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
About the Author
One of the most popular stories ever told, Dracula (1897) has been re-created for the stage and screen hundreds of times in the last century. Yet it is essentially a Victorian saga, an awesome tale of thrillingly bloodthirsty vampire whose nocturnal atrocities reflect the dark underside of a supremely moralistic age. Above all, Dracula is a quintessential story of suspense and horror, boasting one of the most terrifying characters in literature: centuries-old Count Dracula, whose diabolical passions prey upon the innocent, the helpless, the beautiful. Bram Stoker, who was also the manager of the famous actor Sir Henry Irving, wrote seventeen novels. Dracula remains his most celebrated and enduring work -- even today this Gothic masterpiece has lost none of the spine-tingling impact that makes it a classic of the genre.