• Author: J. Matthew Saunders
• ISBN: 9780986333101
• Publisher: Saint George’s Press
• Genre: Horror

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I got through a few more than 50 pages before I gave up on this book and stopped reading.  First of all, the story seemed like a bad facsimile of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, right down to a Turkish secret society bent on destroying vampires and a historian trying to find out if Dracula really exists and nearly getting himself killed in the process.  Secondly, the dialogue was so contrived that I felt like I was watching a B-movie.  Thirdly, I felt like I’ve read this story too many times before.  I know it’s difficult to come up with a vampire story that is somehow different from all the others, but I kept getting a feeling of deja vu while I was reading.  It was as if I had read this before, even though I know I haven’t.  Finally, there is a scene in which two of the characters get in a car wreck that was bad enough for the airbags to deploy, yet they weren’t hurt at all.  They were able to not only get out of the car without any problems but were also able to fight off two goons, both of which are considerably bigger and stronger them.  Can you say 1980’s bad action film?

I’m sure there are plenty of readers who would love this book precisely because of how horrible it is, or because they love anything involving vampires no matter how bad.  As much as I love vampire stories and the occasional brain candy/B-movie/action film, I couldn’t take reading another page of this book after the car accident and fight scene.  I’m not saying this book doesn’t deserve a chance.  It’s just not for me, and life is too short to continue reading a book I can’t stand when there are so many other books out there I might love.