Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Horror In a Subtle Vein
Review: THE LOST is billed as a Novel of Dark Discoveries and is a subtle horror that continues right to the last page.A prep school teacher in England learns that he is descended from Romanian nobility. This knowledge puts him on a quest to reclaim his heritage. There is talk of a family castle. Considering the situation in Romania after the collapse of Russian Communism, the teacher thinks about turning the castle into an orphanage. While pleading his case he enlists the aid of a young woman who tells him his claim will be processed more quickly if he claims he wants to start a hotel. But the castle is very remote and the two are cut off for the winter. Slowly the teacher learns the true heritage of his family. A dark heritage involving the strigoi -- the undead (but not vampires). The book is laid out as a collection of letters, journal entries and transcripts from taped logs. This format actually adds additional depth to the story. It sort of reminds me of the original The Books of Magic when the battle for the world happens off stage. This book is a lot like that. But remember, this is subtle horror. If you are looking for blood, gore and body parts then this is not for you. But if you like a classic style in a modern setting, then you should definitely take a look at this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Stoker would be embarrassed
Review: The most disappointing book I ever read. I hate it very much. If Stoker were still alive, this book would make him very embarrassed to see someone from his country wrote it. And so what if it is set up in Carpathians too?
Rating:
Summary: Complete waste of time
Review: The only thing I enjoyed about the entire book was the tragic ,flashback, story of the lovers told in the last quarter of the book. There's absolutely no action. The 'monsters' don't show up until the very end and then they do absolutely nothing. The style is just a gimmick and totally ripped off. I don't understand the links to the happenings back in his hometown. I think he just threw the sex in there to make sure people were still awake. It's just really bad - don't waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: Complete waste of time
Review: The only thing I enjoyed about the entire book was the tragic ,flashback, story of the lovers told in the last quarter of the book. There's absolutely no action. The 'monsters' don't show up until the very end and then they do absolutely nothing. The style is just a gimmick and totally ripped off. I don't understand the links to the happenings back in his hometown. I think he just threw the sex in there to make sure people were still awake. It's just really bad - don't waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: The title should be "The Loss"
Review: The other day I borrowed this book from the library and spent a day reading it. I agree with the review of the reader from Texas: the ending is too disapointing. I kind of enjoyed the book at first, but when it almost reached the end of it, I realized that there would never be a good ending. I was right. The evil ones won and the good ones lost. The title should be changed to "The Loss" to really emphasize this terrible fact... Thank God I just borrowed the book and not actually bought it!
Rating:
Summary: The Worst
Review: The worst book I have ever read in my life
Rating:
Summary: A Light, Unimpressive Novel
Review: There is not much I can say about this novel, because that is the fact: there is not much to say. The story is not impressive at all and the style of the writing (using letters, journals, and diaries style) are simply ridiculous.
Rating: 
Summary: A gem of "literary horror."
Review: This book belongs to two genres: horror and "literary novel." Those who expect a straight horror novel will be disappointed. It's a short, neat little book. Its atmospheric prose evokes that of another British "literary ghost story" writer: Robert Aickman. I visited Transylvania as a child in the 1970s, and seen Bucharest, and Aycliffe describes it well in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Mourning "The Lost" time I spent reading this book
Review: This is a truly horrid, boring book from beginning to end.
It starts in the style of Bram Stoker's Dracula, by being a compilation of diaries, letters, notes, etc. from characters. Although it tries to be like Dracula, it falls far short of that goal for several reasons: 1) The lack of plot development; 2) The lack of character development; 3) Anything interesting to keep the reader's interest. After struggling to wade through the mind-numbing text to see how it ended, I found out once I got there that I wished I had never started reading in the first place.
Here's a little tidbit that might provide additional perspective as to how bad I thought the book was. Besides being angry with the author for wasting my time, I am angry at Nancy, Beth, and Aycliffe's editorial team, to whom the book is dedicated. The author says the book would not have happened without their love support and advice. I am uncertain whether to be angry at them because they didn't love the author enough (with more love and advice the book may have been tolerable to read) or they loved him too much (thereby encouring him to write when they should have discouraged him).
Please do not waste your time reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Dark, Impressive Novel
Review: This is not a common vampire novel, but it is impressive. It is short, and the writing is vivid and spare. The ending is despairing - the triumph of evil, there are no neat solutions, no trite "happy ending."
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