Staff Pick
A key element in horror fiction that is sometimes overlooked is the presence of the unexplained or merely suggested, showing the reader the shadows without revealing what's hidden behind them. Stoker is a master of this in Dracula — the story is at its disturbing best when it leaves something to the imagination. Plus, there's a scene near the beginning that predates Regan's backward crab-crawl in The Exorcist by almost 70 years. Recommended By Helena F.W., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Bram Stoker's classic novel of suspense and horror was a bestseller in Britain when it was published in 1897. A late 20th-century biographer of Stoker has suggested that famed Victorian actor Henry Irving, for whom Stoker worked for many years, was an inspiration for some of Count Dracula's characteristics.