Fangland: A Novel (Hardcover)

by John Marks (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Former 60 Minutes producer Marks (The Wall) puts his experience on the legendary TV news magazine to good use in this highly inventive reimagining of Bram Stoker's Dracula. His naïve protagonist, Evangeline Harker, a young producer for the TV news show The Hour, reluctantly accepts an assignment into the wilds of Romania to explore doing a segment on a legendary criminal figure, Ion Torgu. Evangeline soon finds herself at the very outskirts of civilization, and after hearing a missionary's account of a supernatural plague that affected a whole community in Africa, she's accosted by Torgu himself, doing an excellent impersonation of the vampire count. Her subsequent imprisonment in a deserted hotel also parallels Stoker's tale, but Marks manages to make the familiar fresh, so that even devotees of the original will find themselves rapidly turning pages and being drawn into Evangeline's fate and the stories of her friends and colleagues at The Hour. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Professional and personal aspirations collide when Evangeline, an ambitious associate producer of The Hour ("the most successful news show in American television history") accepts Robert's wedding proposal just before jetting off on an assignment she would rather dodge. Her uber-producer dismisses her protestations, so it's off to Transylvania to evaluate a possible story on Romanian reputed crime lord Ion Torgu. Marks' sense of place (a horse and wagon in front of a Coke sign symbolizes the transition from communism) and tone-setting emphasis on blood and bloodlines kick in early as Evangeline mulls over blending her Italian Irish heritage and Robert's mix of Creek Indian and the U.S. marshals who fought them, a union represented for her by the engagement ring she insists on wearing to meet the small, pale Torgu, who proves a kind of terrorist, and who infects her "like a virus" when she is abducted. She resurfaces months later, recuperating in Transylvania and recalling nothing. A scary twenty-first-century take on the stuff of Dracula, worthy of its rightful place among others. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The (January 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159420117X
• ISBN-13: 978-1594201172
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #849,356 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So you thought you knew all about vampires..., January 19, 2007

By	Zoyd (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Well, think again! In this amazing, weird, genre-bending and -blending, different-from-any-other-book-you're-likely-to-read novel, you'll get to know a particularly nasty specimen. Forget the teeth - this vampire uses a saw and a bucket. But FANG LAND isn't only a smart and frankly terrifying retelling of Bram Stoker's classic (which it is indebted to on a structural level, too); Marks uses the foil of the vampire novel to say some pretty serious things about why our media suck. (Excuse the pun.) And he does so with a satirical edge that is all the sharper because he used to be a producer for 60 Minutes himself. A great read and more profound than you'd think. The cover is spectacular, too.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your grandfather's vampire story - 10 stars, July 20, 2007

By	Software Guy (South Florida, Center of the Universe) - See all my reviews

This is a new a completely new take on the old monster. Comparing this book to Bram Stoker's Dracula beyond the structure and a few scattered similarities is doing both a disservice. Certainly the author offers an homage to Stoker with certain story elements, as all vampire stories must do else there be no real reference for the casual reader to recognize. But this is a unique and uniquely modern novel in every way.

I will let other's summarize the book for you, but instead just give my take as a jaded, constant reader. This book is one of very few I would read more than once because a) it was so good the first time and b) I actually think that a second reading would be even more revealing and powerful given how the story so defied my expectations.

The author has written a very sophisticated and seductive work. It is very literate and very smartly done. The best thing about this book is that it takes the thread of an idea that has been so overworked and actually makes the idea riveting and fresh in a new skin. Fangland offers you many gifts as a reader: mounting, suffocating dread, truly shocking horror, likeable and hate-able characters, a mature and subversive sensuality and even moments of dark wit to name but a few.

Frankly, in hindsight, this is one book in which I would rather have not even read the jacket summary (it shouldn't have one because you can't convey the richness of it in a couple of paragraphs) and had just dove into the story and let it take me completely by surprise with no preconceived notions. Maybe the jacket summary could have simply said "The Silence of the Lambs meets Dracula meets The Office" and then let your mind take it from there. And while I would love to see this on the big screen, I can't think of a single living director who could tackle it. It would be destined as yet another case of "the book was better".

Do not miss this treat. You do not have to be a horror fan to love this book. You have only to be human.

*** Update: "Das Films and Blumhouse Productions are teaming on an adaptation of John Marks' novel "Fangland" that is shaping up as a star vehicle for Hilary Swank, says Variety."

Due in 2009, the two-time Oscar Winner will play Evangeline Harker and her production company will also co-produce the film. No word yet on who will direct or who will play Ion Torgu that I can find.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dracula updated!, May 18, 2007

By	Jessica S. "Vamp Girl" (Missouri) - See all my reviews

Fangland can basically be described as an updated Dracula. In fact the main character, a young woman is named Evangeline Harker, just like Stoker's classic Jonathan Harker. There are even a few names that are re-used as well. Evangeline is a reporter for a TV show called the Hour. She is sent to Romania to interview a possible crime lord named Ion Torgu, who presumes the role of Dracula. Although it is never said if he is truly a vampire, he is something else that is not of this world however.

Similar to Stoker's tale, Evangeline remains too long on her trip and doesn't return at the appointed time, but for some reason someone is taking over Evangeline's life and sending emails in her name and shipping strange crates back to the office. Evangeline loses her memory of the duration of the trip and when she returns home her memories slowly return to her and the terror of them drives her insane. A horror has taken over the people of the Hour and Evangeline must do all that she can to defeat the monster.

Overall a very good book. If you've read Stoker's classic Dracula you'll love this modern new twist. As mentioned before there are a few names that are similar if I'm remembering correctly. A must read for all Dracula fans, you won't be disappointed.