The name Van Helsing always conjures up an image of vampires and the people who give their lives to stop them. Action, passion, drama, and so on. This books claims to contain all of this and more and yet I find myself strangely wondering where it all went. For starters, this is not a story, this is a synopsis of a story. I feel strangely cheated as I read the edited version of the story that unfolds in brief paragraphs in front of me.

Undoubtedly, the story being told is of interest, as Gabriel Van Helsing, joins the corp of the same name. Having trained with them, he sets out with his team and encounters the foul undead as the uncover devious plots and the masterminds behind them. Planning carefully, they enter the monster’s lair and fight their way through. At it’s heart Gabriel confronts the evil Lord Malachi and finally overcomes him, but only with the great loss and sacrifice of several of his team. Having defeated Malachi, the return home still traumatised but as determined as ever. Once they are ready they go forth to hunt more vampires and ultimately destroy the ancient vampire leader and the remains of the vampire threat. Succeeding at cost, they part ways ever ready to face the threat that may one day rise again.

It sounds like a wonderful story that may have been told, the writing brings each part of the synopsis to life and in some ways it is worth reading for the hints of what might have been and allowing your imagination to fill in the blanks. While the plot is as by the numbers as you would expect and over ten chapters perhaps does not cover as much as you might hope for, the attempt could still have been made. It is unfortunate we never get to meet these stalwart characters, as no doubt they would be endearing and fascinating to understand and watch their struggles and growth from page to page. Alas, we only know the name of our hero and not his companions and thus have nothing to relate to other than our vampire hunter supreme.

The formatting and layout of the book is surprisingly excellent and easy to read and the spelling and grammar make this an easy and fast read and available to anyone to read. I can only wish that the full story would have been as well crafted. Perhaps a link to the full story would have been the icing on the cake.

If you cannot tell from my tone, I am disappointed to find this is honestly just a synopsis and not a story. The author is quite capable of highlighting the key points, but without the story there really is no point to this book. My patience ran out as I reached the end and found that is as far as it went.