DRACULA’S REVENGE is the latest novella (more like a short
novel, really) from Charles R. Rutledge to feature occult detective Carter
Decamp and homicide detective Jennifer Grail, as well as the first story I’ve
read with these characters. One of Jennifer’s cases involves a bizarre murder
in which the victim was drained of blood. That leads to a violent encounter in
the morgue with a body that’s supposed to be dead, and faced with something
like that, what else is she going to do but call on her old friend Decamp for
help, since he’s an expert on supernatural matters.
Their investigation leads them to a small town on the Georgia coast. There’s a
deserted mansion, an abandoned paper mill, a bunch of missing young women, and
a guy who’s the descendant of an English couple who may have been the real
people upon whom Bram Stoker based some of the characters in DRACULA. On top of
that, you’ve got a mysterious giant who may be lacking the flat head and neck
bolts, but he’s pretty clearly the Frankenstein monster . . .
You might not think that a blend of hardboiled police procedural and classic
horror would work that well, but you’d be wrong. It works great. Rutledge takes
a very interesting approach, establishing a world in which Dracula and
Frankenstein are well known as fictional characters, but unknown to most, the original
novels were based on actual events. As such, the monsters that show up in this
yarn bear much more resemblance to their literary ancestors than they do to
their movie counterparts.
In addition to that intriguing angle, Rutledge provides plenty of well-done
action scenes and keeps the pace moving along at a very satisfying clip.
Jennifer Grail and Carter Decamp are good characters, as well, and I want to
read more about them. DRACULA’S REVENGE is a very entertaining tale, and I give
it a high recommendation.
