I'm going to try to be as nice as I can when I say this because of the subject matter, but this is such a painfully stereotypical depiction of abuse. I feel like I could open a textbook and check off criteria or examples in the exact order they show up in this book. 

That doesn't mean it's unrealistic, but it just does not align with my own experience with abuse. And of course it doesn't, no two people are the same there are no such thing as universal experiences, especially when it comes to abuse. I'm not trying to say S.T. Gibson has or hasn't been abused or that no one who wasn't abused can write about it, but it doesn't feel like it comes from an honest place. The three victims are the most perfect examples of victims you could think of. The two women are people pleasers, they never fight back, they're sad all the time. The young boy fights back and is punished by the abuser because of it and the woman takes him into her arms to care for him afterwards. They're not allowed to be flawed, they have to sit and take it

until they end it once and for all

. Again, it's just a textbook abuse narrative with no nuance and perfect victims. 

The wives (and Alexei) are nothing more than battered victims with very little emotional complexity. Yes, they still love him, but this only seems to pop back up near the end after he dies. Before that, they hate him and feel bad for themselves. Personally, it's just not the kind of abuse narratives I find interesting. And there's been really interesting abuse narratives based on Dracula! Dracula, Motherfucker by Alex de Campi and Erica Henderson and the movie Renfield were both great!! De Campi writes in the afterword of Dracula, Motherfucker that the wives fascinate him in the same way that Melania Trump fascinates him. In Renfield, he's actively doing Dracula's bidding and luring in victims. These views are both complex views of such similar characters that don't just reduce them to a "perfect victim" narrative. 

It was well written, I don't want to make it sound like I didn't like it at all. I liked the idea of a second person point of view. I liked the writing style, and I do like that (some of) the characters were real people outside of their abuse. It wasn't my favourite, but I wouldn't tell anyone to avoid it.