Only the Dead Know Burbank

by Bradford Tatum

“Classic horror buffs will race through this novel that blends historical fiction with uncanny elements of the gothic. A perfect read for Halloween.” —BookPage With Lon Cheney and Boris Karloff among its characters, this sweeping and stylish love letter to the golden age of horror cinema tells the wonderful, tragic story of Maddy Ulm. It takes readers through her rise from the complicated shadows of Berlin’s first experiments with expressionist cinema to the glamorous deserts of Hollywood. For Maddy has a secret. A secret that has given her incredible insight into the soul of horror. A secret that has a terrible price as well. A young girl awakens in a hastily dug grave—vague memories of blood and fever, her mother performing a mysterious ceremony before the world went away. Germany has lost the first great war and Europe has lost millions more to the Spanish Flu epidemic. But Maddy has not only survived, she has changed. No longer does she eat, sleep, or age. No longer can she die. After taking up with a pair of street performers, she shocks and fascinates the crowds with her ability to survive outrageous traumas. But at a studio in Berlin, Maddy discovers her true film. With her intimate knowledge of fear, death, and realms beyond the living, she practically invents the modern horror genre on the spot. Before long, she travels to California and insinuates herself in Hollywood as the genius secretly behind The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, and Frankenstein . And yet she must remain in the shadows—a chilling apparition suspended eternally between worlds. Clever, tragic, and thoroughly entertaining, Only the Dead Know Burbank introduces readers to one of the most unique, unforgettable characters in fiction.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Horror Thriller, Novels, Adult Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Bradford Tatum’s award winning debut novel I Can Only Give You Everything was published in 2010. His second novel, Only the Dead Know Burbank was published by HarperCollins in 2016 and received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly. His book Gray Matters has been used as a text book in various college business communication courses.



Bradford began his career as an actor appearing in numerous television shows and movies such as 20th Century Fox’s submarine comedy DOWN PERISCOPE, Disney’s POWDER and HBO’s WESTWORLD.



He was a staff writer for Dick Wolf on the NBC series DEADLINE and has written and directed two award winning independent features. He has won an Alfred P. Sloan grant for his written work as well as sold pitches to various production companies.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly the most bizarre book I've read this year, maybe the most bizarre I've ever read--have to think about it...
What attracted me the most about the book ( a great cover, by the way!) was that part of the story was set in Hollywood during "the Golden Age of Horror Cinema." Maddie from Germany gets involved in the making of the classic horror films. She has a special insight into horror for one main reason: she's dead. Being dead means she doesn't age ( she looks like a little girl). She doesn't sleep and she doesn't eat or drink, which can save you a lot of money but doesn't help your social life. Her "life" out of necessity is one of staying in the shadows...
Very bizarre indeed--and Maddie is not the only bizarre character!--but the story engaged my interest even when it dragged in the first part of the book while Maddie is in Germany ( Berlin is shown as the very epitome of decadence). I particularly liked Maddie's developing a friendship with "Billy," William Pratt, an actor from England, who becomes famous as "Boris Karloff."
A solid 4/5 stars for this debut novel by Bradford Tatum, published in 2016, a good combination of gothic horror and historical fiction.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maddy survived WWI in Germany and the Spanish Flu, but she has changed. She knows the true meaning of horror - she remembers waking up in a grave, her mother performing a strange ritual, blood, and fever. Although she's changed, she can no longer physically change - she doesn't eat, sleep, or age, and she can no longer die; she is now immortal. Stunning audiences as a street performer with crazy stunts that push normal human limits, she finally finds her calling in the burgeoning film industry of Berlin (The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari). She practically invents the modern horror genre with her intimate knowledge of fear and death. Soon Maddy finds herself working in Hollywood as the secret genius behind classics like Dracula, The Phantom of the Opera, and Frankenstein.



