A Sharpness on the Neck

I have read and re-read all of Saberhagen's books in the Dracula series, and this book, along with exceptional The Dracula Tapes, are easily my favorites. Saberhagen brilliantly paints a truly loathsome character in Radu, Vlad Dracula's sadistic little brother. But one HAS TO READ *ALL* THE BOOKS IN THE SERIES TO GET THE FULL ENJOYMENT FROM THIS NOVEL! It stands alone, as a great novel, but, trust me, you'll understand more if you've read the other books in the series. It may not be the most well-edited book, but it is full of well-researched history, as are the other novels in this series, and a delightful humor. Saberhagen weaves all sorts of figures in history into this novel, such as the Marquis de Sade, a "friend" of Radu, and The Scarlet Pimpernel. This is a enchanting and innovative tale, particularly how they manage to save the Philip Radcliffe in the time of the French Revolution. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone that loves history, or even vampires. And read the other books in The Dracula Series, too, including the soon-to-come A Coldness in the Blood!

As a fan of most fiction related to the French Revolution and as a seeker of the perfect Dracula, I was pleasantly surprised that a book I was drawn to more by the guillotine than the vampires may wind up leading me to my answer. I may be at somewhat of an advantage, already being familiar with the historical references and other literary characters, but I find this to be a highly skilled connection of different worlds of fact and fiction. I am highly dissapointed that several books in the series seem to be out of print, although I know they will not share the setting that attracted my attention.

Philip and June Radcliffe are kidnapped on their honeymoon. They were confrined and told it was for their own protection that they were kidnapped. Their captor called himself Mister Graves. He, and a young woman, were vampires. Of course, Philip and June do not believe them. Slowly, however, they find out all they have been told is true. These vampires WERE protecting them...from Mister Graves's brother. Philip Radcliffe was named after his ancestor, who was the bastart don of Benjamin Franklin. Mister Graves was as close to death as a vampire could be, thanks to his brother, Radu. The Philip of long ago had saved the life of Mister Graves. This earned him and his descendants Radu's hatred. Mister Graves had vowed to save Philip and June from Radu who planned to behead them with a guillotine and drink their blood.

I have followed Fred Saberhagen through most of his works, including the Swords and the Dracula series and have usually found him to be a riviting author. Of course, some stories are better than others... I started out the Dracula series a little backwards -- I had some "grave" misgivings about Dracula and Sherlock Holmes ("The Holmes-Dracula File") appearing together. And, although there was a cringe or two, the book was very good. Over the years I have managed to read the rest of the Dracula series, including this latest one. "A Sharpness in the Neck" was not bad but certainly wasn't as good as some of the others in this series. The back cover is very misleading -- it mentions Napoleon, Dupin, the Marquis de Sade and the Scarlet Pimpernel, as being characters in this tale. They are not. Napoleon and de Sade do have a few lines -- none of which is the least important to the storyline -- but the others are mentioned very obliquely in passing. The story itself is not very clear; The Count's immortal, sadistic brother, Radu, is back to revenge himself for Dracula's very imaginative punishment; i.e. leaving Radu in pieces in a grave for a few decades. Why Radu is so hot and bothered about killing a 20th century decendant of a man (Phillip Radcliff) who had helped the Count during the Revolution, is not real clear. For that matter, it's rather vague as to why Radu was so hung up on killing the origional Radcliff, other than a petty annoyance for the Count. The back-and-forth from the 20th century to the Reign of Terror, is also kind of confusing. Was the entire story, as written here by "Mr. Graves", on the tape that today's Radcliff's had to watch? Or was it Dracula's remembrances? The switching of Radcliff -- who thought he was a vampire who had been beheaded -- with a wax dummy was nicely done; it accomplished the goal of being a surprise. But it didn't fill in the plot enough. All in all, I didn't find the story too bad -- although Saberhagen did tend to describe the actual beheadings (up to and including why a decapitated body doesn't appear to have any neck) in perhaps a bit too much detail. But then again, since the story is supposed to be written by Vlad Dracula (and who am I to say it wasn't?) I suppose gory details are to be expected. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for another installment in this series. And equally hopefully, the next tale will regain the "sharpness" of some of the older works.