A superb gothic novel about the real Dracula, Vlad the Impaler - one of history's greatest psychopaths or a hero of the West? Perhaps both...
'A chilling masterpiece that weaves fact and fable. Bedtime reading? Only if you don't need much sleep...' BEST
DRACULA. A name of horror, depravity and the darkest sensuality.
Yet the real Dracula was just as alluring, just as terrifying, his story not of a monster but of a man - and a contradiction. For the one they called 'The Devil's Son' was both tyrant and lawgiver, crusader and mass slaughterer, torturer and hero, lover and murderer.
His tale is told by those who knew him best. The only woman he ever loved, who he must sacrifice. His closest comrade and traitor. And his priest, betraying the secrets of the confessional to reveal the mind of the man history would forever remember as Tepes - 'The Impaler'.
But Vlad's actions defy such labels. His extraordinary life burns with passion, taking him from his years as hostage to the Turk, through torture, battle, triumph and betrayal, ultimately to a last crusade - there perhaps, beneath the twin banners of the Dragon and the Cross, to find redemption for his innumerable sins.
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
ISBN: 9781409103301
Number of pages: 464
Weight: 316 g
Dimensions: 128 x 196 x 30 mm
A fast-paced, intriguing and beautifully-constructed thriller and its final twist - not a phrase you use lightly in the context of impaling or disembowelling - certainly took me by surprise. If you see it coming you are a more insightful reader than I am. Just don't read it before you go to sleep - DAILY EXPRESS
A chilling masterpiece that weaves fact and fable. Bedtime reading? Only if you don't need much sleep... - BEST
VLAD is ... an accessible, fast-paced, narrative-driven, damn-near-irresistible historical thriller. Humphreys's research infuses every page, but never calls attention to itself; the story always has centre stage. It's the consummate "good read" for a winter weekend, pulpy and engrossing and just gross enough to satisfy that monster craving - GLOBE AND MAIL
Literate elegant writing... VLAD: THE LAST CONFESSION superbly portrays the passions which drove Vlad, taking the reader on a whirlwind ride through torture, battle and despair. It's a dark tale, but Humphreys illuminates it with historical details and page-turning bravura prose - YORKSHIRE EVENING POST
The story is a portray of Vlad through the eyes of the people who knew him intimately. This book is written as their last confession of Vlad, who he really was. It shows Vlad as a young boy, a warrior, a lover, an... More
The Order of the Dragon is in pieces, its one time leader, Vlad Dracula, labelled a monster, the Impaler. But there are those who seek to restore the glory of his name. Through the testimony of three of the people who... More
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