DRACULA THE UN-DEAD by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt

I can remember reading Bram Stoker’s original Dracula. I was twelve or thirteen and had gotten a copy from the Science Fiction Book Club as part of my joining bonus. The book was thick and fat, and the cover was decidedly creepy. I started on it and got drawn into Jonathan Harker’s mission to save his lovely bride-to-be, Mina. I finished the book while in the bathroom (it was the only place in the house with three younger brothers at the time that I could call my own) at four in the morning (my mom was freaked when she found out I’d stayed up so late).

But I can still remember that last desperate chase the heroes went on to intercept Dracula. Quincey Morris died during that battle, and I was saddened. I don’t think I’d ever read a book before about someone dying that I really cared about. Except maybe Old Yeller.

So now, nearly forty years later, I was surprised to find that there was an honest-to-God sequel that had been written – by someone from Stoker’s family no less. I saw that blood red cover and knew I had to read it. Despite all the Hammer films and Fred Saberhagen pastiches of the character, and the wonderful run of comics from Marvel written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by Gene Colan, I wanted that book.

Dracula the Un-Dead is a blistering read for the most part. I was disappointed when I saw that the tradition of telling the stories through journals, letters, and newspapers had been pushed aside for the more modern narrative style, but I don’t know how many of today’s readers would have tolerated that antiquated form. So perhaps the writers and editors made a good call in that respect.

There is more action in this novel than in the original, but storytelling has changed in the last 110 years. Readers demand more physical conflict these days, and Stoker and Holt provide it in spades. They also use the fast-cut narrative technique and short chapters that plunge the pacing into overdrive.

I was hypnotized at first by the novel. Jack Seward and Jonathan Harker had changed a lot in the intervening twenty-five years that had passed since the last novel. I was disheartened to see what had happened to them, but I’m also old enough at this point to know that they couldn’t have gone through everything they had in their battle against Dracula and emerged unscathed. Both of them are emotionally scarred and broken in many ways.

When I learned of Mina’s continued youthfulness, I knew what had caused it even before the authors revealed it. Sadly, that also tipped their hands as to what they were going to do with the rest of the novel. I even knew who Dracula was before the mystery was revealed.

The authors have a lot of fun twisting the old Dracula story into something new. The mixture of familiar story, history, and the personal life of Bram Stoker lends itself to a fanciful tale, but the juxtaposition of the Jack the Ripper angle gets spread a little thin and feels forced. That twist is only fun to think about for a short time.

The violence isn’t the only thing that that gets pushed higher in Dracula the Un-Dead. There’s a sex scene with Mina that stands out, and it has a twist to it as well that’s really unexpected.

The last third of the novel is a pure adrenaline rush, but it lasts too long. I was worn out by the time I turned the last few pages. And when I reached the end, I’d already guessed most of the secrets and knew that the book’s climax was being set up for a sequel. Even with that, though, the last line of the novel is a real hook, and I want to read the sequel – if it materializes – just to see how that particular problem gets worked out.

Dracula the Un-Dead is a good sequel and worth reading if you’re a fan because it does offer you a different sort of experience. However, most fans will be able to put the pieces on this one together too quickly, and perhaps be a little dismayed at the ending.

THE PROFESSIONAL by Robert B. Parker

I look forward to fall these days because it means the weather will finally cool down again – and there will be a new Robert B. Parker Spenser novel on the shelves. This year’s offering is The Professional, and I instantly fell in love with the cover when it finally popped up on various websites.

I bought the book on a Tuesday and knew I wanted to save it for a time when I could sit back and read it in a single sitting or two. Thanks to a dental appointment the following Thursday, I didn’t have to wait for the weekend. I kicked back in a chair in the waiting room, flipped open the book, and didn’t notice at all when dental emergencies ahead of me put my appointment an hour and a half behind. I was with my favorite Boston sleuth and we were hot on the case from page one.

The novel concentrates on the vagaries of relationships between men and women, which seems to be a large part of Dr. Parker’s themes these days. Although the subject matter is interesting, I’d really like to take a break from it in his books.

