Book review
Written by C.C. Humphreys
Orion hardback/paperback
Release date Out now (hardback); 11 June 2009 (paperback)

The "true" tale of Vlad Dracul – the basis for all the myths that followed...

This is an unusual book from Humphreys, whose historical tales have normally been more of the swashbuckling romantic type. Reading the Afterword, you get the definite feel that his research has had a haunting effect on him, and there's a maturity in his writing that places it above much of the cash-in fare surrounding the middle European leader.

While there are no bats turning into sharp toothed, be-caped figures within the story, this is a true horror tale, as the effects of his upbringing turn Vlad Dracul into a man of a very specific type of honour. It's not for the fainthearted – if you ever wanted to know how someone was impaled, then you are given all the necessary information, and when the story reaches the mass impaling, all Humphreys needs to do is indicate that Dracula lifts his arm for the horror to begin, and your imagination fills in the rest.

It doesn't descend into a medieval version of torture porn though: you come away with a clear idea of how life was in those days, and the fragility of any small country's existence with the major geopolitical powers of the era battling around them. Paul Simpson

VERDICT: 8/10
An unexpectedly riveting read.