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Fantômas #5
A Royal Prisoner
This is an alternate cover edition for 9780988202658
The journalist Fandor befriends the King of Hesse-Weimar during one of his Majesty’s incognito pleasure trips to Paris, but when the King’s mistress is found dead, having fallen from a third-floor window, Inspector Juve is called upon to investigate. When the indomitable detective discovers Lady Beltham, the lover of Fantômas, in disguise among the royal court of Hesse-Weimar, Juve suspects it is none other than the Lord of Terror who is behind the plot against the King.
The journalist Fandor befriends the King of Hesse-Weimar during one of his Majesty’s incognito pleasure trips to Paris, but when the King’s mistress is found dead, having fallen from a third-floor window, Inspector Juve is called upon to investigate. When the indomitable detective discovers Lady Beltham, the lover of Fantômas, in disguise among the royal court of Hesse-Weimar, Juve suspects it is none other than the Lord of Terror who is behind the plot against the King.
186 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1911
9 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Marcel Allain
160 books41 followersMarcel Allain (1885-1970) was a French writer mostly remembered today for his co-creation with Pierre Souvestre of the fictional arch-villain and master criminal Fantômas.
The son of a Parisian bourgeois family, Allain studied law before becoming a journalist. He then became the assistant of Souvestre, who was already a well-known figure in literary circles. In 1909, the two men published their first novel, Le Rour. Investigating Magistrate Germain Fuselier, later to become a recurring character in the Fantômas series, appears in the novel.
Then, in February 1911, Allain and Souvestre embarked upon the Fantômas book series at the request of publisher Arthème Fayard, who wanted to create a new monthly pulp magazine. The success was immediate and lasting.
After Souvestre’s death in February 1914, Allain continued the Fantômas saga alone, then launched several other series, such as Tigris, Fatala, Miss Téria and Férocias, but none garnered the same popularity as Fantômas.
The son of a Parisian bourgeois family, Allain studied law before becoming a journalist. He then became the assistant of Souvestre, who was already a well-known figure in literary circles. In 1909, the two men published their first novel, Le Rour. Investigating Magistrate Germain Fuselier, later to become a recurring character in the Fantômas series, appears in the novel.
Then, in February 1911, Allain and Souvestre embarked upon the Fantômas book series at the request of publisher Arthème Fayard, who wanted to create a new monthly pulp magazine. The success was immediate and lasting.
After Souvestre’s death in February 1914, Allain continued the Fantômas saga alone, then launched several other series, such as Tigris, Fatala, Miss Téria and Férocias, but none garnered the same popularity as Fantômas.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 24, 2021
Ridiculous!
Okay...so, I’ve been hearing a lot about Pierre Souvestre and his Fantomas books, so I decided to try one.
This book is ridiculous! Now I don’t mean this in a bad way. I just mean that everyone is continuously outsmarted by this master-criminal genius, Fantomas.
So the mystery is about a king from a small Germanic country, who loves to visit Paris and Fantomas finds out and decides to rob him of an exquisite and terribly expensive, beautiful and rare, red diamond.
Well, Inspector Juve is his arch-enemy and he is determined to prevent it from happening, but although, apparently, they’ve had plenty of contact before, he doesn’t realize that Fantomas is a man of a thousand faces.
After reading this book, I am determined to find more of these Fantomas stories and I am sure that I will enjoy reading them!
Four stars 🌟
Okay...so, I’ve been hearing a lot about Pierre Souvestre and his Fantomas books, so I decided to try one.
This book is ridiculous! Now I don’t mean this in a bad way. I just mean that everyone is continuously outsmarted by this master-criminal genius, Fantomas.
So the mystery is about a king from a small Germanic country, who loves to visit Paris and Fantomas finds out and decides to rob him of an exquisite and terribly expensive, beautiful and rare, red diamond.
Well, Inspector Juve is his arch-enemy and he is determined to prevent it from happening, but although, apparently, they’ve had plenty of contact before, he doesn’t realize that Fantomas is a man of a thousand faces.
After reading this book, I am determined to find more of these Fantomas stories and I am sure that I will enjoy reading them!
