A Review of Kiersten White's "The Fox and the Devil"

I have been a fan of Dracula spinoffs since early high school, probably. I wrote my first Dracula fanfic, if you can call it that, as a freshman. One novel in particular, I picked up at a newsstand (yes, honest to god) sometime in the early 1990s, probably. The plot element I remember most about that one was that Queen Victoria becomes a victim of Dracula and turns into some morbid, corpulent vampire queen. 

Most recently, I’ve viewed the film "Van Helsing’s Boys" with Bosch’s Titus Welliver and read—at the same time, by coincidence—Kiersten White’s "The Fox and the Devil." As far as stories that deal with the potential of Van Helsing’s offspring, "The Fox and the Devil" is definitely my preference, and I will focus on it here. 

Anneke Van Helsing wanted nothing more than to replace her dead brother in the eyes of her father, but her brother’s loss changed her family, and she never received the approval she wanted. When her father is murdered, she dedicates her life to finding his murderer. She hunts vampires and deranged killers, believing she is on the tail of the hauntingly beautiful woman she saw over her father’s corpse the night he died. But despite her intellect and the team of investigators she’s surrounded herself with, the truth eludes her, until finally, she must face exactly what happened in her past and how it will affect her future. 

This book is beautiful, poignant, chilling, entertaining… The settings are engaging and lush. The characters are driven and compassionate, intelligent and broken. The story succeeds at each turn. I would love to see the next adventures of the Van Helsing Detective Agency.

For fans of old vampire stories, Sherlock Holmes, and Victorian/ Edwardian procedurals, this is going to be a hit. The burgeoning field of forensics juxtaposed against the folklore of Europe makes for a great story. I highly recommend "The Fox and the Devil." I received a copy of the ebook from NetGalley.