Draculas.

Today, I’m going to chat about a book I read. I am not a great reviewer. I am not concise and I don’t always get into the symbolism, etc. But, I know when I’ve enjoyed a book, and I can tell you, I just enjoyed this book.

(I’m not getting anything out of this, by the way, I just really liked the book and wanted to tell you all)

Draculas, a novel of terror 

by Blake Crouch, JA Konrath, Jeff Strand and F. Paul Wilson

Okay, so the first cool thing about this book is that it is one story written by four authors. And, it’s seamless. I am not intimately familiar with any of their works individually to know who wrote what (other than Blake Crouch’s and even then not enough to really be able to hear his voice over others necessarily), but at the end of the ebook, they give interviews and discuss that that was kind of the point. While you’re reading, you only hear characters, not the authors. I loved that.

Now, about the style of the book. If you don’t like blood, gore, or scary stuff, don’t read it (but if you do, you can get it on kindle unlimited for free). I kind of like that stuff. There is a certain kind of scary that I can handle. This happens to fall into that category. Something about vampires makes me feel…safe? What? I don’t know. But, I’m not scared by them.

Anyway, it’s set in a rural hospital near Durango. An eccentric, wealthy old man who is dying buys a relic unseen. The relic arrives and he uses it to infect himself with the Dracula/vampire virus. His nurse and his researcher take him to the hospital when he becomes nonresponsive. You can probably guess, but all Hell breaks loose. It’s a fun story. It’s a glimpse inside the minds of creatures that to the outside appear single-minded and incapable of feeling anything (other than a desire for blood). There’s quite a bit of gore and some of that is also quite funny. The characters are well-developed, especially considering you don’t expect to empathize with a heartless undead killer.

The events happen over the span of one night. It’s a true horror in the sense that parts of it are shocking, some terrifying, others a bit revolting (but in a good way). Some old standbys are employed…don’t go anywhere alone, the screaming victim falls flat on her face instead of getting away. And, there’s even a sweet love story that develops in the midst of the hellish night.

I don’t want to give the story away, but it’s a fun read. If you like vampire horror (this isn’t Twilight…), I recommend checking it out. 5 stars.