The Historian leads us on a search to find out the truth about Dracula, or more acurately the man who inspired the Dracula legend - Vlad Tepes. Vlad was a most brutal and unflinching prince of Wallachia, Romania. He had a habit of pillaging towns and murdering large scores of people and was nicknamed “The Impaler.” Lovely bloke by the sounds of it.

After discovering some chilling letters addressed to “my unfortunate successor” and a mysterious book with a dragon woodcut, our unnamed female protagonist becomes embroiled in her father’s unfinished work. As you can imagine, these letters are full of historical and literary references that are explained to the reader in great detail. It leads us on a journey through Europe uncovering lost poems and ancient manuscripts, sometimes dawdling and othertimes at breakneck speed. Cue The Da Vinci Code comparisons.

I didn’t remember ever having seen the book there or anywhere else, so I took it down and looked through it without really thinking. The binding was soft, faded leather, and the pages inside appeared to be quite old. It opened easily to the very center. Across those two pages I saw a great woodcut of a dragon with spread wings and a long looped tail, a beast unfurled and raging, claws outsretched. In the dragon’s claws hung a banner on which ran a single word in Gothic lettering: DRAKULYA.

What we learn is that our heroine’s father, Paul and his mentor, Professor Rossi, had already begun to uncover some of the secrets and myths behind who Vlad the Impaler really was. Getting closer to the truth also brings them closer to danger and the sudden disappearance of Rossi adds yet another layer of mystery to the story.

Where Kostova succeeds is her intricate descriptions of 15th century history and the feeling of dusty books and quiet library corners. She also manages to steer clear of the usual vampire cliches - nowhere will you find Dracula proclaiming “I vant to drink your blood!” Instead it’s the quick slash of blood on the ceiling or the ghostly face of a shadowy figure.

A lot of the 640 pages are spent reading books or running into coincidental characters that move the story along. Indeed after the third or fourth of these characters you begin to wonder why they’re having all the trouble they are. And that’s where Kostova’s writing falls flat. She sets up a beguiling amount of mysteries and unanswered questions only to have our heroes bump into someone that can answer their questions. If only real life was like that!

The conclusion rushes to its abrupt end - far too abrupt in my opinion - that left me wondering if I’d read it correctly. 620 pages of telling the story and then 3 to wrap it up. 3 pages!

As a debut it is a well-written and intriging story, but a slightly flawed novel. If all else fails, it shouldn’t do the sales of garlic any harm.

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