The Immortal Dracula (2020) by Robin Bailes.
GoodReads meta-data is 305 pages, 4.67 by a paltry three litizens. Read faster you lot!
Genre: Pastiche.
Verdict: Razor tongue strikes again.
The redoubtable Maggie has been burrowing away in Romania when…. This is the fourth title in Bailes’s series of tributes to the Universal Horror films. In her archeological pursuits Maggie usually works with Amy. Confronted with a problem on a dig, they had a division of labor; Amy retires to the library to research it, while Maggie hits it with a spade to see what happens.
The title gives away quite a bit, but Maggie didn’t read it and when trudging through the snow during a winter storm in the Carpathian Mountains she is glad of a welcome and a warm fire in the Gothic castle on the hilltop; she shows no surprise to meet the Lord….Dracula. He’s kindly old gent, bit pale, but it is deep in a long winter, and he keeps telling her to unwrap the scarf from her neck… Keep the spade handy, Maggie! Readers want you on deck for later titles in this series.
The time line is fractured but immortals like Dracula don’t wear watches and the cast of characters got lost on me. I did think too much was made of the English village doctor in the first third of the book and then he more or less disappears. But in general Bailes ties up all the loose ends by the last page! Can one say of the Count: The End?
Bailes hosts a zinger You Tube channel called My Dark Corner of this Sick World on which he savages bad movies once a week, and more. Highly recommended for the brilliant editing and razor sharp commentary in 5 – 7 minutes. Plus you can chart his ever changing hair styles and speculate on the reasons why at no extra charge.