Necroscope 4: Deadspeak

A new vampire stalks the earth, and only Harry Keogh can defeat him!The silence of the grave is not silent at all. In their millions, the dead are screaming...but no one can hear them!Atop a perilous cliff, deep in the Balkan mountains, rises the castle of the Ferenczy. Once it was a stronghold of the Vamphyri...and now it will be so again, for Janos Ferenczy, vampire and black magician, has risen from his ages-long sleep. Powerful and evil, Janos conjures dead men and women into a semblance of life and subjects them to fiendish tortures.But the shrieks of the dead do not satisfy Janos's lust for blood-- for that he needs living humans. His terrifying armies of the risen dead will soon overwhelm a helpless, defenseless mankind....Helpless and defenseless because a terrible battle against the vampires has destroyed Harry Keogh's deadspeak, leaving the Necroscope deaf to the teeming dead...and to their warnings of Janos's reign of terror.To save the world, Harry must join forces and link minds with the most powerful, and deadliest, vampire of all!From Publishers WeeklyFirst published as a paperback original in 1990, this fourth volume in British author Lumley's popular series pays particular homage to Bram Stoker's Dracula, featuring a multinational team of vampire hunters who rely on the latest technology to scour Europe to foil a master vampire's plans to move his nest and expand his troop of thralls. The hunt's conclusion takes Harry Keogh, the "Necroscope" (one who speaks to the dead), into misty Transylvania, where he fights the resurrected Janos Ferenczy in his ruined castle for possession of his lady love, Sandra. Lumley retains much of the florid melodrama that Stoker reveled in, with an increased explicitness suited to the present day. Still, the traditions are there: vampires can change form, are vulnerable to silver and garlic and must receive permission before entering either a dwelling or a mind. Lumley provides more rationale than Stoker, and he also secularizes the legend, toning down the original's Christian aversion to "blasphemous" dialogue. Lumley also broadens the scope, adding much to the story of psychic abilities, centered on the ultra-secret "E-Branch (`E' for ESP)" division of Britain's Secret Service. With their paranormal powers, Harry's E-Branch teammates give the novel an Ian Fleming/Stephen King crossover feel. Despite a tendency to overreach his descriptive power and the dated Cold War background, Lumley (Psychomech) tells a fast-moving tale of the primal horror of an undead parasite worthy of Stoker's original. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.Review"Like the vampires it so full-bloodedly portrays, Brian Lumley's Necroscope series just gets stronger. His lively mix of action and monstrosity transmutes the base cliché of the vampire and turns it into a wonderfully contemporary bane."--Fear Magazine"Brian Lumley's skillful mix of epic fantasy and vampire mythology offers wide-angle horror of a scope too rarely seen in modern fiction. His Vamphyri are vicious, savage, ruthless, and unrepentantly evil-- a feast for the horror fan."--F. Paul Wilson"An accomplished wordsmith, Lumley wields a pen with the deft skill of a surgeon, drawing just enough blood to titillate without offending his readers."--The Phoenix Gazette