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“This is what happens to women”

A truly terrifying read, this modern-day, feminist-inspired take on Stoker’s Dracula is creepy, compelling, and absolutely the stuff that nightmares are made of. Heavily informed by Welsh folklore, this take has the centuries old ‘Sugnwr Gwaed’, the ‘Fampir”, lurking in his windswept Castle, supported by his crew of evil non-humans, and preying on vulnerable female innocents, in a perhaps even more frightening rendition than the original telling.

In this narrative, Dr Mina Murray, our first person POV narrator, is the main protagonist. Dr Mina is a psychiatrist, working to treat and support traumatized women. Mina, herself a troubled, obsessive soul leading a stark and lonely existence, fled her home in Wales a decade ago (under unknown circumstances) and has taken root in London, where she now practices at a psychiatric hospital.

Mina is a terrific character — dark and troubled with torturous past relationships deeply in need of untangling. With her fawn-like eyes, perpetually startled expression, and unruly brown hair,
Dr. Mina (nicknamed “Bambi”) is used to not being taken seriously by her male counterparts — as is definitely the case when she encounters a stream of anonymous, brutalized women and finds herself suspecting a sinister linkage between their horrifyingly similar symptoms.

When her childhood friend, Lucy, based in Wales, herself falls victim to these strange symptoms, Mina realizes she must take action. Ominously increasingly receptive to the dire warnings of her mother, Vanessa, (a “batty” Welsh witch whose concoctions and folklore were formerly dismissed by her science-loving daughter), it will soon become Mina’s horrifying mission to hunt down the “Master” in this otherworldly plot of diabolical proportions.

Amidst the terror, gore and bloodlust (with scenes that are really, truly spine-chilling), the author revisits themes, universally recognizable, acknowledging society’s breaking and preying upon our most helpless women, to unravel what becomes an intelligent and thoughtful take, — blending commentary, ancient myths and nightmares, and the tremulous awakening of nascent female power.

A wonderful read, this book is highly recommended for lovers of horror, folklore, and the just plain terrifying.

A great big thank you to #Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.