Lord of the Vampires

This final volume in the trilogy of The Diaries of the Family Dracul merges the histories of Vlad the Impaler and Count Dracula in a prequel to, and retelling of, the Stoker classic, seeking to fill some of the gaps left by the original. This novel begins with Vlad's journal entries about wartorn Bucharest in 1476, but it swiftly moves to the more familiar territory of Transylvania and London in 1893. There, it follows the starving Count, his vampiric niece, Zsuzsanna, her servant, Dunya, and their undead cousin, Countess Elizabeth Bathory, as they lure mortals, such as Jonathan Harker, into the castle to feed on them. Meanwhile, the noted vampire slayer Abraham Van Helsing awaits Dracula's arrival in London. Using powerful paraphernalia (garlic, crosses, holy water, etc.), he attempts to save Luch and Mina from the undead's evil embrace while trying to foil the family curse and decipher the angelic Arminius's motives. Kalogridis has a firm command of atmosphere, language and character. After the opening chapter, the Count is seen mainly as a shadowy figure integral to, though not illuminated by, the novel's plot, but the spunky Zsuzsanna and ravaged Van Helsing manage to carry the book handily between them. With its descriptions of iron maidens and flaming pokers it would be hard to call this a kinder, gentler, vampire novel, but Kalogridis reconciles the forces of light and darkness in a manner likely to please fans of justice and the genre. (Nov.)