The Professional focuses on a small group of women married to rich, older men. These women have been romanced and later blackmailed by a conniving Lothario named Gary Eisenhower. Spenser’s job is to back the blackmailer off without tipping off the husbands to their wives’ inconvenient trysts.

Fortunately for the reader, none of Spenser’s cases turn out to be easy, and this one starts getting wrinkled from the start. One of the husbands has suspicions about his young wife and Eisenhower, and he’s connected to mob muscle that comes calling on Spenser, instantly upping the ante. Another wrinkle is that some of the women are loathe to go cold turkey on Eisenhower’s charms. Even more complicated is the fact that Spenser kind of understands and likes Eisenhower, who’s something of a victim himself. Before long, Spenser ends up trying to keep Eisenhower alive.

This book actually turns out to be more of a mystery than many of Spenser’s previous cases, which were more noir and violent, and which I enjoyed immensely. The mystery is rooted in social structures and psychological drama, and that’s fairly intriguing, but I really missed the shootouts, fights, and threats that usually sail through the Spenser novels. Spenser isn’t really fighting for anyone or anything in this one. He’s just working out his own curiosity and trying to keep the bloodshed to a minimum.

There’s an obvious ode to John Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men in the novel that telegraphed a lot of the plot to me and took some of the edge off. As always, though, Dr. Parker lays down snappy dialogue, terse narrative, and close to the bone plotting that carries his readers through the novel in a well-oiled rush.

Fans will settle in and be comfortable, but I’d recommend Early Autumn or Looking For Rachel Wallace or Mortal Stakes for newcomers to the series.

TRUE DETECTIVES by Jonathan Kellerman

First seen in Jonathan Kellerman’s novel, Bones, Private Investigator Aaron Fox and LAPD Detective Moses Reed take center stage in this new book from the prolific novelist. Normally Kellerman writes about his series regulars, Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis, with occasional forays into standalone thrillers and other characters. In True Detectives, Kellerman manages to bring a little from all his worlds into a familiar concoction of murder and psychology.

I really liked the characters in this one and I hated to see them go when I was finished. Hopefully Kellerman will bring them back, because even he didn’t seem quite finished with them.

Aaron Fox is half-black. Moses Reed is white. They share the same mother, and that’s about all. Except for a keen interest in murder investigations. Fox makes six figures a year as a private investigator working for high roller clients on sensitive matters. He’d been an LAPD policeman and hadn’t cared for the restraint offered by the job. The pay also couldn’t afford the luxuries he want, designer clothing and style of living to which he’s become accustomed.

Moses Reed has always carried a chip on his shoulder, always never sure if he was quite good enough to get everything right. He struggles every day for perfection, in mind and body, and hangs on every word from Detective Milo Sturgis.

For years, the two brothers have managed to keep their worlds mostly apart, despite the attempts of their mother. Even though the murder investigations overlap conveniently, because of Fox’s best client and because of a cold case Reed works, I went along with it. Something needed to bring the brothers together, and the kinks in the two investigations really worked for me.

Overall, Kellerman keeps the pacing up and the scenes flowing. The characterization seemed a little thin at times as he worked back and forth between the brothers and the ancillary characters, but they serve the needs of the plot and kept things moving. The action also tended to be a little introverted instead of on the page, and I would have liked a smidgen more bang with the ending.

The dialogue is really good, and there’s a lot of it, which keeps the pages turning quickly. I also liked the way Kellerman worked in his series characters (Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis) and even brought in Petra Connor, who starred in a couple novels of her own. The mix is well done overall, and it reminds regular readers that Kellerman’s worlds all have their own internal logic.

However, the ending was so convoluted that it requires a long confession from the killer to put everything to rights. That was disappointing but I understood why it was necessary because the investigation sprawled all over the place before all the final truths were out.

True Detectives is a good beach read or suited for a rainy weekend, and Kellerman has created a couple of characters I’d really like to see again.

SOMETHING FROM THE NIGHTSIDE by Simon R. Green

Something From The Nightside took me three attempts before I finally got through it. The first time I was reading it, I was busy and couldn’t stay with it. The book is one of those slim volumes packed with energy and excitement that are meant to be devoured in no more than two or three sittings. I couldn’t meet that requirement the first time. So I put the book aside.

