Gotta say, I had a fun time with this one. The title story is literally an outtake from Dracula, and, to be honest, likely the weakest of the lot. Stoker breaks out all the classic horror tropes here: rats, unsavoury characters, drafty old houses, all of it.

None of the stories are truly terrifying. The intervening 120 years between its publish date and now have seen to that, but the stories are absolutely well-written and enjoyable. Stoker shows he has a deft touch with characters at times, though I've got to say, his American guy was hilariously over the top.

He's also not scared to go for the horror, as far as it goes. Well worth the time, if you have any passing interest in reading something else from the guy that gave us the most popular and enduring vampire in the world. ( )

Published in 1914 two years after Stoker’s death this collection of short stories are masterful tales of horror and the supernatural. Readers may well be familiar with some of the stories which have been plagiarised over the years, but reading the original versions in this collection will open some eyes to the quality of Stoker’s writing. He had the ability to create an atmosphere of dark, dense danger that his characters are unable to see for themselves. A dreadful happening seems to be lurking just around the corner and yet when it does there is no feeling of it being forced: we see it coming and are not disappointed. There are nine stories in this collection, five of which are first class examples of late gothic horror.

‘Dracula’s Guest’ opens the collection and it is a concise tableau of the Dracula legend. Like many of the stories it is written in the first person; in this case a young Englishman who is exploring the countryside around Munich in the company of his German guide and in their carriage and four horses. They come to a cross roads; it is Walpurgis Nacht, but the Englishman is keen to follow the road down into a valley. The horses are already disturbed, the guide looses most of his English in a frantic attempt to persuade the Englishman that this is a very bad idea. He will not go down the road under any circumstances and the stand off is only resolved by the Englishman getting down from the carriage and walking down the road on foot.

“With a despairing gesture, Johann turned his horses towards Munich. I leaned on my stick and looked after him. He went slowly along the road for a while then there came over the crest of the hill a man tall and thin. I could see so much in the distance. When he drew near the horses, they began to jump and kick about, then to scream with terror. Johann could not hold them in; they bolted down the road, running away madly. I watched them out of sight, then looked for the stranger and found that, he too, was gone.

With a light heart I turned down the side road through the deepening valley………………..”

The intrepid but foolish Englishman is soon in a horror story all of his own involving; a wolf who is not a wolf, a stake driven through the marble of the top of a tomb and a tornado like storm and it soon gets worse. A classic horror tale with a surprising twist at the end.

‘The Judge’s House’ is the second story and it is equally as good as the first. A student studying for his maths exams rents a house in a quiet village to get on with his work. The house (the Judge’s house) has a sinister history, but the villagers keep this to themselves. Alone in the house the student is disturbed by rats that become more confident as the nights pass. He is astonished one night when a rat considerably larger than the others is sitting opposite him across the table staring at him balefully. Stoker builds up the atmosphere and tension as the student battles with the rat who is reluctant to move. A haunted house story that has the expected tragic ending.

‘The Squaw’ follows and is another excellent story involving a cat out for revenge on a human that accidentally killed her only kitten. There is a torture chamber in an old castle and an iron maiden that we know is going to feature.

‘The Secret of Growing Gold’ is another revenge story, a revenge from beyond the gave perhaps. A woman has been murdered by her lover while on holiday in the Alps. Her lover soon replaces her with an ideal wife, but the ravaged figure of the former mistress reappears.

‘The Gipsy Prophecy’ is a neat story of a young couple who are seemingly doomed by the Gipsy Queens prophecy that the husband will be found standing over the prostrate body of his wife with his hands running with blood.

‘The Coming of Abel Behenna' is the story of two young men in a small Cornish coastal village who fall in love with the same girl. The girl’s mother arranges things so that her daughter will profit from delaying her decision to marry, this results in tragic consequences for the men and the tale takes in a shipwreck and a drowning.

‘The Burial of the Rats’ is my favourite story in the collection. Again it is told in the first person by a young man exploring the rag pickers hovels that surround an area of Paris. His curiosity leads him into danger as he goes deeper into the dust heaps where the rag pickers live. He becomes conscious that his diamond ring may be too tempting a prize for the residents of this shanty town and Stoker is able to ratchet up the tension for the readers who feel a growing menace from the young man’s surroundings. The elderly sub-human residents, together with a thriving rat population become more oppressive, until the young man explodes into action in an attempted escape. He is hopelessly lost in the shanty town of dust, but must run for his life and Stoker describes a breathless night time chase in an environment that is increasingly hostile.

‘A dream of Red Hands’ is a story of a man who cannot escape the nightmares from a murder that he committed in his youth. He must pay full retribution for his deeds and Stoker brings this about with a cleverly told tale.

‘Crooked Sands’ rounds out the collection and it ends on a high note. A wealthy London merchant takes his family on holiday to a Scottish seaside town. He kits himself out in full Scottish chieftains dress, much to the amusement of his family. He finds himself ridiculed in the village but his stubborn vanity will not allow him to back down and he takes to walking out alone in the evening on a beach where there is danger of quicksand. One evening he sees a mirror image of himself on the other side of the quicksands and he cannot resist stepping forward.

A very fine collection of horror stories that at their best create real tension and suspense. Stoker’s fine descriptive writing enable him to quickly place the reader inside his story and once inside you will want to read until the sometimes gruesome end. Four stars. ( )

Firstly I'm not a Stoker fanatic. Dracula's Guest, however gave me the bone marrow I needed from Abraham's mind. I wish I'd read this before the great vampire story. Dracula was not the horror story my macabre mind wanted. Dracula's Guest drives the wooden pin into your chest and burns the eyes. A maniacal Judge, reincarnated as a huge rat, torments a visitor into dreadful rage. Another paradigm is a possessed Black Cat. ( )

Dracula's Guest is a collection of short stories by Bram Stoker which includes: Dracula's Guest The Judge's House The Gipsy Prophecy The Coming of Abel Behenna The Burial of the Rats A Dream of Red Hands Crooken Sands and The Secret of Growing Old. In Dracula's guest you follow a young Englishman who is in a town and on Walpurgis Night leaves his carriage to wander off and see an abandoned village. The village was deemed unholy which sparked his interest to begin with. While there he sees a tomb and tries to take cover in the doorway while there is a terrible storm. Later he is found by some military men. They say they went to search for him because they had received word from his host Dracula that he may have been lost. It is rumored to have been Jonathan Harker before his visit with the count but that is not certain.

My next favorite was the story of the Judge's House. It has a young scholar who is seeking some peace and quiet and rents a house that locals feel is bewitched. It is mostly infested with rats. However when I read it and got to the end I had goose bumps! It was great. I completely recommend this to Stoker fans! ( )

Dracula's Guest is a collection of short stories by Bram Stoker which includes: Dracula's Guest The Judge's House The Gipsy Prophecy The Coming of Abel Behenna The Burial of the Rats A Dream of Red Hands Crooken Sands and The Secret of Growing Old. In Dracula's guest you follow a young Englishman who is in a town and on Walpurgis Night leaves his carriage to wander off and see an abandoned village. The village was deemed unholy which sparked his interest to begin with. While there he sees a tomb and tries to take cover in the doorway while there is a terrible storm. Later he is found by some military men. They say they went to search for him because they had received word from his host Dracula that he may have been lost. It is rumored to have been Jonathan Harker before his visit with the count but that is not certain.

My next favorite was the story of the Judge's House. It has a young scholar who is seeking some peace and quiet and rents a house that locals feel is bewitched. It is mostly infested with rats. However when I read it and got to the end I had goose bumps! It was great. I completely recommend this to Stoker fans! ( )