Book - BookDetective

Name: Thorn

Author: Fred Saberhagen
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ISBNs:
9781511398633
1511398639

I rereading this, again. It's 4th in the series & you should read book 3, if no others in the series first. It's not at all like the vampire romances so popular today. More of a modern day take on Stoker's work. It was the first of the series that I read way back when & it hooked me, so I slowly gathered the rest & read them out of order years ago. Reading them in order is a treat.Dracula himself is Thorn, the writer of the book. He's involved in a modern (1970 or so) murder story, chasing after a painting that he rightfully owns, but hasn't had in his possession for about 500 years. The story line flips back & forth between the present & the story revolving around the creation & his ownership of the painting 500 years ago. The history he provides is accurate, so far as I can tell from a little research. The dates, people & places are correct. As for the actual events, motivations & such, well it is fiction - well done fiction. The dry tone of the modern thread is told in the third person & contains a lot of subtle humor, often while describing Dracula's attempts to deal with modern technology. There's a sentence to the effect that he's had more than a few bad wrecks while driving, but none were his fault. Demonic devices and stupid people who aren't nearly as well equipped as he is to survive such things.The historical thread is told in the first person & is pretty gritty on occasion. The late 15th century was a pretty tough time for all concerned & his descriptions of some of the major players of that time in Italy is really interesting.Highly recommended. Note: I need to get a new paperback as mine is falling apart. Even the tape can't keep it together any more.