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THE MADNESS
by Dawn Kurtagich
Graydon House, 2024
★★✰✰✰
With one unexpected email from her estranged best friend, Lucy, Mina Murray’s carefully curated life is turned upside down. Leaving behind her psychiatric practice in London, along with her routine and the calm it brings, she returns to the windswept shores of Wales. Faced with everything she’s left behind, she soon discovers that Lucy’s symptoms mirror those of her mysterious patient with amnesia hundreds of miles away.
With nothing but an untreatable sickness connecting the two women, and with Lucy’s life on the line, Mina finds herself asking questions and being drawn ever-deeper into a web of secrets, missing girls, and the powerful, nameless force at its center—one that has been haunting her for years.
As terrible, ancient truths begin to reveal themselves, Mina prepares to confront her own darkest secrets, and with them, an evil beyond comprehension. Together with a group of smart, savvy women, Mina seizes one last, desperate chance to stop the cycle that began so long ago. But there are dangers to inviting the attentions of what might not be a man, but a monster.
Dear Readers,
I’m finally here to share my thoughts on Dawn Kurtagich's THE MADNESS after holding onto an ARC for about ten months—my sincerest apologies to the publisher for the delay! Life has a way of getting in the way, but I couldn’t let this one slip away without a word.
Let’s dive in! THE MADNESS is a contemporary vampire thriller that puts a fresh spin on the classic characters Lucy and Mina from Bram Stoker's iconic DRACULA. Now, don’t get me wrong—DRACULA is a personal favorite of mine. But I must admit, I’m a bit weary of the endless cycle of unofficial sequels and reboots that seem to flood the market. Is it too much to ask for authors to come up with their own original characters and worlds instead of leaning on Bram Stoker’s legacy? The vampire genre has been recycled to the point of absurdity, especially since the days of those sparkling Twilight vamps.
Kurtagich’s storytelling has some merits. She attempts to weave a modern tale that captures the essence of Gothic horror, though I found the rich, atmospheric descriptions that are so essential to the genre somewhat lacking. The characters felt all too familiar, conventional, and one-dimensional, making it hard for me to connect with any of them. This disconnect ultimately dampened my engagement with the story, which, at its core, follows a familiar plotline centered around Mina but set in today’s world.
I can’t say I loved or hated THE MADNESS; it left me in limbo. While the story is intriguing enough to keep turning the pages, I found myself forgetting much of it by the time I reached the final page. It's aimed at a new generation that might be hesitant to tackle the original DRACULA, and that’s a frightening notion. I’ve heard from several readers who enjoyed this book, so perhaps I’m just an outlier, or maybe I’m too seasoned for another vampire reimagining.
In the end, I’m afraid I can’t recommend THE MADNESS. If you’re a Dracula fan and are curious about a modern twist, you might give it a go—but I’ll be sticking with the classics.
⁓B.J. Burgess
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