Curtains of Blood

De: Robert J. Randisi

Narrado por: Chris MacDonnell

London, 1888. A knife flashes in the fog. A madman has begun the most notorious and shocking series of murders in history. With each new discovery of a woman's mutilated body, the citywide panic grows. The police seem unable to stop the killer, even when he taunts them with letters. Letters signed...Jack the Ripper.

In another part of London, the reign of terror has touched a young writer and theater manager named Bram Stoker. The police have closed his theater's production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and suspect its star of being Jack the Ripper. His livelihood endangered, Stoker sets out on his own to find the real killer. But Jack wants just as badly to find Stoker. When the madman and the author meet face to face, a new chapter will be written in the annals of horror.

©2002 Robert J. Randisi (P)2018 David N. Wilson

Bram Stoker Takes a Deadly Inspiration

Sometimes historical fiction can run into a problem of verisimilitude. How accurate is the research and portrayal and how much can a reader infer about the subjects? Bram Stoker is a London business manager for a successful theater. He and his friend, Arther Conan Doyle are talking about the latest production of Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde (Oscar Wilde also has a few chime-ins). When the Whitechapel Jack The Ripper murders occur the police question the play's convincing lead actor.

This leads to a series of events where, by chance, Stoker comes closer to the case of the famous serial killer than he would like and begins to suspect vampirism. A great idea begins to form in his head and he needs to pursue the relationship. This book is about a writer's inspiration and that eventful time in London's history. I feel like I learned a fair bit, but I'm also not sure how accurate it is. Stoker and Doyle form a sort of Home and Watson relationship and the book seems to be referencing their styles of writing at times and a lot of it has a vague epistolary approach. It's an interesting book on Bram Stoker, and the prose is eerily explicit at times. It's kind of one of those "journalist interviews a vampire" books but not very driving. The climax is ultimately way more about a writer finding inspiration than any sort of grisly reveal so more intellectual than horror. But if you're into the Victorian London era, should be interesting I think.