Dracul by Dacre Stoker & J.D. Barker

From Goodreads

The prequel to Dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by the author of the classic novel, Dracul is a riveting novel of gothic suspense that reveals not only Dracula's true origins but Bram Stoker's -- and the tale of the enigmatic woman who connects them.

It is 1868, and a twenty-one-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here...

A sickly child, Bram spent his early days bedridden in his parents' Dublin home, tended to by his caretaker, a young woman named Ellen Crone. When a string of strange deaths occur in a nearby town, Bram and his sister Matilda detect a pattern of bizarre behavior by Ellen -- a mystery that deepens chillingly until Ellen vanishes suddenly from their lives. Years later, Matilda returns from studying in Paris to tell Bram the news that she has seen Ellen -- and that the nightmare they've thought long ended is only beginning .... 

My thoughts

My thanks to the Publishers via NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this a 4 stars or 8/10. I found it a very plausible prequel to Dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by Bram Stoker, the great grand uncle of Dacre Stoker.

This story is a story of several parts, the first part I struggled with a bit as I found it not as interesting as other parts. It tells the early years of Bram as a sickly child and how he was looked after by a woman named Ellen Crone. As events nearby to Bram's home begin to happen, it's not long before the furtive imagination of Bram and his sister Matilda go into overdrive and they suspect that Ellen might be involved with the events. Eventually Ellen disappears without trace from their lives and they are at a loss as to where she has gone.

In a later part on her return from Paris, Matilda is convinced that she has seen Ellen and that her appearance appears to have not changed as if she hasn't aged the years that she should have done. Did she really see her or not and if so, how can she not have aged in that time? I found that I got on a lot better with the story as Bram and Matilda became older in the later parts of the story and that it moved at a much faster pace then.

I enjoyed this prequel to Dracula, I have to admit that whilst I've seen many films starring him I've never read the novel by Bram Stoker. This was a story that I chose as a Halloween inspired read. I found it well written and at times you wonder whether it's actually fact or fiction, as there appears to be a lot of factual inspiration to the story.

I do enjoy J.D. Barker's writing and have never read any work of Dacre Stoker before. I do intend reading the sequel that he has written to Dracula and also reading Dracula itself at some point. I hope that this is not the last story that they work on together.

If you like your horror fiction with lots of gothic history then this is definitely the story for you.