The Salem Branch (Dark Shadows) [Paperback]

Lara Parker (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dark Shadows | Publication Date: July 11, 2006

In Dark Shadows: The Salem Branch Barnabas Collins, the vampire hero of the series, has recently become a human again through the efforts of his devoted descendent Dr. Julia Hoffman and is living in current day Collinsport, Maine trying to adjust to normal life. Although engaged to marry Dr. Hoffman, he falls in love with a mysterious woman named Antoinette who has bought the ruins of "the old house" on the Collins estate and is restoring it while living with a band of hippies in the woods. Antoinette settled in the area because her daughter is being treated in a nearby mental hospital. Her daughter suffers from flashbacks to her previous incarnation as Miranda du Val who was burned as a witch in the Salem witch trials. One of the judges who condemned her to death was a Collins--Barnabas's ancestor. Barnabas is desperate to win Antoinette's love and to protect her and her daughter from the new vampire that he suspects is attacking the inhabitants of Collinsport.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Parker continues a series based on the hit 1960s and 1970s supernatural soap opera, Dark Shadows, in which she costarred as the witch Angelique, heroine of the series opener, Angelique's Descent (1998), and erstwhile lover and foe of vampire Barnabas Collins. When this novel opens, Barnabas has been cured of his vampirism by his fiancee, Dr. Julia Hoffman, but feels like a shadow of his former self. His cousin Roger has sold the remains of the family estate, the Old House, to a woman named Antoinette, who so resembles Angelique that Barnabas is drawn to her. On a late night visit to the Old House, Barnabas discovers a fatally wounded workman, clearly the victim of a vampire attack. Barnabas insinuates himself into Antoinette's life to protect her and the hippies she allows to camp out on the property from the seeming threat. In the process, he discovers a shocking link between his family and Antoinette's. Fans of the show will find much to love in this yarn steeped in its mythology. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

LARA PARKER, who played the role of Angelique on Dark Shadows, lives in Topanga Canyon, California, with her husband and daughter.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (July 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765304570
• ISBN-13: 978-0765304575
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #561,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your usual "My name is Victoria Winters" DS fare, June 2, 2007

By 

Stephen Richmond "Librarian/Teacher/Reader an... (Newton, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Salem Branch (Dark Shadows) (Paperback)

A great read from Angelique herself. Lara Parker is becoming a stronger novelist in this her second novel. While at times her pacing and chronology seem a tad awkward and clunky, her prose is vivid, alive with all the passion and eroticism you'd expect from the woman who played Angelique in her various incarnations. The use of the early '70s Love Children is so fun and so right for this milieu. Barnabas the Human is still as charming; in fact, moreso as he struggles to deal with human limitations. The maturing of David Collins is also handled with sensitivity and humor, minding all that he's been through at so young an age. It's just a delight to encounter all these beloved characters again. This book could serve as an introduction to the world of DS including the DVD collections of the shows, all the Marilyn Ross novels, the comics, Lara Parker's first novel, ANGELIQUE'S DESCENT, and Rainey and Massie's DREAMS OF THE DARK. Fans of course, already know all that and this will just be a new pleasure.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Silly, September 25, 2006

By 

C. hoffman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Salem Branch (Dark Shadows) (Paperback)

Barnabas dropping acid and getting high from pot laden brownies, come on! I am a hugh DS fan but this was just too off character for me.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Parker's valentine to her old show., July 17, 2009

By 

Mark Louis Baumgart (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Salem Branch (Dark Shadows) (Paperback)

For it's time, the daytime gothic soap "Dark Shadows" was quite a phenomenon, spawning comic books, comic strips, spin-off movies, joke books, and over thirty original paperback novels by Marilyn (W. E. D.) Ross...and, later, a prime-time series, web sites, retrospective memoirs, and even more original novels. It wasn't above lifting storylines from Stoker, Shelley, Lovecraft, Poe, Henry James, and Oscar Wilde; and it wasn't above using time travel, parallel realities, flashbacks, flashback-within-flashbacks, actors that played multiple characters, and extended dream/hallucinationary fugue states. Keep your flow charts nearby. "Dark Shadows" however mostly dealt with the trials and tribulations of vampire Barnabas Collins as he protected his ancestral home and family.

Lara Parker played multiple characters on "Dark Shadows"; her most famous being Angelique, and has written several "Dark Shadows" novels with "The Salem Branch" being a direct sequel to "Angelique's Descent" I think. Here, Barnabas is taking treatments to cure his vampirism (which was caused by a curse from Angelique)from long time character and doctor, Julia, and it is this transition that is causing him problems.

His rocky road acquires more bumps in a typical "Dark Shadows" manner when a woman who seems to be Angelique but is now called Antoinette moves into the Old House and begins to restore the burned out husk. Soon, a new vampire is loose, a band of cultish hippies are camping out in a nearby woods; and a there's a deadman that won't stay dead. So while Barnabas tries to protect the Collins family; find out who the new killer is, and what Antoinette/Angelique is up to, he ends up time traveling, getting high (!), and having to unravel the mystery behind Jacqueline, who may or may not be an even older witch than Angelique.

The problem is that most of these plotlines are never really developed to their needed extent, we flit from one to the other; Antoinette is never really developed--seeming to wander in and out of the novel providing angst for Barnabas--and while the rest of the "Dark Shadows" cast makes cameos, nothing is ever really done with any of them, excepting David, and to some extent, Julia; and the ending will certainly bring many fans up short.

On the positive, Barnabas is well delineated, and about half of "The Salem Branch" takes place in 1692 Salem (as two parallel stories are woven together) and it is here that Parker really shines. The 17th century scenes, concerning the trial, persecution, and execution of a witch, could have been a novel on their own, as this storyline seems to inspire Parker the most, allowing Parker to make some contemporary social commentary.

This is not an extreme or graphic horror novel, it's a mild paranormal romance with a sixties flavor with even the vampirism seemingly more of a sub-plot than anything else. And, yes, this novel has some inconsistancies with the old tv series, and yes it is cluttered with too many unneeded characters from the tv series, but...if you are a "Dark Shadows" fan, this fan fiction novel is for you, and you will probably raise the rating a star or two. If you're not a "Dark Shadows" fan however, "The Salem Branch" will be of no interest.

An earlier and slightly different version on this review appeared in "Cemetery Dance" #59. Thanx Bob.