Author: Lawrence Burgess
First Published: 2025
Contains spoilers
The Blurb: Dracula. Bram Stoker's novel.
Ten years later.
Wilhelmina Harker. Headmistress. Wife. Mother. Her calling, to house and educate London's forgotten. Duty-bound to family and friends. A life path.
Until the letter.
The review: A decade after the events in Dracula, this sequel by Lawrence Burgess is one amongst many and it is a testament to Stoker’s work that so many authors feel compelled to continue the story with a direct sequel which, more so than using the character in a wider story or film, underlines the continuing popularity of Stoker’s work.
Burgess’ vision starts with the death of Van Helsing, or more accurately, the murder - though it is wolves that attack. The novel, however, concentrates on the Harkers’ and their son Quincey. The Quincey character needs addressing as it might, within the pages of the novel, seem that he is older than he is. He is drawn as very intelligent, well-spoken and yet precocious, given freedoms a young boy would likely not be given and yet the character is so well written that one can ignore the idiosyncrasies of his character and the Harkers’ parenting – and his youthful vulnerabilities are exploited as the novel moves to conclusion.
Mina and Jonathan seem estranged in their marriage, though the underlining love draws them together as the novel progresses, their close friends become targets for their shadowy enemy and London finds itself infested by the undead. Mina has taken in two wards, Elise and Abby, new characters who become central to the story. It is also interesting that the author used the (only mentioned in the original novel) character Arminius, though painted him as a antisemitic loose cannon, with little to redeem him despite hunting the undead. There is an interesting use of the Ripper (cold) case, with it deployed by the antagonists, within the plot, to distract, obfuscate and throw doubt.
Turning my attention to the prose themselves. The author’s style is poetic and offers with that dense, evocative prose that were a joy and extremely well written. This book is no casual read and you will wade through a molasses of composition that leaves the book all the more satisfying for that. However, this is also a caution, if you do not like your prose to be so poetic then you may disengage – I was engaged throughout. The style could have impacted the pace and yet, towards the end of the book the author manages to maintain the style, whilst turning up the pace up to breakneck. With the caution aside, for me this is worth a strong 8 out of 10.
In Paperback @ Amazon US
In Paperback @ Amazon UK
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