A couple of my college students read the book and told me I needed to finish it. I tried, but it was too soon and too much of the book was familiar to me. So I waited about a year, until I had time to sit down and thoroughly immerse myself in Simon R Green’s weird world, and I tackled it again. This time I slid through easily from beginning to end and enjoyed the read. Now there are seven other books for me to pick up and devour as well.

On the surface, this is one of those books that I should love. It’s a bombastic collision between fantasy and private eye noir with British overtones. John Taylor, Green’s interesting hero, has a mysterious tie to the Nightside, the quirky and dangerous city located in the shadows between worlds in downtown London.

Taylor has a cool power: he can find anything. Missing people. Missing weapons. Missing fortunes. Put him on the trail, and he can find it. Abstractly, the power can also be used to find the means to destroy individuals and places, which concerns the denizens of Nightside greatly. Many believe that John Taylor is a walking apocalypse with a short fuse.

Ironically, the one thing that Taylor can’t find is his mother. She left him at an early age and there are lots of mysteries concerning who and what she rarely was.

I really enjoyed Taylor’s laid back character, and his power fascinated me. Green brings him to life on the page almost effortlessly, delineating his likes and dislikes as a matter of course as the investigation proceeds. Initially, Taylor is hired to find the wayward daughter of Joanna Barrett, a rich society woman who shows up at his office. The case takes weird turns and leads Taylor through the more dangerous sides of the Nightside. He hasn’t been back in five years and things have only gotten stranger.

One of the best aspects of the book was the Nightside. I loved imagining a dark world where it’s always 3:00 AM, and the streets are filled with strange and unbelievable people and things. I want to know more about Taylor and his relationship to people in this world, especially Razor Eddie.

The first-person narrative makes the book immediately accessible, and the short length powers through the plot. This isn’t one of those doorstopper fantasies, but the series promises a lot of fun and wonderment to come.

ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS by Brandon Sanderson

I have to admit, the title alone sold me on this book. Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians. I just couldn’t pass it up. Then when I looked at the strange cover, I was definitely hooked. I had it in my hands and just couldn’t put it back on the shelf.

Brandon Sanderson has taken the fiction world by storm, it seems. He rolled out for fantasy novels for adults in quick succession, a standalone book followed by a trilogy, then somehow found time to start writing a YA series on the side. Obviously the author has a lot of stories to tell, and thankfully at least four of them will be about Alcatraz Smedry and his wonderfully wacky family. Oh, and the Evil Librarians as well.

The book begins as many of the YA fantasy novels do these days: with an orphan who possesses a strange destiny and powers to achieve it. Only with Alcatraz, the power doesn’t seem all that marvelous or even desirable. He breaks things. All kinds of things. Once, he claims, he even broke a chicken. Nothing appears to be beyond his power.

On his 13th birthday, Alcatraz receives a birthday present from the father he believed dead for nearly all of those years. Since that time, Alcatraz has lived in one foster home after another, never getting close to anyone because he always manages to break something. Weirdly, the package appears to have been floating around through the postal service and for years, just waiting till his 13th birthday. I was pretty much interested by this time, but I was even more captivated when the birthday present turned out to be a bag of sand.

After burning down his current foster parents’ kitchen, she’s a chef and loves to cook, Alcatraz prepares himself to once more be picked up and carted off to the next set of parents. If anyone will have him. I couldn’t help but feel concerned about Alcatraz at this point, but is you read, you’ll see that Alcatraz isn’t worried all. His strange point of view is one of the most endearing aspects of his character.

Instead of the foster care people, his grandfather arrives. Before Alcatraz can find out why his grandfather has been missing in action all these years, an assassin shows up and tries to kill them. Not only that, but someone has stolen his birthday bag of sand. And Grandfather Smedry insists the fate of the world rests on figuring out where the sand has gone and find out how to get it back.

