I’ve been a fan of Doug Lamareux’s writing since I read The Devil’s Bed. I had a blast reading that book, so I was looking forward to this one. As I got into the first chapter I stopped and went, Oh, one of those. I’m not a fan of literary writing like Moby Dick, Grapes of Wrath, etc. To me, it’s like reading technical manuals. But I was intrigued by the story matter and I knew if Doug wrote it, it had to be an awesome tale. I was not disappointed. There are no surprise endings here, as we know what happened after Dracula arrived in England. This is Doug’s version of what happened to the sailing ship Demeter and her unlucky crew. Better known as Fanfiction.

Fanfiction has gotten a bad rap as a lot of it is badly written garage. But not this book. If you love Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, you will not be disappointed. I was impressed by how well-written the story was, the research involved, and the professional editing and proofreading. Rare commodities in Indie books or small presses. I did feel there was a tad bit too much background and detail. I found myself nodding off a few times with all the nautical terms.

As for the characters, there was a wide range of them, from different backgrounds, that happened to be on that ill-fated trip. It was confusing at first about who was who. Especially when being referred to by their positrons on the crew, such as first or second. But as one by one, they met their horrific fates, I felt for each one of them. And horrific they were. Yes, he threw in spiders. ECK! You can’t help but fell sorry for Harrington, Swales, and Ekaterina. They were just pawns in Dracula’s game. Speaking of pawns, Jonathan Harker, Lucy, Mina, and Renshaw were woven seamlessly into the storyline, anchoring this tale firmly into the legend of Dracula.

If you love reading literary masterpieces written in the vein of true Gothic horror, you really need to buy this book. I give it 4 fangs. ( )