Only the Dead Know Burbank by Bradford Tatum is a very well-researched dark and gritty horror, historical-fantasy novel. I found myself absolutely hooked right from page one on Maddy's story. It has so many things going for it - it touches on some of the most interesting time periods to read about, has a brilliant and gruesome fantastical elements, and is an excellent homage to classic horror films and old Hollywood. As a fan of classic horror films, I loved reading a novel that does such a wonderful job exploring the behind-the-scenes of the studios and everything that's involved with getting a film off the ground. This novel also features great characterizations. As much as I enjoyed Maddy, who offers incredibly compelling perspectives, I believe my favorite character to read was actually Boris Karloff. He's portrayed as a very thoughtful figure who develops a respectful relationship with Maddy - the two have a great connection. Lon Chaney also has an interesting relationship with her as well.



Overall Only the Dead Know Burbank is a must-read for fans of well-researched historical fantasy with a healthy dose of gritty horror. If you have an interest in well-developed characters, old Hollywood, and classic horror films, you absolutely need to do yourself a favor and pick up this novel. I, for one, am looking forward to Bradford Tatum's next book.

[The Library Ladies · Rating 3 out of 5]

(originally reviewed at thelibraryladies.com )

This past Halloween weekend, I was attending a bonfire gathering of former coworkers. Me and my friend Scott were the first to arrive, and as we build the bonfire and chatted he told me about a book that he had heard of and was interested in. When he told me it was about a girl in Germany is some kind of immortal state who takes an interest in movie making and moves to Hollywood, having a hand in making the Golden Age of Horror movies that define the time… I too was interested. As someone who likes horror, someone who likes vampire(?) lore, and someone who really likes the Golden Age of Horror Films, this should have been a home run right out of the park.

The bad news is that it didn’t quite even get a double.

The good news is, Boris Karloff is a treasure.

I stand by my assertion that this plot does have a lot of serious potential and promise. Madchen, or Maddy, is a very well rounded and relatable protagonist, a girl who is trapped in stasis and has ambitions that are beyond a world she does not fit into anymore. She is a tragic figure who never asked for this eternal life, the ‘victim’ of a ritual performed by her negligent and narcissistic mother who, in a rare moment of love for her daughter, tried to save her from the Spanish Flu. Maddy is haunted by her immortality, and also haunted by the spirit of a cruel man named Volker, who may or may not be her father, and fell victim to murder at the hands of her mother. Unfortunately, the tangles and drama in Weimar Germany and Austria really dragged the narrative down, and while I appreciated the references to German Expressionism and the undoubted influence it had on Maddy, and therefore the films she would influence, I just kind of wanted for her to go west, young vampire(?).

By the time we did get to Hollywood, things picked up, and it was lots of fun seeing Maddy interact with familiar icons of the Universal Horror circuit. From Lon Chaney to Tod Browning to a superb and sweet Boris Karloff, Maddy interacts with legends of old and her unique perspective on death and existential crises helps create the masterpieces of cinema that are still heralded today. And yet the song is still the same, as she is influential and instrumental, but as a young woman she gets absolutely no credit and is never taken seriously. These parts were the best parts of the book for me, and her friendships with Chaney and Karloff (especially Karloff, whom she affectionately called “Billy”) gave her that much more heart and rounded out two real life giants who had flaws, dreams, and spirit. Karloff is such a gentle and thoughtful soul in this book, and for whatever reason that just plucked at all my heartstrings.

But Maddy’s greatest relationship is the one she has with Mutter, a gentle giant she meets while still in Europe, who was wounded in WWI and permanently maimed both physically and mentally. Mutter is the other great tragedy of this book, as while he is so unattached from others around him for being different and special needs, his affection for and connection to Maddy is one of those tenuous threads that does connect her to humans. Maddy’s fondness for him is absolutely touching, and it leads to many moments where the two of them, defined and limited by their Otherness, are in this together, and against the world. True, one of his storylines felt awkward and superfluous (he ends up living with a number of the Native American actors who live on the studio lot, on call for roles as disposable extras, and the view and description of them made me uncomfortable because they too were so Othered), but their final bit together really, really hit me right in the gut. Because Maddy and Mutter find themselves being shipped back to Germany, right when Hitler has taken power…

