Review: Dacre Stoker’s stirring ‘Dracula: The Un-Dead’ reinvents the Dark Prince

Dacre Stoker writes sequel to Bram’s classic

“Dracula: The Un-Dead” (Dutton, 424 pages, $26.95) by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt: Long before Edward Cullen of the “Twilight” series and Bill Compton of HBO’s “True Blood,” there was the original vampire, Bram Stoker’s Prince Dracula, in the gothic horror novel “Dracula.”

Now, more than 100 years later, Dacre Stoker, the great-grandnephew of the famed Irish novelist, and Ian Holt, have written a sequel, “Dracula: The Un-Dead.”

The sequel begins in 1912, 24 years later, and it revisits original characters Mina and Jonathan Harker, Dr. Jack Seward, Arthur Holmwood and famed vampire hunter Dr. Abraham Van Helsing.

The Harkers’ marriage has been strained since Mina was seduced by the Dark Prince. Her youthful appearance and insatiable sexual appetite — conditions of the blood exchange — serve as a constant reminder of her betrayal. Concern mounts for the Harkers’ son, Quincey, as he pursues a career in the theater against his father’s wishes. He is mentored by a mysterious Romanian actor.

Seward, now a morphine addict, and Holmwood, who is stranded in a marriage of convenience, still pine for their lost love, Lucy Westenra. The sequel offers an alternate explanation for Lucy’s death, casting doubt on Dracula’s involvement.

Actual events and historical figures are woven into this work of fiction, which puts a new spin on the Jack the Ripper murders and incorporates Elizabeth Bathory, the 16th-century Hungarian countess accused of killing hundreds of women. It was said that Bathory bathed in the blood of virgins to retain her youth.

Dacre pays homage to Bram by casting him as a character in the sequel and making the original novel a focal point of the story. When Quincey reads “Dracula,” he discovers it has details about his family that are too specific to be coincidence. The book is the impetus for Quincey’s discovery of his parents’ perilous dealings and his mother’s disloyalty.

One may wonder whether Bram would have approved of the contemporary Dracula, who has been reinvented as a romantic hero. The sequel stands on its own, without the original novel, and opens the possibility of a third book by Dacre.