The Secret Life of Laszlo, Count Dracula

I must say that I have mixed feelings about this book. It is well written and feels real, although in places strangely out of context and anachronistic (as already noted by other reviewers) All in all I did enjoy the book and it was even more interesting to read since I knew beforehand that the author is a trained psychiatrist. You do get the feeling and understanding what a person of this nature thinks. The author does not try to explain the actions of the protagonist. A wise decision in my view and one that added to the impact of the events and dialog. It created an eerie quality to the narrative.

The problem that the language was clearly not of the period did not disturb me as much as a number of anachronisms. For example, one of the show more characters comments that the murders resemble that committed by Jack the Ripper. According to the journal this was said in April 1888, whilst the actual murders occurred in the fall of that same year. The only reason I bring this up is because the writer is an academic and I would expect more from such a person. Maybe this was corrected in the final version and what I noticed was only a result of the fact that I read an advanced readers copy. show less

Eloquent. That’s just the perfect description for this story and the way it’s written. Having never read Dracula, I think this is a great insight to his world. I truly genuinely enjoyed the book for its different perspective. Most books that usually get into a character and make him grow with the reader usually lose interest at one point of their life. But the author kept each time period very well put together. I think it’s a great novel not for the mystery but the slow descent into the character of Dracula. Yeah, emphasis on the slow because the character himself can’t tell he’s becoming the monster until quite the very end. So I recommend this book to all those lovers of quiet suspense books, not necessarily vampires or show more mystery novel fans because that’s not the main plot of the story. I doubt the new vampire fans would enjoy this book, by all means try it out because it sure surprised me. I’m tempted to give this book a solid 5/5 because I seriously can’t think of anything negative for this book. Well, 4.5/5 because it was a tad longer than expected and didn’t have a lot of gruesome scenes as the other reviews have suggested (hey girl’s gotta have some horror in her books, hehe). show less

Eloquent. That’s just the perfect description for this story and the way it’s written. Having never read Dracula, I think this is a great insight to his world. I truly genuinely enjoyed the book for its different perspective. Most books that usually get into a character and make him grow with the reader usually lose interest at one point of their life. But the author kept each time period very well put together. I think it’s a great novel not for the mystery but the slow descent into the character of Dracula. Yeah, emphasis on the slow because the character himself can’t tell he’s becoming the monster until quite the very end. So I recommend this book to all those lovers of quiet suspense stories, not necessarily vampires or show more mystery novel fans because that’s not the main plot of the story. I doubt the new vampire fans would enjoy this book, by all means try it out because it sure surprised me. I’m tempted to give this book a solid 5/5 because I seriously can’t think of anything negative for this book. Well, 4.5/5 because it was a tad longer than expected and didn’t have a lot of gruesome scenes as the other reviews have suggested (hey girl’s gotta have some horror in her books, hehe).

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Interesting take on Dracula. Gets a little long but has parts that make it so you can't stop reading. A lot like a car crash, horrible but you can't look away.

Laszlo is a medical student who becomes Count through the loss of his parents and older brother. The details and descriptions at parts in this book were quite gripping, though some of it was rather hard to follow as well.

Unfortunately, I was unable to finish this book. The book was misprinted and the publisher said they are no longer printing copies and that I would have to go purchase another copy somewhere if I want to know how it ends. I was appalled that the publisher couldn't even email me the end of the novel. I paid full price for a book that was faulty because of the publisher and then THEY expected me to go buy another copy....not likely.

What I was able to read of the book was good. I enjoyed the twist on the vampire story. Unfortunately, I'll likely never know how it ends.

At times it was a bit boring and took longer to read, but there were also some intriguing parts. Such a weird reading experience - a windmill or slightly dull to absolutely fascinating.