Review: Draculas by Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, F. Paul Wilson, Jeff Strand

A humanoid skull with long, sharp teeth is found in a field on a Romanian farm.  Mortimer Moorecook, dying of cancer, pays an obsene amount of money for the skull to add to his collection.  When the package arrives, under the watchful eye of Shanna, his research assistant, Mortimer pierces his neck with the skull’s teeth and immediately begins convulsing. 

He’s rushed to the ER of Blessed Crucifixion, a remote hospital.  When he arrives, he codes and dies…or does he?  Within minutes, Mortimer jumps from his bed and begins attacking everyone within his reach.  He has been transformed into a horrible creature and the transformation isn’t pretty: 

Mortimer’s teeth. Something was happening to them. They were falling out—no—he was spitting them out, spitting them at the doctor and the nurses who were frantically trying to coax him off the gurney…Mortimer’s finger bones—the phalanges—were extending out through his fingertips, splitting the skin and coming to five sharp points…His cheeks exploded like a grenade had gone off inside his mouth, white points bursting through his lips, shearing flesh, digging rents into his face.
 
His new teeth began to elongate—an inch, two inches, bursting through his bleeding gums in rows that ended in wicked, dagger-like tips. They shredded his mouth into jagged strips, and he began to snap his jaws, chewing through the inside of his mouth, grinding off his cheeks all the way back to his earlobes, making room for his monstrous new dentata.

Those who are bitten, in turn, become “draculas” themselves and suddenly the hospital is overflowing with the dreadful creatures. 

Looking for an outstanding “sparkle-free” vampire novel? Then this is the one for you!  DRACULAS is advertised as being the “Anti-Twilight.” The storyline is completely unique and innovative.  The characters completely drive this roller coaster ride of horror : Randall, a lumberjack in the hospital for injuring his leg with his own chain saw; Clayton, a gun-wielding sheriff; Jenny, Mortimer’s nurse & Randall’s ex-wife; Adam, a young priest at the hospital with his wife, awaiting the delivery of their first child; Dr. Lanz, a cocky, drug-addicted ER doctor; and Benny the clown….who just won’t die. 

The book starts off with a warning by Joe Konrath, one of the authors: 

I grew up reading books where vampires were scary.

This novel is an attempt to make them scary again.

This is NOT a collection of short stories. It’s a single, complete novel.

And it’s going to freak you out. 

If you’re easily disturbed, have a weak stomach, or are prone to nightmares, stop reading right now. There are no sexy teen heartthrobs herein. 

You have been warned. 

Heed his warning; DRACULAS is full of gore and horror, a lot of what is missing in today’s “vampire fiction.”  A lot of talent has gone in to writing this book, all four authors are well-known in the horror genre.  Each of the authors went in to this project hoping to write the most frightening book they could, and I think they have perservered!

While I completely LOVED DRACULAS, it definitely isn’t for everyone.  Heed Kilborn’s warning.  It will scare you.  But if you have a stomach of steel and can handle that sort of thing, READ IT!