Dracul - The Vampire Returns
Retail: $20.00
ProjectPulp.com: $18.00

He came to her in a mist, his dark robes making him look like a mysterious monk. However, his religion was of the flesh, and the blood was the life. He called out to her, her dream incarnate. She arose from the bed and went to him . . .

ProjectPulp.com Review      Dracul - The Vampire Returns is a sequel to the grandfather of all gothic novels, Dracula. At least a passing familiarity with Bram Stoker’s seminal work is required for total understanding and enjoyment of Dracul. If you’ve yet to delight in the Victorian splendor that is Dracula, I urge you to do so now. I’ll wait.      Now for Dracul. James C. Wardlaw’s tale takes place a generation after the destruction of Dracula at the hands of Jonathan Harker and his associates. It seems that Quincey Morris’s bowie knife only destroyed Dracula’s physical form, not his unholy spirit. In 1932, Dracula manages to regain the body he’d lost and vows revenge on his enemy, Jonathan Harker.      Living in California, Harker’s son Jeffrey is engaged to a woman named Jessica Frasier. Jonathan, believing Dracula has somehow returned to torment them, sends his old journal to Jeff. Jeff learns for the first time of his father’s exploits to save his beloved Mina.      Jeffery is soon called upon to handle a real estate deal for a wealthy man named Robar Libellule, AKA Robar Dracul. The situation mirrors Jonathan’s brokering of Carfax in Stoker’s Dracula, but Jeff does not seem to realize he’s falling for the same set of circumstances. Once Libellule arrives, he slowly begins to drive a wedge between Jeff and Jessica with his hedonistic charms.      Wardlaw provides some interesting background information about Dracula, now Dracul, expanding upon the mythos made famous by Stoker. This colorful section of history was among my favorite parts of the book, and I’ll leave it to the reader to explore further.      Overall, I felt the characterization needed a bit of polishing. Jessica in particular never seemed to come to life for me, and I had a hard time really caring for any of the characters except for Jonathan. This is due in part to the fact that he’s a character I’d already bonded with in Dracula. But in a series of journal style entries similar to those in Dracula, Wardlaw does an excellent job of portraying Jonathan’s worries and fears as he attempts to determine whether his foe has returned. The author very much capture’s the spirit of Stoker’s Jonathan, and I found myself wishing for more such passages of introspection.      Ultimately, Jeff must fight his own battle against the ageless vampire, and deal with the terrible truths the monster imparts. Dracul - The Vampire Returns is a novel filled with scenes of eroticism and gore, violence, and despair. And though I felt the plot contained several gaps in logic and a few inconsistencies with Stoker’s work, the novel as a whole reached a satisfying conclusion.      Dracula is dead, long live Dracul.                 ::Josh Rountree::      Have you read this title? Rate it for other customers here.