** spoiler alert ** I want to say that this book was a complete and utter disappointment. It is worse than that! Its Horrible! A SEQUEL TO THE ORIGINAL!!! That it is not! This book was painful to read. I knew going into it, with all the reviews I had read, what I was facing . It seems to me that this book was written out of spite and greed! Bram Stoker is rolling in his grave. I would not recommend this book to anyone. Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt did not need the help of their Villains to destroy Bram Stoker or his characters. They did just fine on their own.

Let me save you the time, trouble and agony of reading this garbage. The books title is "Dracula: The Un-Dead." Though his name is mentioned thought out the book Dracula (Basarab) plays only a minor character until the very end. Mr. Holt and Stoker took extensive liberties in modifying and perverting the world and characters Bram Stoker created. Jack Seward is a Morphine addict who has lost everything his wife, daughter and career. He is a shell of his former self. After 25 years and a previous marriage behind him he still obsesses over Lucy. All in all Countess Bathory shows up proclaims her hatred towards God and all mankind as she will continue to do throughout the entire book. Bathory is an over the top hedonistic feminist. Her extreme lust for blood and the companionship of woman is complimentary to her mythos, but was handled poorly in this book. She proceeds to kill off Stokers characters one by one giving the appearance that Dracula has returned. It gets complicated. A Jack the ripper sub-plot is introduced as well as a host of unnecessary characters. Bathorie’s bloody body count of whores is attributed to Jack the Ripper. An Inspector Cotford believes that a 75 year old Van Helsing and his miscreants are behind the murders and are acting as one, Jack the Ripper. This does not add to the story at all, in fact it makes it more complicated and frustrating.

Johnathan Harker is resentful of Mina because she slept with Dracula (where was that in the original). Mina is a closet feminist who wants to break free of male oppression, but doesn’t want to hurt poor Jonathan's feelings. Out of duty she remains a dutiful wife. Mina keeps stating that she wishes Johnathan would have pleased her like Dracula did. She muses on how Dracula was a Sexual Dynamo and Jonathon just couldn’t compare and she was found left wanting.

Quincey Harker the son of......well its complicated. Hates his father for being to controlling and his mother for being Dracula’s play thing, this is also repeated over and over by the whiny character Quincey. Quincey developes a mutual relationship with the great actor Basarab. Later Quincey and Basarab would play a vital roll in ruining Bram Stoker and his theater in London. Yes they did, they made Bram Stoker a fictional character in their novel. Jonathan is impaled on a stake in Piccadilly Square. It must have been Dracula because he had impale people in the past. Bathory again was behind this.

Arthur Holmwood has a short part to play in the story but it is tedious, like Seward it is all about Lucy.

Van Helsing is confronted by Inspector Cotford and accused of being Jack the Ripper. Van Helsing gets bit by Dracula after a scuffle in his hotel room and is now a vampire. Van Helsing is made out to be as much as villain in this book as Dracula was in the original. It is sad. Arthur Holmwood and Quincey fight with Vampire Van Helsing. Quincey is subdued while Arthur finishes off Van Helsing and they plummet to their deaths onto the pavement below.

Towards the end of the book Dracula comes out of hiding. During the events of the book Dracula was Basarab the great Transylvanian actor (give me a break, this wasn't hard to figure out). Again another dynamic character Bram stoker created, whittled down to a weak pathetic creature....oh sorry human being.....he mustn’t be a monster anymore we need to redeem our Villian from Hell. Dracula is no longer a enigmatic demon from the depths of hell but a misguided and misunderstood being that only wanted to love Mina. His image as a villain was an illusion created by Van Helsing. Van Helsing created monsters and murders and liars out of our band of heros (sickening isn’t it).

At one point Bathory transforms into a flying gargoyle and goes on a killing spree, Inspector Cotford being one of many victims is decapitated by her razor studded tail before he could reveal the real Jack the Ripper (“Bathory”). Mina discoverers she has super human powers due to being bitten by Dracula and Bathory. Her and Dracula fight Bathory. Dracula and Bathory have a gruesome fight ending with Dracula bleeding to death and Mina kicking Bathory out of the subway car. Bathory Falling on the electrical tracks and bursting into flames. Is this the end of Bathory...So much for hoping. Bathory not only flies out of the subway tunnel, but to Paris, France to get the dagger she killed Dracula with in the modified back story... Oops did I leave that out. It wasn’t Jonathan Harker and Quincy P Morris that Killed Dracula...Dracula transformed into dust to fool the Heros into thinking they killed him. When he reappeared in some dilapidated cathedral on the castle grounds, Bathory finished the job. Her motives for killing Dracula are vague and confusing . You see the original ending wasn’t good enough for Mr. Holt and Stoker they had to undo and bastardize what Bram Stoker had already written, of course they try to explain there reasoning in the afterwords but fail to justify the changes.

Towards the end of the book Mina and Dracula steal a car and drive to Carfax Abby. After settling in Mina succumbs to Dracula’s sexual magnetism and lets him have his way with her including making her a vampire. Quincey Harker having had a telepathic link with his mother is drawn to Carfax Abbey (Which never existed in Whitby or was an Abbey). Bathory having returned from Paris with the weapon that killed Dracula once upon a time was on her way to the abbey as well. Quincey enters the abbey finds his vampire mother, she tries to convince Quincey into joining their cause but Quincey refuses and runs out of the abbey. Outside Dracula and Bathory are in the heat of Battle. After a lengthy brawl both Dracula and Bathory fall to the ground in a draw. At this point the sun is rising in the sky, Mina had chased after Quincey. Bathory and Dracula burst into flames. Quincey out of some sort of twisted pity runs to Dracula in time for Dracula to tell Quincey “I AM YOUR FATHER.” Quincey in disbelief rebukes Dracula, ignoring his mothers screams and runs away. Dracula dives off the Whitby cliffs in flames into the water below (Maybe the water put out the flames and he survived). Fireball Mina follows after, over the edge and into the ocean. The last few pages of the book describe Quincy as a ragged vagabond getting on a large ship destined for New York. Also being loaded into the cargo hold is Dracula’s Crate. The Ship that they are on is none other than the Titanic. I can see it now Rose and Drac. Dracula “I’M THE KING OF THE WORLD!”. Rose somberly “Never let go...Drac...Never let go.” THE END.