The Bargain

by Jon Ruddy

In form they were young women, and every one of them was sexually alluring, abandoned-looking, languid, but with an undying tension, the tension of perverse appetite held in check.' Two blood thirsty dictators seek supremacy. High in the hills overlooking the sleepy town of Arefu, Romania, Count Dracula dwells in the ruins of an abandoned castle. For what was Hitler but another kind of vampire? When a bargain with the village elders is unwittingly broken, Dracula unleashes his terror on the town... and on the Nazi soldiers who have invaded his beloved homeland. Bu the Count doesn't like the competition. As the legions of vampirism wind their treacherous way to Hitler himself, the world is about t be consumed by the powers of darkness which may now become immortal.

Genres: Horror, Vampires

293 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1990

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong ending for a seriously confused book. Broken up into separate narratives spread throughout the German occupation of Romania during WW2, Dracula unleashes his “brides” into whorehouses inside enemy lines (as a filth column of sorts) to sabotage Hitler’s goal of world conquest. Sounds swell! But there is no visible protagonist or consist narrative style. The setting is superb and the “oral sadism” performed by the vampire hookers is quite a hoot. Too bad it doesn’t really let it’s freak flag fly until the last few chapters.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this fully expecting a bad, but still entertaining, cheesy Dracula vs Hitler romp. To my surprise, the book was much more clever than I expected. If you ARE only expecting to see Hitler and Dracula throw down, you might be disappointed, as that turns out not to really be the point (in fact, Hitler is barely in the book, at all). Instead, this concerns the small Romanian village at the base of the mountain Castle Dracula sits upon. The villagers long ago made a deal with the Count...they leave him alone and keep his existence secret, and he spares their village. But everything is sent into upheaval when, during WWII, Hitler's army begins weaving it's way through Eastern Europe. What is most fascinating about this book (and what I assume will turn many off) is its very non-traditional storytelling style - there is no main character or hero, per se. In fact, the one character we assume WILL be the hero near the beginning of the book eventually vanishes entirely from the narrative, and near the end of the book, there's a point where you start to wonder if we're suddenly meant to accept a Nazi commander as the actual hero. Though I think it's a bit more complicated than that, as this is really not a story of good vs evil as much as it is just an account of how various events are affecting everyone in this area. I loved this book's usage of Dracula - for a book that I expected to be rather stupid, this is actually one of the best non-Stoker depictions of the Count I have read. And he's wisely kept to a minimum in terms of "screen-time," the book even has a nice meta-joke about this, with one character making note of how Stoker was wise to keep his appearances in the original novel brief (yes, this is one of those Dracula books where they acknowledge that Bram Stoker wrote a book called Dracula...though I like how this one suggests that was ultimately a great benefit to the real Dracula, as it made the public less likely to actually believe in vampires). Readers who ARE looking for pulpy fun will also be happy to know the book still delivers its fair share of violence of sex...lots and lots of sex, actually (this is a way hornier book than I was expecting). All in all, it's a really fast read and one of the more interesting Dracula "sequels" I've come across. It might have been a little better if there WAS a central character we could really get behind, but still, I give the book credit for being genuinely unpredictable and actually delivering, in a somewhat realistic, well-researched manner, on the "Dracula in WWII" premise. A definite pleasant surprise.

[Joshua Hair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Tenebrous Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll confess: I picked up this novel based entirely on its delightfully tacky cover and the painting's promise of a Dracula-meets-Hitler monster mash. This is likely a case of my low expectations leading to a pleasant surprise, but this pulp-horror potboiler kept me engaged right up until the end. Sure, this is the kind of book where characters spend pages' worth of dialogue TELLING about the encroaching vampire plague and where a foreboding hill is described as looking like a woman's breast at three different points in the narrative, but Ruddy's willingness to go full grotty keeps things popping along. Add in the story's weirdo sexual dynamics, and the "The Bargain" winds up providing the same kind of satisfaction as a certain type of grindhouse fare. There are some surface similarities to F. Paul Wilson's "The Keep" (Nazis on the Eastern Front and a village harboring an ancient evil), but without that book's epic scope and metaphysical meanderings. In short: here's a case where I'm glad I judged the book by its cover.

[Tome Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought I was getting a horror novel where Dracula goes head to head with Hitler like Freddy Vs Jason but sadly thats not what I got. The book isn’t bad per say but I wouldn’t really call it a horror novel. Yea it has horror elements like vampires but there isn’t really any HORROR in this book. Very slow burner of a book but it does heat up as the novel goes on. No real main character/protagonist. The novel goes from character to character and year to year every chapter. The story is good but it wasn’t want I was expecting by the cover and that kinda let me down. 3 stars, worth a read if you own it but I wouldn’t recommend going out to buy it 😬

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good Dracula novel.