Review of 'Anno-Dracula' by Kim Newman

Imagine yourself back to Victorian London: the time of Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, Sherlock Holmes... Imagine, more specifically, the novel 'Dracula.' Imagine that Van Helsing failed.

This novel deals with the aftermath of such a failure... the success of Count Dracula's incursion into England and the propagation of his vampiric bloodline. Vampirism becomes more than myth in this story; it has become an accepted part of modern existence. It has bred new levels of society. But it has also bred Silver Knife; a vampire killer acting in Whitechapel. The principle characters of this novel include Genevieve, an elder vampire, older than Count Dracula and from a different bloodline, and Charles Beauregard, a member of a mysterious secret society, who has been ordered to investigate Silver Knife. The novel investigates the effect of vampirism on Victorian society, in the context of a variety of characters from different walks of life, and all coming back to the killer, Silver Knife.

The author has remained true to the original Dracula vampire legend, except for the vampiric abhorrence of religious artifacts, which has been written-off as superstition in this novel. The writer has also expanded some of the myths to include a series of different Vampire bloodlines, which encompass a variety of strengths and powers that are not available to all vampires. For example, the ability to shape-change seems to exist exclusively within Count Dracula's bloodline. The author has obviously thought in great detail about these differences and similarities, and carefully explores them through the whole course of the novel. Everything is given away in slow, easy steps so that readers find themselves drawn further and further into the world, until it seems completely real and believable.

While the predominant plot in the novel, the search for Silver Knife, seems relatively simple, the way in which it is developed and explored leaves a much greater insight into the society the author has created. This story is not a murder mystery with vampires; it is a much more detailed account, showing how people have changed and adapted to something that seems mostly inconceivable. Throughout some of the book, the Silver Knife murders seem almost incidental, just a background on which to paint a rich story of life in Victorian London under the Vampire.

The novel makes it incredibly easy to suspend disbelief. The characters, both primary and incidental, are utterly believable, even when they reach into the fantastical. There are repeated mentions of characters from the time (both real and fictional) and how they have fitted themselves into the new world that has arisen, which makes the book slip far more easily from fantasy into potential reality. On occasion, modern attitudes creep into the novel, which sometimes do not entirely seem to fit the time period. At other times the more graphic descriptions do border on the gratuitous, but for the most part, even these things allow the reader to be more thoroughly immersed in the world that has been created.

Whether the reader is looking for a ripping-yarn plot, and intriguing story line, or a beautifully described world and characters, this book delivers, in excellent style. Above this, it is possibly the best vampire novel I have ever read.

Review of 'Goodnight Lady' by Martina Cole.

This novel is about a family with five daughters, the Cavanaghs, who were born in the deepest of poverty at the beginning of the 20th century. Their way out of this poverty was a rather reprehensible member of the middle classes. Briony was the second eldest of the five. She had a burning ambition to leave life in the slums behind, and she will stop at nothing to get what she wants. The novel winds its way from her childhood, aged 10 or 11, all the way up to her late old age. She starts a chain of whore-houses, is a notorious east-end 'madam.' Her and her consort, Tommy Lane, become undisputed rulers of the East End. She passes on the torch to younger members of the family, but she keeps her hand in. Throughout her life, she's the one that everyone goes to when they need a hand out of a fix. She's the archetypal strong female lead.

The story is quite well written, and most of the characters have a depth that makes them believable, at least most of the time. Briony and her sisters have surprisingly modern attitudes, considering that they were born at the beginning of the last century, but you can tell that they are very conscious that the rest of the world at that time does not think the same way. And despite the fact that the main character runs a string of brothels, you can't help but have a grudging respect for the way she treats people, the way she does what she feels she must, and the way that, to her, family always comes first.

Martina Cole's writing style sometimes detracts from the important character traits by over-emphasizing them. She will state things explicitly that should, perhaps, be left unsaid so that the reader can make up their own mind about the characters. Also, readers expecting, or wanting, a twisting-turning plot will be somewhat disappointed. This is definitely the story of a life. It details events that happen along the way, and how they shape the people. This in itself can be a good thing, but there is no coherent plot line, no thread to string you along through the story.

With Goodnight Lady, Martina Cole has produced an entertaining novel that deals with some evocative themes. However, consistent readers of Martina Cole may find there is a recurrence of certain themes and some repetitiveness in style and characterisation. If this had been the first Martina Cole novel I had ever read, I would probably have enjoyed it a lot more. I would recommend it to people who were looking for a good crime novel, but only if they had not read any work by the same author.