The Vampire Knife by Jack Henseleit starts off with a car ride that closely mirrors Jonathan Harker’s carriage ride in Dracula during a tremendous thunderstorm. They can’t see much, but Max spots a tall figure with white eyes during a flash of lightning. His father says that it is probably a bear. Anna, Max and their father are traveling to a mysterious inn in Romania where they will stay while their father does research at a nearby library. They are left in the charge of the innkeeper, Mrs. Dalca. She speaks a mysterious Slavic sounding language and serves them garlic scented stew for lunch. After lunch, their father leaves for the library, Mrs. Dalca shows the children to their room. They start to explore. They have just found a mysterious banner when Mrs. Dalca appears and demands they come back to the main room where it is warmer. They are introduced to Isabella, a girl with a crescent shaped scar on her cheek. She says that she got it falling out of a tree. The three children hit it off and decide to play hide and seek. Anna hides in a cabinet and is keeping an eye on the room through the keyhole. She can’t see the door but she can see out the window. A flash of lightning reveals a tall figure with white eyes outside the window. Max finds her and they discuss the figure they now have both seen. They decide to ask their father. Unfortunately, there is no phone and Mrs. Dalca refuses to take them to the library, saying that that it was too close to night.  The storm rages and Mrs. Dalca yells at it using the word, “strigoi”. Anna realizes that she has heard the word before. She goes to her room and looks in her books. She discovers the word means “vampire”. Mrs. Dalca bursts into the room and takes the book. Anna is upset that she didn’t have time to read further and maybe discover how to fight off the vampire. They decide to wait until Mrs. Dalca went to sleep and get the book back.  However, they are tired and fall asleep. Anna has a dream warning that there is a creature in the castle. She wakes up to find the window open. Anna gets up to close the window, but hears a familiar voice calling from outside. She sees a figure with a bundle over its back.  The bundle yells a warning to Anna and the figure turns to look at Anna with blazing eyes. Anna turns and sees the bear trying to attack her. She crawls under her bed and while groping around for a weapon, she finds a loose floorboard. Underneath is a knife. She holds it out to the bear, and instead of attacking, he crawls up on Max’s bed and goes to sleep. Anna tries to get her book back, but Isabella tells her that her grandmother won’t leave her room at night. Vampires aren’t real and the garlic in the stew was just because her grandmother liked the taste. Anna realizes that Max didn’t eat any of the stew and so isn’t protected. Isabella refuses to believe until she sees the bear in Max’s bed.

Anna and Isabella take the garlic stew and head out to rescue Max. Isabella tells her the story of a count who is supposed to be a vampire in a burned-out castle nearby. After seeing the shield on the castle, Anna recognizes the pattern on the banner and realizes that, if they burn the banner, the count will stop being a vampire. When they got to get the banner, it is missing.

Anna and Isabella head out for the castle. After a hard and grueling trip though the storm and the castle, they find a man in a cell. He is covered with hundreds of puncture marks.  In exchange for a mouse (which he eats), he tells them where to find Max.

Anna and Isabella find Max, but the shock of seeing the vampire bite Max causes Anna to accidentally cut her finger with the vampire knife. She uses the blood to make a trail to lure the vampire away from Max.  Isabella manages to get Max free, but all three are trapped by the vampire. Isabella disables the vampire by pouring garlic stew over his face. Anna starts to run, but realizes that she has dropped the vampire knife and goes back for it. Next to it is the missing banner. She grabs the banner and the three children escape.  They discover that Max’s hand where he was bitten was cold and bloodless. It was dead.

They encounter the bear in the woods outside the castle. The bear takes them back to the inn on his back. On the way, they are chased by a pack of wolves. At the inn, the vampire turns up, but they manage to get through the door. The vampire can’t follow them in because he hasn’t been invited. Unfortunately, Max’s dead hand is under the control of the vampire. While Isabella is trying to get the fire going enough to burn the wet banner, Anna and Max fight to keep the banner away from the vampire and Max’s dead hand. Finally, using the vampire knife, Anna  gets the bear to take the banner and Isabella throws it into the fire.  It burns and the vampire vanishes. The clouds disappear and the sun appears.

They later encounter the fairy man in the woods who tells them the story of the vampire knife. It is decided that Anna should keep the knife. That evening their father returns. The children write out their adventures and Max, Anna and their father leave to return home.

The illustrations are gray tone and are more atmospheric than adding to story. There are fewer of the standard vampire tropes than in most children’s vampire stories, but there is enough action and adventure to keep even the most vampire hungry child interested. This book is scary enough to give to those kids who want scary books.