Stoker’s original novel. Set some twenty-five years after the events of Dracula, we are first introduced to Quincey Harker, son of Jonathan and Mina Harker from the first novel. Quincey is in Paris where he’s ostensibly studying law, but actually wants to be an actor. Meanwhile, a morphine-addicted Dr. John Seward is on the trail of the infamous “Blood Countess” Elizabeth Bathory, who is most definitely a vampire this novel.

Seward, Bathory, and Quincey’s paths intersect at a theater in Paris where the great actor Basarab is performing in Shakespeare’s Richard III. After the performance, Basarab agrees to meet Quincey, but their meeting is interrupted by a battle between Seward and Bathory. In the end, Seward is killed, run over by Bathory’s coach as she flees. Despite these dark circumstances, Quincey is surprised to learn that Basarab already knows him and is interested in taking him on as an apprentice. Unfortunately, this throws Quincey into conflict with his father, who wants the young man to have a respectable career. Despite Dr. Seward’s death, the hunt for Bathory continues under the direction of Dr. Van Helsing, who has grown old and frail.

Whereas Dracul was a very atmospheric and introspective horror novel, Dracula the Un-Dead proved to be more a non-stop action thriller. That’s not to say there aren’t some truly horrific moments here. One example is a scene where a young boy discovers an impaled body in the middle of London’s Picadilly Circus. Another is how the authors interpret Bathory bathing in the blood of young women. However, the real horror explored in this novel is a little more subtle. As the novel progresses, Quincey Harker begins to realize that everything he thought he knew about his parents and their friends was wrong. The upshot is that Quincey begins to question his relationships with his parents, his understanding of the world, and even his personal dreams and ambitions. The novel is told through multiple points of view, which allows us to learn more about many of the characters from the first novel such as Mina, Jonathan, Arthur Holmwood, and even Dracula himself. That said, I almost wish the novel had spent a little more time examining Quincey’s perspective so we could have understood his thought processes and explored more of the existential horror that would naturally come from having a lifetime of experience suddenly thrown into doubt.

If you’re looking for a thrilling vampire novel with lots of twists and turns, Dracula the Un-Dead is worth checking out. You can find the novel at your favorite bookstore. You can find my review of Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker’s Dracul at https://davidleesummers.wordpress.com/2020/08/04/dracul/

Finally, I’d be remiss not to mention the steampunk horror anthology An Assembly of Monsters, which not only features one of my Bram Stoker-inspired stories but also an introduction by Dacre Stoker. You can find the collection at: https://www.amazon.com/Assembly-Monsters-Forgotten-Lore-Book-ebook/dp/B0DPXX3TLH/