4 Stars

A COLDNESS IN THE BLOOD

Fred Saberhagen

Tor

ISBN 0-765-30045-1

2002

In the latest installment of Fred Saberhagen's Dracula saga, set mainly in present-day Chicago, Vlad Dracula is living under the name "Matthew Maule" (after the wizard in HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES) and getting help from college student Andy Keogh in setting up a website. After all, even the undead aristocracy must adjust to the new millennium. As the story begins, Andy has no idea that "Uncle Matt" is an old and powerful vampire. When Dickon, an even older but ludicrously cowardly nosferatu, shows up with a human alchemist, an ancient evil tracks them to Dracula's home. The alchemist's murder by a mysterious entity capable of mesmerizing Dracula himself launches "Uncle Matt," Andy, Andy's ex-cop father Joe Keogh, and Dolly, granddaughter of a recently deceased stage magician, on a quest for an Egyptian statuette that may conceal the fabled Philosopher's Stone. A gang of ruthless vampires and a repulsive crocodile-god separately pursue the heroes on a cross-country search. A climactic confrontation leads to an astonishing and ingenious conclusion.

A COLDNESS IN THE BLOOD is a fast-paced, solid adventure story, peppered with the wit and irony we have come to expect from Saberhagen's Dracula. This volume contains little vampire activity as such, but the Egyptian monster provides plenty of supernatural thrills. On the purely human side, Andy offers an engaging, sympathetic anchor of normality for the reader, as he struggles to adjust to "Uncle Matt's" true nature. Anyone who has enjoyed previous novels in the series will definitely want to read this one.

Reviewed by Margaret L. Carter