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Dracul by Dacre Stoker

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A haunting and captivating origin story to Bram Stoker’s gothic horror masterpiece.

“I am quite convinced that there is no doubt whatever that the events here described really took place, however unbelievable and incomprehensible they might appear at first sight.” Bram Stoker

What led Bram Stoker to record the events told in ‘Dracula’ and thus recount the most famous vampire tale of all time? ‘Dracul’ takes us back to 1868, many years before the events of the original novel. Bram, alone and barricaded in the tower of a deconsecrated abbey, armed with crucifixes, white roses and holy water, is under siege from malevolent forces which surround him. In his journal, he begins to record the events that led him here.

So we return with Bram to 1854, when the terror truly began. Sickly and confined to his bedroom most the time, the young Brad leads a lonely life – close only to his sister, Matilda, and their nanny, Ellen Crone. Bram and Matilda soon begin to notice that there is something strange about their nanny - her mysterious wanderings away from the family home in the middle of the night; her bizarre disappearances sometimes for days at a time; her ageless beauty, at times interrupted by the rare appearance of one who has aged considerably. When she appears to bring Bram back from the brink of death, it only serves to deepen the mystery that surrounds her.

The children are determined to uncover Ellen’s secrets, a quest that is destined to follow them into adulthood and lead them into the path of a malevolent evil, one so ancient and malignant that escape may be impossible. The legend of Dracul is buried deep; uncovering it may come at a price that none are prepared to sacrifice.

This is an origin story on multiple levels – part prequel to the original novel, part alternative history biopic of how it came to be written – and a gripping vampire thriller in its own right. Co-written by Dacre Stoker, great-grand-nephew to Bram, and horror and thriller author J.D. Barker, it was inspired by the notes and journals Bram left behind from the original writing of ‘Dracula’. The story of the missing first one-hundred pages of the novel is legendary; the short story ‘Dracula’s Guest’, published posthumously as part of a short story collection, is believed to have originally been the first chapter of the novel, and it is believed that much more of the original story was excised. Dacre Stoker has spent many years researching the life and works of his ancestor, having also previously published a sequel to the original, ‘Dracula: The Un-Dead’, co-written with Ian Holt.

Stoker and Barker have seamlessly stitched together history and fiction into a superbly written, dark, supernatural drama, brimming with tension and riddled with unease. It builds to an intensely satisfying climax, followed by the perfect close in 1890; one that leaves you yearning to dive straight back into the original classic. The undead still walk and the legend of the vampire continues to endure.

Composed of pure gothic atmosphere and slow-burning terror, ‘Dracul’ is a fine addition to Bram Stoker’s legacy and the ever-expanding mythology of Dracula and his fellow literary vampires.

(Also included is an Authors’ Note that blends eerily well with the fiction; and, in the paperback edition, a letter reportedly written by Charlotte Stoker to her son, Bram, telling of the horrors of the cholera pandemic. It makes for timely reading, with echoes through to the present day. Perhaps vampirism isn’t the true horror after all.)



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