Four stars 🌟
September 1, 2019
This is pretty silly, but I think it speaks for its times. It's sort of a mystery/thriller from a century ago. It's slightly better than pulp, but certainly not literature. All in all, it's entertaining, escapist reading.
So, the journalist, Jerome Fandor is out on the streets of Paris late at night. He sees a man drinking alone and recognizes the man as being Frederick-Christian II, the King of Hesse-Weimar. So Fandor strikes up a relationship and the two drink the night away. Eventually, they stagger off to the rooms of one Susy d'Orsel. She's the king's mistress. They sit down for a drink and a meal. But, when she is out of the room, Susy d'Orsel seems to fall out of the window and splat on the courtyard a few stories below. The king disappears to investigate, and then just vanishes. The police show up and mistake Fandor for the King. The question in the minds of the police is whether Susy d'Orsay committed suicide, or was murdered? If murdered, it must have been at the king's hand. Something like that.
But, we have a problem. It would be rather a diplomatic problem to arrest the king for murder, so the presumed king, Fandor, is shipped back to his rooms at the Royal Arms Hotel.
Eventually, the famous police detective, Juve is brought in. It turns out that he's a pal of Fandor and the two of them figure the problem is that the infamous master criminal, Fantômas, is involved. Most likely, he's trying to find a way to steal a massive diamond belonging to the King of Hesse-Weimar.
Juve goes off to Hesse-Weimar to investigate at that end. Fandor investigates in Paris. He finds the king has been stashed inside a statue, or something. So he contrives to extract the king and gets trapped inside himself. And so on.
Lots of switching personna, lots of people who might not be what they seem, in particular, it seems that Susy d'Orsel lives in a building managed by Mme. Citron, who might also be The Marquis de Sérac, and perhaps also Ouaouaoua, the Primitive Man.
I gather that Souvestre and Allain wrote rather a number of books about the arch criminal Fantômas, and that at the end of each book, Fantômas escapes to promulgate yet more perfidy in the next volume.
This book is a bit of light fun. Don't expect that everything will make complete sense. Just follow the action and be amused for a time. This is throwaway literature, amusing, but nothing that will last. It's really ***-.
So, the journalist, Jerome Fandor is out on the streets of Paris late at night. He sees a man drinking alone and recognizes the man as being Frederick-Christian II, the King of Hesse-Weimar. So Fandor strikes up a relationship and the two drink the night away. Eventually, they stagger off to the rooms of one Susy d'Orsel. She's the king's mistress. They sit down for a drink and a meal. But, when she is out of the room, Susy d'Orsel seems to fall out of the window and splat on the courtyard a few stories below. The king disappears to investigate, and then just vanishes. The police show up and mistake Fandor for the King. The question in the minds of the police is whether Susy d'Orsay committed suicide, or was murdered? If murdered, it must have been at the king's hand. Something like that.
But, we have a problem. It would be rather a diplomatic problem to arrest the king for murder, so the presumed king, Fandor, is shipped back to his rooms at the Royal Arms Hotel.
Eventually, the famous police detective, Juve is brought in. It turns out that he's a pal of Fandor and the two of them figure the problem is that the infamous master criminal, Fantômas, is involved. Most likely, he's trying to find a way to steal a massive diamond belonging to the King of Hesse-Weimar.
Juve goes off to Hesse-Weimar to investigate at that end. Fandor investigates in Paris. He finds the king has been stashed inside a statue, or something. So he contrives to extract the king and gets trapped inside himself. And so on.
Lots of switching personna, lots of people who might not be what they seem, in particular, it seems that Susy d'Orsel lives in a building managed by Mme. Citron, who might also be The Marquis de Sérac, and perhaps also Ouaouaoua, the Primitive Man.
I gather that Souvestre and Allain wrote rather a number of books about the arch criminal Fantômas, and that at the end of each book, Fantômas escapes to promulgate yet more perfidy in the next volume.
This book is a bit of light fun. Don't expect that everything will make complete sense. Just follow the action and be amused for a time. This is throwaway literature, amusing, but nothing that will last. It's really ***-.
February 9, 2012
So this was the most-edited translation in the Fantomas series... and it shows. I've come to expect at LEAST a dozen disgustingly freakish deaths per Fantomas book, and this one only had... wait for it... two. TWO! Come on!
