Bloodline (review)

The horrors of trench warfare in World War I are the opening backdrop for the maniacal killing sprees of Captain Quincey Harker, the latest scion of the house of Dracul. Newly arrived Lieutenant John Shaw witnesses it all (and writes it in his journal) before going mad and being sent to a sanatorium in his English hometown, where he falls for Mary Seward, a lovely young nurse. During John's brief lunatic ravings before he is restored to full sanity, Mary reads his journal—and a good thing, too, since Captain Harker himself soon descends upon their little town, ingratiating himself with Lily, John's delicately nurtured sister. John and Mary fail to stop Lily from eloping with Captain Harker to the family castle in Transylvania; however, Mary's father, having aided Van Helsing to dispatch Count Dracula some thirty-five years previously, has an old leather bag full of stakes, crucifixes, holy wafers, and garlic all ready to go. Pages from Van Helsing's journal enlighten John and Mary as they travel by ship and carriage to rescue Lily from her demonic fiancé. The story, told in journals and letters, employs a flowery style that lends itself well to the characters' histrionic vapors and bosom-heaving. Lily records in her journal every detail of her sexy encounters with Harker, yet she fails to realize that her lover has punctured and not penetrated her. At the other extreme, sultry vampiress Mina offers readers a titillating glimpse into sadistic, homosexual, and orgiastic bloodsucking. All the characters are thin as cardboard, and the convoluted plot is highly improbable, but together they result in an undeniably erotic melodrama. In spite of (or perhaps because of) this novel's tempestuous superficiality, fans of gothic fiction in general and Van Helsing in particular will want to get their hands on this latest incarnation of the Dracula mythos.