Book Review
Title: Hunting Prince Dracula (Stalking Jack the Ripper #2)
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Genre: YA/Historical/Romance
Rating: *****
Review: It has been a while since I read Stalking Jack the Ripper, but I loved it, it was one of my favourite reads of all time, but I have put off reading the sequel but now I am for the Book Junkie Trials. The opening to Hunting Prince Dracula was interesting, we re-join Audrey and Thomas as they travel to Romania and its capital Bucharest to attend the Academy of Forensic Medicine and Science. However, all isn’t well as Audrey is still reeling from the events that took place in Stalking Jack the Ripper and might be suffering from some form of PTSD and is trying to hide it especially from Thomas who can see straight through her. This Audrey seems quite unhinged compared to the Audrey we encountered in the first book. The twists come early in the novel when something dangerous happens aboard the train frightening Audrey further but Thomas manages to keep her grounded. When a man is murdered on the train, killed by a stake through the heart, rumours were flying around the train, but Audrey knows they will be arriving at the Academy soon and there isn’t any time for them to investigate. However, a mystery picture of a dragon turns up in their compartment Audrey knows someone is watching every move they make, and it isn’t much between when they finally arrived at the Academy.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, I was loving re-joining this adorable, flirtatious pair and the audiobook narration was divine. Audrey and Thomas arrive at Bran castle and they receive the frostiest welcome from the Headmaster who has already taken a strong disliking of Audrey as she is a woman, but she tries to put these feelings aside as she has already faced similar views in London. However, when one of their fellow students is murdered in a suspicious manner both know there is something off about the school. Audrey has bigger things to worry about as another student happens to be a Romanian Prince and the murdered boy was his cousin and he believes Audrey had something to do with his death, along with this hallucinations haven’t stopped and her position at the school isn’t yet secured as all the students will be assessed over a month and only 2 will secure places within the school.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, we haven’t seen the same level of action that was in Jack the Ripper, but the tension is building slowly. l must also mention the relationship between Audrey and Thomas is developing greatly after the events of the previous book and I can’t wait to see the pair share another kiss, hopefully soon. It appears l spoke too soon about the lack of action as one night Thomas summons Audrey to his room at midnight which is a scandal in itself if she is caught but there she meets Daciana who is Thomas’ sister travelling through on a Grand Tour, however, the interesting part is after Audrey returns to her rooms she catches Daciana in a compromising position with Ileana, a female servant at the castle and naturally her thoughts turn to Thomas Cresswell and the life they could have together.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, the students attend their first class on folklore which isn’t that interesting until Audrey learns that Thomas has gone behind her back to inform their professor that she has a weak constitution undermining her in front of their peers. This causes Audrey to lose her temper and basically tell him that she’d rather die than marry him, with their relationship on the rocks she has to face their first post-mortem alone and it is on Wilhelm. This turns out to be insightful as his body is drained of blood reinforcing the rumour that Vlad Dracula has returned and while Audrey longs for Thomas’ insight her stubbornness prevents her from reaching out to him, but she does write to her cousin Liza asking for her advice on the situation. It isn’t long before Audrey starts looking into Wilhelm’s death and the layers of mysteries surrounding the castle, after she “accidentally” overhears the Headmaster and the Royal Guard from the train discussing disarming rooms and a mysterious book that the guard believes will cause more students to die if the Headmaster doesn’t return it. At this point, Audrey and Thomas still aren’t talking but one badly timed joke and huge panic attack and tears from both surprisingly brings them together again. Very soon, the pair are finding secret passageways filled with bodies and vampire bats slowly introducing what I believe are clues to the killer’s identity.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, we are beginning to see a much softer, vulnerable side to Thomas that we only saw briefly in the first book. It was also interesting to see that underneath all his bravado Thomas is innocent, especially when it comes to women. Hunting Prince Dracula seems to be moving a lot slower than Jack the Ripper, but I can’t wait to see how the pieces of the puzzle come together at the end of the novel. As the mystery deepens surrounding the deaths the Prince comes under suspicion as Ileana finds a notebook with a drawing of Audrey as a vampire. Anastasia has also left the castle after finding a book that possibly relates to the Order of the Dragon.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, a lot is happening, Audrey discovers 2 people moving a body from the castle, but before she can identify the body snatchers or the identity of the corpse she is caught by the Headmaster and is put on academic probation. With both Anastasia and Ileana missing it is up to Audrey and Thomas to solve the mystery. Thomas believes the Order of the Dragon is a clever ruse and Audrey believes that Vlad’s bloodline is being targeted meaning that Nicolae, Thomas, and Daciana are in danger, and out of these three Daciana is the only one who isn’t in the castle. Plus, Ileana is aware that Daciana is a descendant of Vlad Dracula and now both Audrey and Thomas fear for her safety. Despite being nearly at the end of the novel I have no idea who the murderer is and have no clue what could be coming next. Very soon a major clue is revealed when we learn the girl from the tunnels is Anastasia and all the victims were most likely killed by arsenic poisoning and their other injuries were made to cover the poisoning up.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, there is so much that happens including the reveal of the killer’s identity and motive which I definitely didn’t see coming. However, the most interesting part for me was how Audrey and Thomas’ relationship takes a dramatic turn when he asks for her hand and she accepts of which I had no doubt, but it didn’t make it any less beautiful. Moments later Audrey’s Uncle Jonathan makes an appearance wanting to take the pain on an adventure to America to assist on a case, which makes a lovely opening for Escaping from Houdini which I can’t wait to read and if you haven’t read this series, yet I highly recommend you pick it up right now. Another solid five star read from Kerri Maniscalco and I can’t wait to see what she has in store for me next.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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