Did you love the story in the book Dracula by Bram Stroker? (Click here to read my review of that book.). Did you also enjoy the style of the book The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova? (Read my review of that book here.) If so, then Hambly’s book is your next read.

Readers who are familiar with the story line and characters in Stoker’s book, will have no trouble falling right into Hambly’s book. Much of the action that takes place in Dracula happens in this book too, but, from the point of view of the character Renfield, (who is Dracula’s slave in both books). Renfield is “connected” to Dracula, and also to his three wives, and as a result, is able to “watch” the events that are going on that involved the other characters, despite the fact that he, himself, is locked in a mental hospital for a big chunk of the book. It was a nice treat to “visit with” many of the characters from Stoker’s book, once again, and the viewpoint from inside Renfield’s head was an interesting twist.

Hambly includes some passages from Stoker’s book, mostly in the form of letters or journal entries that were written by one of the main characters. The inclusion of letters and journals was something that was done very well in Kostova’s book, so, if you enjoy that form of narrative, you can get a little of that here.

I would strongly advise reading Stoker’s book before you try reading Hambly’s, so you have a good idea of who all the characters are before you jump into this book. Also, it’s more fun if you know the original story, so you can see where Hambly played around with it, in my opinion. If you happen to like stories about vampires, this book will interest you. I found Hambly’s book to be easier to read than Stoker’s was, in part because I already knew the characters and had a good guess about many of the events that were going to take place. Hambly’s book is more recent, so, you don’t end up reading confusing chapters about a ship trying to navigate a storm told by three or more minor characters, all of whom are speaking with a different accent and using different slang, (which you do find in Stoker’s book). This book ends in a completely different way than Dracula does, as Renfield attempts to gain his freedom. Dracula fans will love this book.

Inspired by some recent conversations I had with a friend of mine, I decided that now is the time to read this book of ghost stories that my sister-in-law was kind enough to give to me. (Thank you!) She knew I would like it. This book can be found in the travel sections of bookstores, and not the fiction section. You pretty much have to already believe in the existence of ghosts as a “given” in order to enjoy this book.

The book is filled with stories of encounters with ghosts in many different places in California. Many of these stories are about ghosts who are currently still haunting some specific place. One could just about plan a paranormal road trip this summer and use this book to decide on where to go visit. At least, that is what I want to do now that I have read this book.

Some of the stories end with a similar disappointing theme that goes something like : “…. and the ghost was never seen or heard from again after that…..”. Visiting those places won’t do you any good now. The best story is about the ship The Queen Mary that seems to be haunted by several ghosts, including Winston Churchill, and the ghost of an Irish Setter dog. You can’t beat that!

This book is part of a series of ghost stories that the author has collected. So, if you like this book, there is more where it came from.