Dracula Returns by Robert Lory
This is the first in a nine-volume series, the first six released under the wonderful New English Library banner in the UK.
Robert Lory was a freelance writer who also wrote adventure, crime, science fiction, and fantasy novels. I have not read any of his other works, but he is certainly regarded as a great writer of pulp action/horror stories for the mass market. If this novel is anything to go by, he was an expert at it. Dracula as a crime-fighting vigilante — what’s not to love?
It’s a mixture of action thriller and horror that tells the adventures of Professor Damien Harmon, a genius hired by the police as a criminologist during the ’30s, who got ahead of himself and was almost beaten to death in the field. He’s now wheelchair-bound. Over the next few years, he plans a vigilante vendetta against crime, even learning the ways of the occult and the basics of telekinesis. He is helped by Cameron Sanchez, an expert in martial arts and an ex-cop who was framed during a drug bust, thrown out of the police, and hired by Harmon to aid in his battle against corruption. He acts as Harmon’s heavy-duty muscle when required.
They are visited by the strange but beautiful and shape-shifting cat-woman K’tara, who tells Harmon about Dracula and how to find him. Harmon believes Dracula can be controlled and used in his fight against crime. Thus, they set off to Transylvania, and find him. Before removing the stake from Dracula, Harmon inserts a remote control device next to Dracula’s heart that has a miniature stake ready to be plunged into Dracula’s heart if he does not follow Harmon’s commands. They then remove the stake, and Dracula awakens! Realizing what they have done, Dracula is forced to cooperate. They then ship him to the USA, and that’s when the action ramps up!
Some of the equipment required to control Dracula is stolen in transit. Harmon sends Dracula out to find and deal with the thieves. What ensues is a fantastic bit of action horror as Dracula rips through the gangsters with glee until we reach the violent finale at the mob boss’s house, with Harmon using Dracula (and his dogs!) to exact justice.
I loved this book! It’s a bit meandering at first, but at only 125 pages, when the action comes, it’s fast, exciting, and gory. The character of Dracula is written wonderfully, as an absolute epitome of evil — charming and terrifying. There is a real sense of dread when he is talking to his victims. I had Christopher Lee in my head when reading it. He is an unstoppable monster, taking the gangsters apart, literally, one by one in the warehouse scene. Some of his lines are wonderful! He lets a mob boss’s girlfriend go, and when asked why, he answers, “I don’t like spectators when I dine.”
This is a pulp horror action gem. A fun read that uses all the Dracula tropes but drops them into modern-day, similar to Hammer’s Dracula AD 1972. It’s an action-adventure novel at its heart, but the bonus of the immortal killing machine that is Dracula takes it to another level.
It also plays with a really interesting backstory about where Dracula comes from. In the first part of the book, there is a diary entry from a Spanish conquistador in Mexico who comes across Dracula in an Aztec city, where people are sacrificing women for him. It’s a terrifying vision of ancient horror. It eventually suggests that Dracula and K’tara, the shapeshifter, are actually from Atlantis. I’m not sure if this is explored further in later volumes, but I can’t wait to find out.
Vampires have lost some of their frightening power over the past few years, thanks to books and movies like Twilight. I think they got a bit overdone at one point, in the same way, that zombies became the main thing for a while. Everyone got a bit bored (there were about five new zombie comics out a week at the height of The Walking Dead comic/TV series).
I had certainly been put off vampire-related literature and was not expecting much from this. Although this novel was written in 1973, it went beyond my expectations. In the later novels, there are several supervillains and their infernal plans thwarted by the Dracula team, with the Count secretly trying to end his captivity and exact his revenge on Harmon. I can’t wait.
You can read these on Kindle and other digital services. Original copies are pretty hard to come by and carry a hefty price tag. However, I do urge you to read them. If you like fast-paced, fun horror action, this is for you!
Also, look at that cover!!! The wonderful Bruce Pennington.
