"Terrific suspense thriller"

In 1972, the sixteen year old American has lived in Amsterdam as the daughter of a widowed diplomat so long she cannot remember much of her time in the United States. While in her father's library, the teen finds an ancient tome that contains no writing only a disturbingly menacing looking picture of a dragon and the word "Drakulya". However, numerous letters from 1930 are also inside with the enigmatic salutation: "My dear and unfortunate successor".

The daughter asks her father what this all means. Despondent he explains what he knows and how he "inherited" the book and the related terrifying quest from his former adviser at Oxford, who became convinced that Drakulya lives, but vanished soon afterward. He picked up the mantle risking ridicule, but though he has made progress, he fears that the search for Drakuyla will be what he bequests his beloved daughter. Still he tells her to concentrate on school and forget his obsession. She cannot as the book has hooked her as it has done others including her dad; the daughter begins her research into the living legend of Drakulya.

THE HISTORIAN is a terrific suspense thriller that grips the audience when the naive narrator picks up the quest over the objection yet expectation of her father. The story line takes the audience across Europe as the teen investigates Drakulya, what happened to the history professor, and related sidebars as she follows the mantra that the truth is out there. Fans will accompany her every twisted step of the way wondering what is at the end of this darkened rainbow. Like the book within the book, THE HISTORIAN grips the audience from the start causing some sleepless nights.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted July 3, 2005