One of the things I love about this series (one of the hundreds of things) is that the books, while published at a rate of one per month back in the '20s, never adhere to a formula. The first starts as a old dark house murder mystery, then turns into a high-class thriller. Others are murders-across-the-countries, descents into the criminal underworld, one is even one of the first spy novels. This one is a go at royal intrigue, and I'm pretty sure it was inspired by one of the great adventure stories of all time, THE PRISONER OF ZENDA. Just like Zenda, there's a drunken monarch who goes missing after a bender and is replaced by one of our heroes, there's an evil prince looking to take over a kingdom... But what this adds to the series is a bigger sense of humor. All the books have a sick and twisted one... this one adds a broadness.
It should be read if you're making your way through the whole series, like I am (if only for the payoff of the King of Hesse-Weimar from the last installment), but I don't recommend starting with this one.
Oh, yeah: it also has a diamond heist. And a bearded and robed homeless man named Ouaouaoua who inspires the Parsian crowd to go back to living the primitive life.
On to THE LONG ARM OF FANTOMAS, which is billed as the greatest masterpiece in the series. We shall see...
One of the things I love about this series (one of the hundreds of things) is that the books, while published at a rate of one per month back in the '20s, never adhere to a formula. The first starts as a old dark house murder mystery, then turns into a high-class thriller. Others are murders-across-the-countries, descents into the criminal underworld, one is even one of the first spy novels. This one is a go at royal intrigue, and I'm pretty sure it was inspired by one of the great adventure stories of all time, THE PRISONER OF ZENDA. Just like Zenda, there's a drunken monarch who goes missing after a bender and is replaced by one of our heroes, there's an evil prince looking to take over a kingdom... But what this adds to the series is a bigger sense of humor. All the books have a sick and twisted one... this one adds a broadness.
It should be read if you're making your way through the whole series, like I am (if only for the payoff of the King of Hesse-Weimar from the last installment), but I don't recommend starting with this one.
Oh, yeah: it also has a diamond heist. And a bearded and robed homeless man named Ouaouaoua who inspires the Parsian crowd to go back to living the primitive life.
On to THE LONG ARM OF FANTOMAS, which is billed as the greatest masterpiece in the series. We shall see...
September 2, 2017
One of the volumes in the neverending (or so it seems) series about a legendary criminal mastermind, Fantomas, a master of disguise who always gets away in the end. He's not a Robin Hood character by any means, and you would never confuse him with the Saint or Arsene Lupin. Fantomas is ruthless, cunning and evil. There's an excellent series of silent French movies (pre-1920s) about him.
In this installment, a journalist, Jerome Fandor, crosses paths with Frederick-Christian II, King of Hesse-Weimar, on New Year's Eve, and quickly gets in over his head. Fantomas is after the king's jewel.
The characterizations are light, the story is fast moving and quite wild, and Fantomas is a little too good to be true. However, it's a fun tale as long as you don't think too hard about it, and don't expect it to be really logical. This is not Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie. This is the stuff of pulp magazines.
In this installment, a journalist, Jerome Fandor, crosses paths with Frederick-Christian II, King of Hesse-Weimar, on New Year's Eve, and quickly gets in over his head. Fantomas is after the king's jewel.
The characterizations are light, the story is fast moving and quite wild, and Fantomas is a little too good to be true. However, it's a fun tale as long as you don't think too hard about it, and don't expect it to be really logical. This is not Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie. This is the stuff of pulp magazines.
September 27, 2017
The Fantomas series is running out of steam and losing the psychopathy that made the opening couple of books so deliriously entertaining. This felt more like an Arsene Lupin book - not bad, but not Fantomas.
January 5, 2025
The whole Fantomas storyline gets a bit sloppy here but there are some surprising comic touches. At one point, Juve says to a woman, "Oh, don't take it too much to heart. In criminal affairs the first results of the investigation are really conclusive." Something tells me that sentence should end "rarely conclusive."
