Title: Hunting Prince Dracula
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Publisher: Little Brown / Jimmy Patterson
Release Date: 19th September 2017
Genre/Age Group: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Horror, Mystery
Format: Hardcover (435 pages)
Source: Purchased
Rating: 
(Disclaimer: This review is spoiler free. However, contains spoilers for the first book in the series!)
Synopsis
“Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper’s true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe’s best schools of forensic medicine…and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.
But her life’s dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school’s forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.”
Review
There are very few books in the world I love that much, that I actually wish they had hundreds of more pages so the story would just keep going. ‘Hunting Prince Dracula‘ (HPD) is one of those books. This is book two in the ‘Stalking Jack the Ripper‘ (SJTR) series, which you can read my review for here. It picks up a couple of weeks after SJTR ends and begins with Audrey Rose Wadsworth and her ridiculously witty and handsome companion, Thomas Cresswell, heading to a top forensic school in Romania. The school is a magnificent dark castle with secrets of it’s very own. When strange murders start to befall the students and guests of the school, Audrey and Thomas are eager to investigate and find out if it’s really the infamous Vlad Dracula who’s committing these heinous crimes.
Monsters were in the eye of the beholder. And no one wanted to discover their hero was the true villain of the story.”
Audrey Rose is still coming to terms with her own brother’s death and the fact that he was the infamous Jack the Ripper who was terrorising women in London mere months before. Maniscalco portrays Audrey’s struggle very well to the point where I was almost tearing up because I felt so bad for her. Not only was she dealing with these recent traumatic events, but she was now an outsider again. The only female in her class at the Forensic school. But Audrey still has that steadfast determination I loved from her in book one. This book only made me love Audrey more, as you see her strengths and dedication really shine through.
Thomas Cresswell is of course amongst the marvellous group of characters Maniscalco created for the second book and I didn’t think it was possible, but he was even more mischievous in this book than he was in the last. However, as the book progresses, Thomas’ character begins to open up more about his feelings for Audrey rose which were lightly touched upon in book one. We begin to understand the true depths of his feelings for her and oh my. Thomas Cresswell really does know how to make a reader swoon.
Maniscalco introduces some new characters who I thoroughly enjoyed meeting. One of them being Thomas’ sister Daciana, who’s a character I’m eager to learn more about so I hope she appears in future books. Her banter with her brother was an absolute delight to read.
There’s something powerful in that kind of love, something that deserves to be kindled and tended to, even when its embers are flickering dangerously close to darkness.”
If you loved the gore and macabre themes from SJTR, then you may enjoy HPD even more. Romania is the origin of the Vlad Dracula myth and Maniscalco definitely did her research on it. HPD is heavily inspired by the story of Vlad Dracula which Maniscalco worked seamlessly throughout the story.
Throughout SJTR I had a very strong prediction about who the murderer would end up being, and I wasn’t very surprised when I found out I was right. However, I can safely say that for HPD I had several guesses and all of them were wrong which made the murderer reveal very surprising!
HPD was a brilliant sequel, I absolutely loved it! It was filled from cover to cover with macabre mystery, intrigue, heart-throbbing romance and some great wit. When it comes to the second book in a series, it’s usually not my favourite, but HPD blew away all my expectations and I can safely say that it’ll be one of the strongest books once the series is complete.
☾
Are you a fan of the ‘Stalking Jack the Ripper‘ series by Kerri Maniscalco?
What are your favourite series sequels? One of mine would have to be ‘The Mime Order‘ by Samantha Shannon.
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