The Night Crossing

Masello (The Jekyll Revelation) lets loose the occult, Egyptian mummies, and an interesting alternate history in this entertaining but too-long historical thriller. On the way home from the theater he oversees, Bram Stoker watches a distraught Lucinda Watts hurl herself into the Thames. When he dives in to rescue her, he can’t begin to imagine the horrors that her life will reveal to him. Mina Harcourt is returning to London from an expedition to the Carpathian Sphinx. In her possession is a gold box of great power and mystery that may be related to an Egyptian priestess. Bartholomew Thorne is one of London’s most powerful men and the benefactor of the Thorne Mission House, which his sister, Winifred, oversees, and where Lucinda and her recently deceased son worked and lived. When Bram and Mina learn that Lucinda’s son was killed by Winifred for dark purposes, they set out to put an end to the Thornes’ nefarious actions. Masello creatively reimagines the inspiration for Dracula with thrills, frights, and a splendid final confrontation aboard the Titanic. Agent: Cynthia Manson, Cynthia Manson Literary. (Sept.)