 “Beware... Strigoi... the White Tower... and the one-eyed man”, In the 123 years since the publication of Stoker’s Dracula, vampires have endured more ups and downs in terms of popularity than probably any other iconic horror monster. The werewolf and the mummy have always played second fiddle to Vampires and Zombies. However, the popularity of zombies has, for the most part, remained pretty stable, and yet Vampires, the noblest and in my humble opinion the greatest of all horror monsters. Have fallen in and out of fashion more times than stonewashed jeans and backcombed hair. Ever since Dracula first creeped out of the shadows, we have seen every alteration of him possible, from the untamed monsters of 30 Days of Night to the abomination of the sparkly vampire, we all have our favourite version of the vampire, but no matter what which one it is they all owe an unpayable debt to Dracula and Stoker’s visionary vampire novel. So why would an author 123 years later, think that the best way to write their version of a vampire novel, not just use the concepts and themes created by Stoker but write a direct sequel to it? (If you are reading this review, Mr Barnes I would love to hear your thoughts on this.) Well, that is what J.S. Barnes has done with Dracula’s Child, I suppose the clue was in the title. Be warned though before reading any further, if you were not a fan of the source material, then this book might not be for you. Barnes has crafted and presents Dracula’s Child, using the same narrative style as Stoker’s original. So if you are looking for a straightforward narrative journey from A-Z, you are going to be in for a shock. Barnes uses the same concept of using letters, press cuttings and diary entries to drip feed the story to the reader in a spectacular and highly convincing patchwork of viewpoints and exposition. You can tell straight away that the author has a deep reverence for Stoker, as well as a deep understanding and encyclopaedic knowledge of the book, as Dracula’s Children reads as though it could have been written by Stoker’sStoker’s hand. Now, this isn’t in any way a complaint or a comment on Barne’s literary skill, far from it. While Barnes continues the story like some possessed psychic medium, compelled to continue Stoker’s novel, he brings more than enough of his style and personality to the narrative to prevent it from becoming a pastiche. At times Barne’s modern sensibility and use of language breaks through, but this is rare and doesn’t bring the reader out of the story in any way. “Beware... Strigoi... the White Tower... and the one-eyed man”, that’s the doom-laden warning that Professor Van Helsing delivers before falling ill after a part to celebrate the birthday of Quincy, Jonathan and Mina Harker’s young son. Realising that Helsing’s warning alludes to the return of the caped one, the Harkers once again take up arms against the ultimate evil. One of the strengths of this novel is the aforementioned choice of narrative style, it puts the reader right into the heart of the story, with its oppressive style, and as it happens sense of pace, allowing Barnes to induce a deep-rooted sense of dread and fear, thanks to the reader never being able to read between the lines so to speak. Nothing is telegraphed, there are no long passages of graphic violence to bring on the goosebumps, but you will be gripped by it. You will feel that sense of dread that exists in movies during the lead up to the jump scare, even though there are none of those here due to the structure of the story. Where Dracula touched upon the themes of sexual power and abuse from the nature of the vampire, Barnes extends this to a brutal and scathing attack on the strength of both the media and social media and their desire to control the hearts, souls and minds of all of us. The parallels to the seductive nature of vampires and mass control of us are handled with an assured hand, never straying into the heavy-handed territory that many discourses of this nature can fall foul of. But what about the vampires? I hear you ask, well don’t worry these aren’t rose-tinted spectacles wearing top-hatted sparkly, neutered and frankly pointless vampires. The one inhabiting the pages of this novel are, without a doubt, evil, nasty, and downright dirty in their actions. Concerns were going into this novel that we would be subjected to watered-down version of the children of the night, and it is with a massive sigh of relief that we can report that this is not the case. If you had asked me a year ago, if we needed a direct sequel to and in the style of Dracula, I would have laughed in your face, and probably uttered a few profanities for effect. However, after turning the final page of Dracula’s Child, I have to hold my hands up and say I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I would go as far as to say that this is a modern Gothic masterpiece, and one of the finest vampire novels of recent years. A perfect companion piece to one of the most pivotal novels ever written.  Evil never truly dies... and some legends live forever. In Dracula's Child, the dark heart of Bram Stoker's classic is reborn. Capturing the voice, tone, style and characters of the original yet with a modern sensibility this novel is perfect for fans of Dracula and contemporary horror. It has been some years since Jonathan and Mina Harker survived their ordeal in Transylvania and, vanquishing Count Dracula, returned to England to try and live ordinary lives. But shadows linger long in this world of blood feud and superstition - and, the older their son Quincey gets, the deeper the shadows that lengthen at the heart of the Harkers' marriage. Jonathan has turned back to drink; Mina finds herself isolated inside the confines of her own family; Quincey himself struggles to live up to a family of such high renown. And when a gathering of old friends leads to unexpected tragedy, the very particular wounds in the heart of the Harkers' marriage are about to be exposed... There is darkness both within the marriage and without - for new evil is arising on the Continent. A naturalist is bringing a new species of bat back to London; two English gentlemen, on their separate tours of the continent, find a strange quixotic love for each other, and stumble into a calamity far worse than either has imagined; and the vestiges of something forgotten long ago is finally beginning to stir...   Comments are closed.
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