Bad Dreams

Although this is a 'vampire' story by the same guy who gave us _Anno Dracula_, the tone is very different. _AD_ was action/intrigue, with some horrific elements, but _Bad Dreams_ is out-and-out horror. The story centers on the Neilson family, all of whom are victims of 'Mr. Skinner' at one time or another; this vampire enjoys ruining lives as much as he enjoys taking them. In the search for the killer of her sister Judi, Anne Neilson enters a subculture of sex and drugs that would be nasty enough _without_ a supernatural evil hiding in it. Somewhere along the way, she gets drawn into the vampire's dreamworld; unlike a lot of stories that have used similar devices, this one manages to make the dreamworld convincing. It's not for the squeamish, but it's a good horror novel.Kim Newman trivia: this book may be unique among Newman's novels in that - as far as I can tell - it's the _only_ one in which the characters are all his own creations.