Steven Hopstaken & Melissa Prusi
Before I start, I have a confession to make. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is one of my favourite books of all time. Having read the premise, I was rather dubious about Stoker’s Wilde, and was half expecting to hate it, but I needn’t have worried – it was excellent.
A fictionalised (one assumes) Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde receive their first introduction to the world of the supernatural when a distinguished friend of the Wilde family invites them on a hunt for the killer of a young barmaid in Ireland, cementing their reluctant connection. Despite their best efforts, later events in London bring them back together in order to fight a much greater threat.
The novel is written in epistolary form, as a series of letters, diary entries and other documents, and this method of story-telling along with the style of writing remind me very much of Dracula.
The authors have obviously done a lot of research on Stoker, and have seamlessly woven events from his life into the storyline. I’m not particularly au fait with Wilde’s life or works, so can’t say the same for his storyline, but it fits with what little I know. Some of the other main characters are taken from real life or related fiction, and trying to remember who and what came from where ticked along in the back of my mind whilst I was reading.
All in all, a very enjoyable read. I really didn’t want it to end.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
