Harper

Well, a vampire zombie fest is not my normal reading but this is very good. It is a combination of Will Smith's I am Legend and Sean of the Dead (may be I'm a bit cynical but I can see the funny side!), together with some good old blood sucking thrown in to the mix!

A short prologue introduces us to Scott and his wife, as their son dies unexpectedly and unexplained. We then meet the main character, Scott Henderson, again three years later. Scott has turned his back on his once affluent life, divorced and moved to the beach. His life is pretty boring - he gets up, goes to work, goes home, doesn't sleep much and then gets up and goes to work again at a local restaurant - as a waiter and sometimes chef; and although anyone would be screwed up after the death of their child, we learn more about his guilt as the story progresses.

I consider Fred Astaire as one of my hero's and it was a wonderful insight into reading this, his autobiography. For me, Fred Astaire had a je ne sais quoi about him - it was in the way he danced, obviously, but it was also the way he walked into a room, and the way he talked. He also had a certain way of singing - I have a sublime album of him singing with the Oscar Peterson Trio (who were the house band for Verve records, and recorded at many of the Jazz at the Philharmonic). His style is so relaxed and inflexive - laid back and listening to it is like floating off on a breeze.

A rollercoaster ride of a novel successfully marrying Bram Stokers original manuscript with historical figures, such as Jack The Ripper and the infamous Countess Bathory. (for those un-enlightened souls, Countess Bathory was the basis of the 1971 film "Countess Dracula" starring Ingrid Pitt) Dacre and Holt manage to pull off, what could be considered, the impossible - crafting a plausible and enlightened sequel to one of the most popular of all horror stories of all time. ..read more

I don't usually read vampire books, especially all the modern urban fantasy ones, but 'Dracula: the Un-Dead' is very different - it is the official sequel to Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' the book that started it all - and written by his great grand nephew, Dacre Stoker with Ian Holt!

Having seen the original film the graphic novel didn't add anything to my cinema experience, in fact I feel that it cheapened it. With the new sequel coming out called 28 Weeks Later it seems that the publisher has jumped on the band wagon and allowed somebody to produce a supporting story that was wholly unnecessary and at times almost confusing.