Stoker's Manuscript by Royce Prouty - A Honest Book Review

I had a tough time with Royce Prouty's; Stoker's Manuscript. I loved the subject matter and the premise but felt the delivery of the novel to be disjointed and uneven. Much like a good movie torn apart on the editing floor.

..."You already did, by agreeing to go. There's danger there, a type not like here. You won't like what you see, Joseph, and you'll never be able to purge it from your memory."
"Can I have your blessing?"
"If only I could," he said. "Where you are going, God's eyes do not watch."...

Joseph Barkeley, a manuscript authenticator, is commissioned to procure the original draft and notes of Bram Stoker's classic novel, Dracula. The buyer is from the oldest family in Transylvania and wants the manuscript delivered to the legendary Castel Bram in Romania. The birthplace of Joseph, where he was orphaned as a child.

In researching the piece Joseph finds that the original manuscript has a different beginning and ending than does the novel that has been published since. In the notes there are passages of graveyards and secret burials. Barkeley travels to Romania with the manuscript and finds that the buyer is descended from Vlad the Impaler, whom the character of Dracula was based upon. It is this descendant who wishes the forgotten text of the manuscript to find the most desired of the what the family needs to carry on. This descendant who is far more than he seems.

..."Herr Barkeley." My host shook a finger at me. "Beware the dark."
"I'll be careful."
"Die Todten reiten schnell...faster than you." The dead travel fast...

Much like Jonathan Harker before him, Joseph Barkeley embarks on his mission and steps directly into the web of darkness and vampires. Unlike Harker, Joseph finds his own family history tied to the legends of the Castel Bram. Until he must decide whether his actions will increase the power of evil or if he can destroy it.

Unfortunately, unlike the heroes and heroines of Dracula, you never really feel like rooting for Barkeley. His depressive attitude and self serving greed make him pretty unlikeable. His actions contribute to the deaths of those he holds dear as he falls in servitude to the Dark Prince. The Dark Prince himself is poorly rendered image of a vampire that has survived for centuries untold yet loses a debate with Joseph over the merits of his faith in Christianity.

When you decide to take on something like Bram Stoker's Dracula and expand on the original; there should be a sense of respect for the original that demands a much better effort.

Overall the premise and subject could have been done much better. This book will leave you with a sense of so much promise and yet so little delivered.