Immanuel's Veins
by Ted Dekker
Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010, 367 pp., hardcover.

Ted Dekker sinks his teeth into the vampire genre with Immanuel's Veins, a unique combination of bloody vampire violence and overwhelmingly sacrificial love. The 16th in Dekker's Books of History Chronicles, Immanuel's Veins draws more heavily on the original Dracula tale than on the other Books of History, although several clear allusions are present.

Toma Nicolescu is the protaganist and sometimes narrator of the story, as the novel is written partly first-person and partly third-person. Toma is a decorated warrior in 1772, assigned by Russia's Catherine The Great to guard the beautiful Cantemir twins at their castle in Moldavia. Accompanied by his sidekick Alek, Toma journeys to the base of the Carpathian Mountains to carry out his mission and, not surprisingly, falls for one of the daughters. Soon the girls are threatened by the tempting Vlad, a Russian who throws great parties, but favors the dark side. The original Vlad The Impaler was an evil ruler known for torturing his victims, and commonly referred to by the name Dracula, so it's not hard to see where Dekker is going with that name.

Dekker's fondness for the warrior/lover character drives the story to its intense conclusion. Although not for the squeamish, this is a powerful tale of redemption and love amidst evil, suffering and violence.

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