With all these balls comfortably in the air, Sanderson starts juggling like mad, putting together a compelling first-person narrative complete with wit and sarcasm, a blistering pace filled with tons of action, and more weird magic that tumbles freely across his imagined landscape.

My son and wife put me on to this book because both enjoyed the audio version during a summer trip. They came back regaling me about every adventure Alcatraz had. Well, almost. There were so many things they couldn’t remember them all. Thankfully, that meant a lot of the book was still new and fresh to me, and had plenty of twists and turns I didn’t see coming.

This is one of those wonderful books that is meant to be read out loud. Provided you know your way around dry sarcasm. The second book is out, and the third book is scheduled to be published soon. If you’re missing Harry Potter but would like to share something new and different with your kids, or just read it for yourself, I’d like to recommend the series.

ONCE DEAD, TWICE SHY by Kim Harrison

Kim Harrison has a gift for infusing today’s world with an urban fantasy twist. The author’s obvious love of the supernatural shows in her adult series, The Hollows. Now she’s turned her attention to the popular YA fantasy market with her first book in the Madison Avery series, Once Dead, Twice Shy.

I really enjoy Harrison’s gift for first-person narrative. She manages to crawl right inside her characters and present them as flesh and blood human beings with ease. Madison Avery is a well-rounded, well-developed character and I totally got where she was coming from as the girl just out of step with the rest of the world.

Of course, Madison’s death and resurrection as something more and less than human on her prom night as a junior in high school added another step – but not in the right direction. I like the way she thinks on the page and all the issues she has to deal with at the same time.

However, I have to admit that I felt like I was walking into the middle of everything in this one. I believe Harrison debuted Madison’s origins in a short story in an anthology, then spun the character off into a YA novel/series.

Unfortunately, I ended up having to backtrack the character’s story a lot before I understood everything that was going on and everything that was at stake. For a while there I felt every time the action progressed, I had to deal with some kind of flashback to reintroduce events and characters.

I do enjoy Harrison’s knack for creating a mythology seemingly out of whole cloth. The witch, vampire, and spell background she uses in The Hollows is a lot of fun. The angel riff Harrison plays with in this book seems like it’s going to be a lot of fun as well. Especially since our heroine is playing around with the darker set of powers that exist in the world. The vision of the seraphs with wings flying through the air and wielding swords offers a lot of excitement, and I can’t wait to see where the author takes us from there.

Her dialogue in this book is fantastic. The characters speak the way I believe real teens would given a situation like this. Their concerns seem real and Harrison delivers them in great exchanges.

Her usual sense of pacing seemed a little off in this book, but I think it was because she had to waffle between getting the story down and making sure everyone was brought up to speed regarding prior events. A little patience is required to get through that. Then when everything is revealed, a little more patience is required to understand the supernatural world Harrison has created.

I had a good time with this book, and it dealt with adult issues without resorting to adult language that might offend or shock some unwary readers. Harrison delivers a good story to her readers without leaving the YOUNG adult world too far behind.

THE MYSTERY OF THE THIRD LUCRETIA by Susan Runholt

The Mystery of the Third Lucretia is one of those books readers of all ages and genders want: a story that will immerse you in character and the world that lie within the pages. It’s the first in a new series by a new writer, and I was totally blown away by how well Susan Runholt created her teen sleuths and plunged them into an art-based mystery while keeping the suspense tight and the chuckles at regular intervals.

Officially, the Kari + Lucas series are for the YA crowd, I’m thinking more for the aggressive 9-12 year old readers. The serious YA crowd is looking for vampires, brand names, and sexual tension. You won’t find those things in this book. Instead, there’s a great story, teens that are of this generation that stay focused on friendships, exploring their world, and the mystery they’ve inadvertently stumbled onto.

I love the two characters. Kari (our narrator) is a down-to-earth fourteen year old who enjoys the simple side of life and lives with her single mom, a magazine writer. Lucas (took me a while to get used to that name on a girl) is the daughter of rich, inattentive parents. Lucas is also the feisty one ready to dare anything while Kari likes at least a moment to weigh the risks before her curiosity and Lucas drag her into anything.