Unfortunately, while I liked these really well done nuggets of characterization and mythology, the pacing was very slow, almost to the point where I was close to giving up on it. Whenever Maddy was back in Germany, the odd storyline with Volker and the baggage that comes with Maddy and her mother weighed down the narrative. It wasn’t as bad the second time, but it definitely hurt the tone to the point where I couldn’t really get past it. I also feel like it probably went on a bit longer than it had to, as the extended adventures with her mother in Hollywood were just not what I was here for. I was here for Boris Karloff. I wanted more Boris Karloff.

There were moments of “Only the Dead Know Burbank” that were absolutely beautiful in their power, tenderness, and despair. I lived for those moments. I just wish that it hadn’t taken so long to get there, and that we didn’t get slogged in parental angst. Overall, Maddy was a lovely and fascinating creature, and I will no doubt think of her whenever I rewatch an old monster movie from the 1930s.

[Baal Of · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a bit frustrating in that it contains a lot of promise, and some really great ideas, but falls down on the task of delivering a coherent story. It's almost as if Tatum had his own concept around vampire mythology that he wanted to get out there, but then he forgot to make the various details actually matter to the story. The book was divided into three main segments - the early setup / origin, the Universal Studios years, and then the pointless return to Nazi Germany where nothing much happened. Or rather, nothing happened that really mattered as far as character or plot development. In the third section, Maddy learns how to feel, eat, and experience - but it has no relevance - it's just an afterthought. The middle section was the best, when Maddy is developing the film techniques that made Dracula, Frankenstein, and Phantom Of the Opera stand the test of time, and that concept could have been carried over in the Weimar Republic, but it wasn't. It just went away. Tatum does have a way of turning a phrase, and some of his descriptions were fascinatingly unique, sometimes in a good way, sometimes a bit over the top. The magical / supernatural elements in the novel were strangely inconsistent and left completely unexplained, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there were so many dangling threads. I'm thinking a rewrite after another ten years of writing could make this novel much better.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Alice Carter-esque" might seem like a weird description for a book with such a pulpy title as this, but the master of feminist magic realism certainly provides a blueprint for Bradford Tatum's pleasantly surreal alternate history of Hollywood (with perhaps a nod to Gunter Grass thrown in too). There's an appealing blend of highbrow and low here- postcolonial critique of Christian imperialism rubs elbows with Berlin sex shows, just as a demonic possession subplot and a Nazi interlude fail to contradict each other. Perhaps this novel isn't for everyone, but for those who can lose themselves in an expressionist dream-world on the page as well as the stage.

[ElphaReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

In college I took a class called Monsters, Robots, and Cyborgs. In that class we read books and stories and folklore and what have you about all these things, and how they reflected anxieties and fears of human society. Along with reading, we watched a few movies, mostly based on books that we'd read. One of these movies was the Bela Lugosi DRACULA. Another was the Boris Karloff FRANKENSTEIN. Both of these movies are considered a part of the Golden Age of Horror in Hollywood. The book ONLY THE DEAD KNOW BURBANK by Bradford Tatum hypothesizes that these movies had a visionary vampire(?) working behind the scenes to make these movies the classics they are today. Which is a quirky premise to be sure!

Madchen wakes up in a hastily dug grave. She remembers succumbing to a horribly illness, and her mother performing a strange sort of ritual before the darkness took her over. Now Madchen realizes that she is now immortal, unable to die, and never aging physically beyond her early adolescence. After meeting up with two street performers, she gets swept up into showbusiness, and silent films in Germany. Her ambitions take her and her companion Mutter to Hollywood, where she wants to make it big as a movie director. Though she has creative influence over classic horror films, and fosters friendships with the likes of Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff, she is never given her due as a woman and a 'child'. Meanwhile, back home, a terrible horror of its own is rising into power.

