The structure-a story within a letter within a flashback-is an innovative complication, but it is soon shaken off by the swift-moving plot. Kostova's knowledge of occult arcana is impressive, and she packages her erudition in a graceful narrative that only occasionally lapses into melodrama. His daughter's quest to find him is interwoven with letters that reveal the past in full. Halfway through his tale, which is told over several sessions in various atmospheric European locations, he vanishes. 11)."In this smart retelling of the Dracula story, a young girl's discovery of a mysterious book, blank save for a sinister woodcut of a dragon, impels her father to divulge, reluctantly, details of his vampire-hunting days back in grad school. Simultaneous release with the Little, Brown hardcover (Reviews, Apr. The eerie swelling string music is a nice touch. His accent and delivery is exactly the stereotypical vampire voice used by everyone from Bela Lugosi to Sesame Street
Most disappointing, though, is the voice of Dracula himself. Paul's tale is supposed to be a secret, painfully pried from him by his daughter for whose safety he fears, but Boutsikaris recites it in a nonchalant and impersonal way. Listeners learn about a centuries-long vampire hunt from a historian, Paul (Boutsikaris), as he slowly tells the saga of his covert research to his teenage daughter (Whalley, whose lush whispery voice and conspiratorial attitude is most convincing). With six actors (including Martin Jarvis, Jim Ward, Rosalyn Landor and Robin Atkin Downe) playing twice as many roles, the audio would benefit from a listing of the cast and characters rather than the unhelpful "in order of appearance" credit on the box.
Though the audiobook doesn't quite drive a stake through its heart, neither does it do it any favors. It would take a lot to kill a runaway bestseller like Kostova's debut.
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