The plot revolving around Rembrandt’s two Lucretia paintings was awesome too. I wasn’t familiar with them and I liked discovering the sad story that were behind them. Runholt does a lot with the Lucretia story, sticking up for women’s rights, but she does it without throwing it into the reader’s face.

I had my willing suspension of disbelief bumped a few times with how events turned out. The fact that Kari and Lucas arrived at two different museums and saw the same guy there (in disguise) copying Rembrandt paintings was hard to take, but Runholt’s story is so good you want to believe it and do. Then you get immediately swept up in the puzzle of why Gallery Guy (the girls’ nickname for him) is copying the paintings.

Although the plot is relatively simple, the progression of the mystery is well done. Runholt incorporates a lot of the surroundings of London and Amsterdam, and it’s obvious the author has spent considerable time in those places. Kari and Lucas have to act to pursue the mystery rather than just hanging around waiting for it to unravel itself.

One of the most charming things about the novel is Kari’s first-person narrative. The words read so easily, and Kari’s thinking and attitude come alive on the page. Runholt has a second mystery in the series coming out, Rescuing Seneca Crane, and has more coming. School librarians and parents wanting non-threatening kid-lit for mystery lovers would do well to pick up this series.

TRUST NO ONE by Gregg Hurwitz

Do NOT start Gregg Hurwitz’s new novel Trust No One at the end of a long day when you have to get back up early the next morning. This is the only warning you get.

Hurwitz is a good writer, dependable for action and intrigue. I’ve read his novels and his comic book and I always find myself flipping through the pages till I reach the end of whatever story he’s spieling. I loved last year’s offering, The Crime Writer, which, like Trust No One, is a stand-alone novel. His Tim Rackley books are great, but I really enjoy the way Hurwitz can twist characters and plots till you’re not sure who’s doing what to whom. Or sometime what’s really at stake.

In this book, there are a lot of things at stake. The main character gets woken up in the middle of the night by a Secret Service team that yanks him away and doesn’t give him a choice. He doesn’t know what’s going on, and the event immediately reminds him of the last time he crossed paths with the Secret Service.

Nineteen years ago, at the tender age of seventeen, Nick Horrigan was forced to leave town or be arrested for the murder of his stepfather, a decorated Secret Service agent. Nick’s own father was irresponsible and left the family, but Nick idolized him anyway. In a few short chapters, though, Hurwitz makes us care a lot about his stepfather.

Past and present converge in an explosive encounter that leaves one man dead, and with Nick delivering the murder weapon. The action picks up even from this breathtaking beginning and hammered me to the pages. The first night I admit that I started the book late. I should have known better. I read until I went blind that night, simply couldn’t make out any of the words on the page anymore.

I got up the next morning and marched through the rest of the book without breaking stride. Hurwitz has created a thoroughly enjoyable potboiler involving powerful politics played out against a lethal background of secrets. There are a lot of twists and turns in the book, and every time I seemed to figure an event out, or get to where I could predict how a character would act, Hurwitz threw another curveball into the mix. I enjoyed the relationship Nick has with his mother, her new husband, and her stepdaughter. I especially liked the scene with Induma, his ex-girlfriend.

Hurwitz writes really tight, driving dialogue and I found myself blistering through the scenes at a frantic pace. With the first-person narrative, he’s able to delve deeply into the characters and make me feel like I was carrying Nick Horrigan’s burden part of the way with him, and I rooted for the character from page one.

So, do pick this book up for sheer entertainment, but do block out the time to read it. Hurwitz grabs you by the throat with this one, and he doesn’t let go till he’s finished with you.

KILLER SUMMER by Ridley Pearson

This is my first encounter with Ridley Pearson’s Sheriff Walt Fleming, and Killer Summer was a good blend of mystery/thriller. Now I gotta go back and pick up the other two. I really enjoy the character and all the things he has to face in his life. Despite the fact that the plot lends itself to all the drama in Walt’s life, I know from raising five kids of my own that these things will come at you in the worst of times.

Pearson’s writing is lean and taut. He also introduced enough factoids about wine-making and glider flying and some of the other medical and law enforcement stuff that I enjoyed getting something of an education along the way as well. But those things mixed right into the story line and characters, and proved essential as well.