I really had high hopes for this book, and while some parts of it really clicked for me, other parts just didn't. I really liked Madchen, or Maddy, as she called herself. SHe was a well rounded and intersting protagonist, and her frustration with her immortality and her frustration with not being taken seriously were palpable and relatable. I loved the references to classic films such as THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, DRACULA, and FRANKENSTEIN, and I really liked the role that Boris Karloff played in this. He is portrayed as a thoughtful, kind, and sensitive soul whose connection to Maddy and his respect for her is one of the bright moments in her life in Hollywood. I also really liked Maddy's relationship with Mutter, a man whose disability has made him another kind of Other, which helsp him and Maddy connect and have a special understanding. So of course this leads to lots of sadness and pathos down the line, especially since, spoiler alert, they do end up back in Germany during the Third Reich. Ow, my heart.

But unfortunately, there were pacing problems from the get go and a superfluous storyline involving an angry spirit named Volker. It took awhile for the story to really get going, and I felt like it dragged on and on when Maddy was in Europe. THere were moments that I was tempted to put it down just because it was so slow moving. Once she got to Hollywood it picked up, but the damage was done. And the storyline involving Volker just felt totally unnecessary. There was question as to what his actual identity was, and for some reason he possessed Maddy's body whenever she was in Europe, and I never really figured out what that was. Sure, he enstilled her love of film, but it still didn't work for me.

So while I liked a good amount of the characterizations in this book and Maddy as well, the pacing was hard to take, and really made it hard for me to get through it. It's a solid concept and has it's moments. But you really have to be patient.

[Dirck Lint · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover of this book is an excellent exemplar of the old saying regarding covers and contents. You may expect a romp, and if you cling to that expectation, you will be sorely disappointed. However, those who do not cling get a VERY interesting read. Not only is there a loving (if not entirely uncynical) handling of the early days of film and Hollywood, there is some rather novel handling of folk-magic which I found fascinating and was very pleased to not have spoiled by over-abundant exposition. I actually wept a little at the final paragraph of the story proper-- an epilogue, bookending with a prologue, gave me a chance to recompose myself... which I'm not quite sure I'm grateful for.

If I were looking about for stones to cast, I can find only a couple. The larger one, although not so big and heavy as to do a fatal injury, is there's a lamentable thread of pedophilia running through much of the book. This is more troubling in the early going, before supernatural elements appear to take shift it to a comfortable cognitive "not the real world" distance, and I suspect it will lead some readers with a sensitivity to the topic to lay the book aside.

The lesser stone is one of vocabulary. I suspect that Tatum was being seduced by the relative modernism of post-war America to let his guard down in the dialogue department. This is not a pervasive nor a very upsetting flaw in the whole of the book, but I do admit that I was drawn out of the narrative when trying to wrap my head around the use of the phrase "comfort zone" at the dawn of the television era.

[Julian Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dead Live

A lovely, dark and bittersweet journey through the early days of cinema - and the monsters on the periphery. What sets the work apart is a stunning facility of language, a voice spider quick and equally deadly that our heroine Mandy breathes to life. This is a book full of dark magic shadows and a joy to read. 🖤🖤🖤

[Bob Fingerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sprawling yet intimate tale of Maddy Ulm casts the reader back to the birth of cinema, initially in her native Germany, then the nascent days of Hollywood. Undead and perpetually preadolescent, Maddy brings her exacting knowledge and sensitivity to things undead to inform the creations of Dracula, Frankenstein and so on. Like an uncanny hybrid of Wednesday Addams and Zelig she meets, counsels and in some cases befriends various luminaries of horror cinema. Tatum’s prose is rich and inviting and the book strikes authentic notes both dramatically and emotional. Highly recommended to fans of the golden age of horror movies and to enthralling yarns.

