An Old Friend of the Family

Dracula has vowed an immortal guardianship of the family of his now-undead love, Mina Harker. The Southerlands are the current descendants, living in Chicago. Unfortunately, for them, Vlad has an ancient enemy who uses this link to set a trap for him. A brutal, bloody trap.

Honour, romance, blood, death, and the human struggle to fight for family and love, even in the face of impossible odds.

It all culminates in the kind of snowstorm that shuts down major cities, isolating everyone and ensuring that no help can come. Kate Southerland, her fiance (kind of) Joe, and her family are alone against an ancient vampire, a giant vampire, and the unknown.

Well... alone, except for one dedicated angel of vengeance: Vlad Tepes.

Still enjoying this show more series. Looking forward to [b:Thorn|16493|Thorn (Dracula Series, #4)|Fred Saberhagen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1393479464l/16493._SY75_.jpg|18185]. show less

The book cover says this is "Saberhagen's first vampire novel," Goodreads says it's #3 in a series.
It appears to work as a standalone.

I've previously read most of Saberhagen's 'swords' series; I believe this is the first I've read by him that isn't part of that series. However, it's pretty much what I expected - an easy, quick-moving, entertaining read without too much depth or complexity to it.

Set in the 70's (it was published in 1979, so it was meant to be contemporary, but the setting is so strongly 70's it feels like a period piece), a group of vampires decide to destroy an innocent family.

The teenage daughter is murdered; the teenage son is kidnapped. In desperation, the mother of the family conducts an old family ritual - surely show more just superstition? But soon, a kindly old doctor arrives to help. As this is the 'Dracula' series, it's not a spoiler to say that the doctor, who introduces himself as an old family friend, is actually Dracula. show less

I just reread this. Fast read & pretty good. The old friend of the family is a vampire, but unlike the sex-ridden paranormal romances, this one is more of a straight line from Stoker's original to 'modern' (it was written in the 60's, I think) day. While this is the third book in the series, you can easily start the series here. Reading the first two doesn't add a lot. I would suggest reading this one before going on to any of the others.

If you are a fan of Saberhagen's Sword series you owe to yourself to check our his Dracula series. This is the third in the series and it is just as entertaining as the first.

I read this while on a cruise of the Mediterranean. It was a good book, and turned out better than the next several books that followed.

Listened to this in audio: Excellent.

This was actually the first book of the series I originally read. Enjoyed it then (some time in the late 80s?), enjoyed it now!

The best of this long series.