iDrakula by Bekka Black

What would Dracula be like if he lived in today's world instead of in Bram Stoker's imagination?

Well, I still can't tell you. While this book is a retelling of that great classic, you don't spend much time with the Count. This book is told entirely in text, email, and web browsing. Most of the story comes from Mary who talks to Jonathan Harker, her boyfriend, Lily, their friend, and Abraham Van Helsing, a pre-med student.

Renfield, their friend, has been committed to a mental hospital after some bizarre behavior. He had been setting up a business deal with a Count from Romania, so Jonathan is sent to Romania in Renfield's place. There he finds himself cut off from technology and almost a prisoner during the day. He manages to escape but is captured and sent back home to the hospital, as he's contracted a rare blood disease.

Mary, learning some uncomfortable truths, decides to learn all she can about the Count and what could have happened to Jonathan. Lilly is then attacked and everything seems to point back to the Count. On the advice of Renfield, Mary and Van Helsing work together to learn the Count's secret and destroy him to save the lives of Lilly and Jonathan, and soon, their own.

I was a little worried about trying to read iDrakula in its strange format. I found the story moves forward at a much faster pace when told in text or email. When Mary browses through airline tickets and recognizing vampire websites, I had to go back and check each screen print to get all the details. I enjoyed the story a lot more than I thought.