[Keri-Ann Nelson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish this book. I would give it zero stars if i could. Some very uncomfortable and disturbing scenes that some people might need a warning about before reading this book. Now maybe i misinterpreted the scene (don't think i did) but i have to draw the line at incest and pedophilia. I got a quarter of the way through and found it interesting, nothing special. I really wanted to get to the part with the Classic Horror icons but i just can't. So we have a story about a little girl named Maddy (she has stated a few times how she is stuck in a child's body and how underdeveloped she is. Reminded me of Claudia from Interview with the Vampire but not done as well) who through a series of events wakes up undead with, who we find out later on may or may not be the spirit of her father in her. Who is not a pleasant character. We meet her mother several times and in one instance we learn that everything so far has been a conspiracy between mother and father to get mother into movies. Ok fine, we have our protagonist. It is bad enough father using daughters body to have sex with other woman but I can not handle father using daughters body to have sex with mother. That was just disgusting and if it played any part to the story i don't want to know what.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, interesting story

I loved this book. I really enjoyed he way Bradford Tatum wove together the supernatural/hedge witch/magic with moments in history. His writing style is amazing, and as someone who once worked in the entertainment industry Maddy’s creative ambition and angst definitely stuck a chord with me. I loved Mutter, loved her relationship with Lon. I loved just about everything about this story. Almost...

The only thing about this book that rubbed me the wrong way was how the main character dealt with instances of rape/incest; she just kind of... didn’t. I realize that growing up with her prostitute mother and being exposed to so much at such a young age she was most likely desensitized, but I felt like these moments weren’t as impactful as they should have been and that she forgave these trespasses rather quickly and easily. - It’s the only fault I can find with this book, but it bothered me enough that I felt I had to detract a star for it. Otherwise, I highly recommend it!

[Derek McCaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, and not quite as scary as you might think, Only the Dead Know Burbank ties the history of classic horror films together through a monster story of its own. Author Tatum creates an urban myth of Hollywood with a young woman who is both undead and a cinematic genius. Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff both depend on her to unlock the depths of their performances, but because she appears to be a tween girl and is inconveniently not alive, she doesn't get any credit.

Tatum's language is delicious. The only weakness here is a reliance on spectral rape as a defining incident -- it doesn't get in the way of the flow of the story, but without it, Maddie Ulm would have been an even more powerful character. As it is, she never quite realizes the power of her own agency. The novel takes side trips into dark periods in history, and definitely drove me to crack open my Universal Horror history books.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maddy and her mother have a secret. During the Spanish flu epidemic in the earlier 1900s, her mother conjures up a evil spirit and saves them from death but submits them to everlasting life. Maddy and her mom are then separated and Maddy survives WWI eventually ending up in Hollywood post war with a friend. She finds her niche in making horror films but since she doesn't age she realizes she will have to move on again and again. . . . This book had its highlights and I enjoyed how the author used the novel to show her influence in horror films and that true horror actors were characters in the book but I just didn't find this very scary.

[Justus Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maddy is neither dead nor alive. Having survived a pandemic that killed millions, possibly due to her mother’s occult interventions, Maddy emerges from her grave not quite living. Trapped in a child’s body that does not age, she begins a journey that takes her from the desolation of post-war Europe to the promise of glamor in Hollywood. While her circumstances make her uniquely suited to take on challenging monster roles in the silent black-and-white films of the time, she is finds her true calling behind the camera. Reminiscent of classic Hollywood monster movies, Only the Dead Know Burbank blends horror with a bizarre coming-of-age tale that delights and disturbs.

[Robin Dickert · Rating 3 out of 5]

'“To portray a role, you have to embody it. Pain is fleeting; film is forever.”'

Maddy Ulm is an immortal in the body of a child. In this ode to Golden Age Hollywood horror, she hovers around the fringes of backlots and soundstages while gaining the ears of the directors and stars. She helps shape these moving pictures with her uncanny insight as she becomes a legend. It's very cool seeing 'Jimmy' Whale, Karloff, both Chaney's, and others, as characters that have thoughts and conversations.

'“Well, Miss Ulm.” Whale exhaled with a tint of boredom. “Meet the creature.”
“That’s marvelous, Mr. Whale,” I demurred. “He’s perfect."'

[Michael F · Rating 1 out of 5]

Drowning in over description and pedophilia. The first part narrative gets so muddled in excess description that the story becomes hard to follow and every few pages there’s another instance of the author, an adult man, sexualizing a young girl. The narrative eventually evens out, but the pedophilia persists. Almost gave up after 30 pages, but regrettably stuck it out to about 100. The cover and description allude to an interesting take on classic Hollywood and Universal Monsters. Sadly, this isn’t that, but I guess how else do you market whatever the hell this is? I think this might be the only book I’ve ever thrown away.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cool alterna-history that infuses German impressionist films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and the early horror films of Universal Studios with melancholy, fear, and the unbearable numbness of being undead.

The idea that the foundation of what we know as horror movies today was born from the mind of the undead Maddy Ulm is catnip for fans of the genre, and Tatum's sendup of golden-age Hollywood is great.

Excellent read for horror nerds.

[Wes Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a tough one to rate. When I first started reading this I absolutely hated it. But using Lon Cheney, Lon Cheney Jr, and Boris Karloff as characters in this fictional story about Universal Studios movies sold me. I was absolutely devastated at what the Nazis did to poor Mutter. The icing on the cake was the Elvira appearance at the end of the book. Real ghouls, Universal Monsters, Elvira! I'll take it!

[Marie Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting read that I wish had delivered a bit more on the creepiness of it's premise. Yes, its about a living dead girl and classic movie monsters, but it at times felt lacking in something...atmosphere? Regardless, it's a well-constructed novel and one I was looking forward to reading and am glad I read.

[Lisa Mcbroom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love classic horror or anything horror so I was really anxious to read this book! Maddy is a vampire surviving WW1, Spanish flu and other disasters. She wakes up in a grave and becomes a creature of the night. She ventures into Hollywood and becomes an icon of horror movies in the 1920s and 1940s.

[N.R. Tomasheski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly very entertaining, clearly well-researched, and a very clever premise.
I do have to address, as others have said, the incest feels gratuitous, even with the in-world explanation. I personally was able to just ride it out and appreciate the rest of the story, but if this is a deal-breaker for you, then this is one to skip, or find a trusted friend to abridge it.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the plot involving Maddy and classic horror films in old Hollywood was very interesting, but there were some aspects of the novel, such as Maddy and her relationship to Volker, that were a little off-putting.

[Jamie Zaccaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the main premise of this book and all the parts that dealt with movie-making. It could have done without all the sexual abuse and the entire Nazi holocaust section felt squeezed in. An interesting take on real horror vs horror films.

[Regina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maddy Ulm is the magic behind the great Universal Studio's horror movie masterpieces, The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, and Frankenstein. This is her story. *winkwinknudgenudge*

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little slow to begin with, but it picks up. And you love certain characters and you wish there were more. But, a lass it was good.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a fan of Interview with the Vampire's Claudia, then you'll love protagonist Maddy Ulm, always on the sidelines of a film genre she helped inspire.

[Ben Shakey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way more depth than I expected.

[Ben Lathrop]

Like "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" but tracing the history of horror cinema through the golden age.

[Basia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5? I sort of expected more movie stuff.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 1 out of 5]

A teenage German girl gets turned into an undead creature. Then she gets involved in post-WW I German moviemaking, travels to Hollywood, helps create the horror genre ... It's an interesting concept and Tatum has vivid descriptive language, but the story is slow and plodding. And when Tatum gets deep, I just roll my eyes, like Maddy's explanation Dracula has an incest subtext. How so? Because Dracula "sires" his lovers, so they're like his daughters! Wow, nobody ever pointed that out before ... because it's kind of idiotic. So I gave up on this one.