Fangland

Fangland
Marks, John.
New York: Penguin Press, 2007.

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Former 60 Minutes producer John Marks updates the Dracula myth. Evangeline Harker, a young producer for the thinly veiled 'The Hour' news show is in Romania to investigate the possibility of a piece on an infamous Eastern European gangster, Ion Torgu. In the guise of a business deal, he kidnaps and holds Evangeline at an abandoned hotel in the Transylvanian Alps. There she learns he's more than he seems. On the other side of the ocean, another drama is being played out as Torgu's plans for world domination start to take shape in the offices of 'The Hour'. The story switches back and forth between 4 main characters which makes for an interesting sense of tension as you keep experiencing mini cliff hangers while you wait for the perspective to change back.

Again, I listened rather than read. Normally I don't like abridged versions but I could have used it this time. It was really interesting having 4 narrators but the story seemed to drag on. There was too much description of what life on a "network broadcast show" was like. I was surprised the book was in Horror because it's more a literary thriller. I did enjoy it but it was the sort of book you want to do in a book club so you can talk about themes and techniques.

For commuters, we have the book on cd.

Read by:
• Ellen Archer
• Todd Mclaren
• Michael Prichard
• Simon Vance