However, the pacing sacrifices a little of the character development of the ancillary players I wanted to see more of. Janet Finch, the specialist in wine history and wine bottles, seemed to drop right out of sight after her bit in the mystery was done, and I wasn’t really ready to let go of her or the wine expertise she brought to the story.

To be fair, by the time some of the characters that revolve around the wine plot disappeared at the same time the suspense plot kicked into high gear and Walt’s emotionally battered nephew Kevin was in danger.

The first half of the book took a little effort to get into, but Christopher Cantrell’s hijacking of a car in the middle of traffic was cool enough to suck me in almost immediately. Unfortunately, the plot followed side roads for a time, including a jaunt down Walt’s personal life that stuck out, before swinging back into the groove. Then the last half of the book seemed to rush right through things, and a lot of the action shifted off Walt’s efforts to save Kevin while focusing on Kevin’s efforts to save himself.

Still, this is one of those perfect beach reads. Killer Summer has short, compact chapters and an elaborate plot that spins naturally out of the action and the characterization. The book’s engagement and pacing is good for a lazy summer or a few hours in the sun or on a trip.

I enjoyed the feel of organic growth of the books. The references to past cases (two previous books) let me know I’d missed a lot worth reading, but it didn’t throw me off so much that I couldn’t enjoy this book. Now I want to see how all this started, and I want to read the next Walt Fleming novel to find out what happens in this likeable sheriff’s life. One thing is for certain: whatever comes through next isn’t going to be easy, but it will be interesting.

WOLVERINE: PRODIGAL SON by Anthony Johnson & Wilson Tortosa

Wolverine fans that like their hero pure and unadulterated should probably stay away from this “mangafied” version of the character. However, people interested in seeing how Wolverine might have fared had he been brought up steeped in Japanese culture could have a new venue for watching their hero in action as a rebellious (can you believe it?) teen.

I originally bought this book for my 11 year old because he’s interested in anime and manga. Through him, I’ve deepened my curiosity into a love of the art form, especially with The Last Avatar. Since he wasn’t reading Wolverine: Prodigal Son, I picked it up just to spend a few minutes with in between projects. Then I finished it off the next day.

Anthony Johnson wrote the graphic novel, paring the words down on the page to only what was necessary to keep the story moving along. In fact, there’s a chapter in the book that doesn’t have a single word on the page and the story moves along like a jet. His “repurposed” Wolverine as a young man is a bit more sympathetic at the outset, but his origin story is no less dark. By the end of the novel, Wolverine’s innate rebel nature gives way to a full-throttle need for retribution, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Wilson Tortosa is a new artist to me, but a quick search revealed that he comes from manga roots. He’s been the artist on several of the Battle of the Planets comics and graphic novels. I really enjoyed his black and white artwork. The images and the action are both fluid, easy for the eye to pick up and follow along. He also keeps the dialogue-heavy scenes interesting, drawing from different angles or showing different things than I expected. In several action panels, the background all but disappears, but in the more static ones, the background takes on layers.

I enjoyed the story a lot, but it’s not the Wolverine I grew up with. This one has some of the same characteristics, and he throws in the occasional “bub,” but it’s not the same. So far, he has a mysterious past that I can’t see leading to the Weapon X project that later laced his bones with adamantium, but who knows what’s in store next?

Since this is manga and set apart from Wolverine’s life in the Marvel Comics Universe, I suppose the heroes are going to be missing as well. Including the X-Men. But I really do like the support characters he has now. The father figure and the younger sister/rival/potential love interest fit the bill quite nicely at the moment, though I’m sure with some of the baddies we already see lurking around in the background that those numbers will multiply.

Wolverine: Prodigal Son is a great, tight little read that will definitely pass time for anyone used to the character that doesn’t take offense at the new take. As an adult, I enjoyed the story a lot and the size makes it convenient to throw in a coat pocket or computer messenger bag for reading during down time. For the younger set, this is a story that can be easily understood and enjoyed. I’d really recommend this one for struggling or reluctant readers.