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It is truly amazing, with all the vampire books I have been devouring lately, that it took me this long to read the one that kind of sets the standard for vampires.
The story is chilling in that wonderful , creepy Victorian way. More than the presence of the monster, what scares me the most is the sheer isolation of the place and time. Right from the beginning,Jonathan Harker is in an out-of-the-way castle in an out-of-the-way part of Eastern Europe, and hello, folks, there are no cell phones or cars or Intenet access. When someone decides to make a meal of him, he is basically screwed unless he can figure out a way on his own (and he almost doesn't).
The only reason I didn't give it a 5 is that I found a few things annoying. For example, Dr. Van Helsing's fakey foreign accent, and the attempt of the writer to render working-class British accents, were distracting and awkward. I also got really tired of the constant references to how saintly and perfect and good Mina is. She is clearly smarter than all the men she's with, and I know that for the time it was pretty unusual that the author made her such a strong, intelligent character, but by the end I was very tired of hearing the men say how good she is.
21st-century biases, I know. But there you have my two yen. Worth slightly more than two cents at current exchange rates.