It's also baffling why, at the beginning, Juve (the famous detective who pursues Fantomas) is so sure the king of Hesse-Weimar, Frederick Christian II, has killed his squeeze in Paris. The last we saw the king, at the end of the previous installment, he and Juve were fast friends, with the king willing to bend the rules to assist Juve in Fantomas' capture. So it's inexplicable, this attitude of Juve's.
Some of "A Royal Prisoner" is slapstick. For instance, the head of security for Hesse-Weimar, is a guy named "Wulfenmimenglaschk!"
And, as always, the reader must suspend belief. Once again the characters, Fantomas and Juve especially, have the capacity to be any character, of nearly any age or gender, and be unrecognizable, even to those who see them often. The journalist Fandor, nee Charles Rambert from "Fantomas," is also a master of disguise, although at the outset here he is simply the benefactor/victim of mistaken identity. This preposterous ability even extends to voice, as at one point Fandor thinks he's talking to Juve when it's Fantomas at the other end. Nevertheless, the reader will be pretty certain early who is Fantomas this time.
You can tell the writers were journalists, too, in that they give Fandor the role of journalist and make him a respectable hero, a guise so far removed from contemporary journalists as to be jolting to a reader.
The real fun remains Fantomas, who even toots his own horn in that discussion with Fandor.
"Fantomas! Fantomas!" Fandor cries (all Fantomas books are clogged with exclamation points, like social media). "Fantomas has been arrested!"
"Fantomas arrested?" our villain replies. "Fantomas can't be arrested! He will never be caught! He is above and beyond every attack, every menace! Fantomas is death, Eternal Death, Pitiless Death, King Death! Goodbye!"
It's also baffling why, at the beginning, Juve (the famous detective who pursues Fantomas) is so sure the king of Hesse-Weimar, Frederick Christian II, has killed his squeeze in Paris. The last we saw the king, at the end of the previous installment, he and Juve were fast friends, with the king willing to bend the rules to assist Juve in Fantomas' capture. So it's inexplicable, this attitude of Juve's.
Some of "A Royal Prisoner" is slapstick. For instance, the head of security for Hesse-Weimar, is a guy named "Wulfenmimenglaschk!"
And, as always, the reader must suspend belief. Once again the characters, Fantomas and Juve especially, have the capacity to be any character, of nearly any age or gender, and be unrecognizable, even to those who see them often. The journalist Fandor, nee Charles Rambert from "Fantomas," is also a master of disguise, although at the outset here he is simply the benefactor/victim of mistaken identity. This preposterous ability even extends to voice, as at one point Fandor thinks he's talking to Juve when it's Fantomas at the other end. Nevertheless, the reader will be pretty certain early who is Fantomas this time.
You can tell the writers were journalists, too, in that they give Fandor the role of journalist and make him a respectable hero, a guise so far removed from contemporary journalists as to be jolting to a reader.
The real fun remains Fantomas, who even toots his own horn in that discussion with Fandor.
"Fantomas! Fantomas!" Fandor cries (all Fantomas books are clogged with exclamation points, like social media). "Fantomas has been arrested!"
"Fantomas arrested?" our villain replies. "Fantomas can't be arrested! He will never be caught! He is above and beyond every attack, every menace! Fantomas is death, Eternal Death, Pitiless Death, King Death! Goodbye!"
August 5, 2024
CLIFFHANGER?!?!
July 16, 2015
Perhaps not the best of the series, but this new edition (also making available the first four volumes preceding) is thankfully cleanly edited, as well as handsomely designed, infinitely better than the Lulu/Beltham Press edition which was the only other one available until recently. The plot revolves around the King of Hesse-Weimar's arrival in Paris, with a diamond of fabulous worth in his keeping...and Fantomas of course rises to the bait with typically ingenious and diabolical stratagems. At this installment's close a nasty surprise also awaits the redoubtable Inspector Juve, leaving him and his sidekick Fandor in serious peril. Has evil triumphed? Good fun for lovers of pulp fiction.
February 26, 2019
Great and dark classic
I really love fantomas. This fourth installment of this master criminal exploits, has twists like coastline of the Sane river.
I really love fantomas. This fourth installment of this master criminal exploits, has twists like coastline of the Sane river.
October 11, 2024
I read half of it before giving up. Couldn’t get interested.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews