3 Novels: The Eye Of The Beholder; The Queen Of The Night; The Ice Maiden

by Marc Behm

Book by Behm, Marc

Genres: Collections, Literature, Mystery, Horror

462 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Marc Behm was an American novelist, actor and screenwriter, who lived as an expatriate in France.

Behm developed a fascination for French culture while serving in the US army during World War II; later, he appeared as an actor on several French television programmes, before moving there permanently.

Reviews

[Chris Cangiano · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of three short mystery/horror novels by Marc Behm. The first, and most successful, The Eye of the Beholder involves a nameless private detective (the Eye) following a protean female serial killer across America and across the years. A highly engaging tale of obsession and metaphysical horror. it is highly recommended. The second, The Queen of the Night, is a sort of picaresque journey through the Dante's Inferno of Nazi Germany - A sort of Forrest Gump meets Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, if you will. Disturbing and worth a read. The third, and least successful, is The Ice Maid. A story of traditional vampires mixed with caper tale sounds like it should be interesting and should work - it doesn't really. Strangely enough, the sections dealing with the vampire back stories work while the caper portion falls flat - with way too many silly attempts at humor and "madcap" episodes. Deduct further points for some weird and offensive LGBT stereotypes and commentary (I realize it was written in the early 1980's but there's not reason to specifically state that vampires are "asexual" as to their victims and then go on to vividly describe the lead female vampire's girl on girl action all while decrying superfluous gay characters as "pansys" and "fruits" with alarming regularity). Honestly, I'd skip the last one and focus on the first two much better and more interesting novels.

[Zantaeus Glom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful noirish decent into the sweaty, palpitating hallucinogenic ferment of escalating madness, cunningly swaddled in the gnarly guise of a nihilistic private eye yarn. I got a decent whiff of Jim Thompson here, especially 'The Killer Inside Me', and for me at least, that's a very, very good thing indeed.
I cannot for the life of me imagine why this terse, lurid tale of twisted voyeurism, and fervid desire remains so utterly unheralded? Marc Behm is a terrific writer, and on the evidence of this seamy, muscular tome I am peachy-keen to read his remaining two tales: 'The Queen of The Night' and 'The Ice Maiden'.

If Hard Boiled fiction be your brand of hot, sweaty meat, then 'Eye of The Beholder' is an especially rich, juicy sirloin; blue rare...extra bloody :)

Very few novelists can match the hellion, greasy pace of this scurvy tale. I read it in two brief sittings; gripped me like a pair of taut, grippy-type appendages. I also really enjoyed the grimy, sadistic tone...redolent of Hitchcock's brisk, and equally malodorous 'Frenzy'.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am re-reading The Ice Maiden, which is the third in this thriller trilogy. It is almost a black comedy and certainly suitable for Hallowe'en! It is based on a group of vampires who have ended up in New York. Having eternal life (given a supply of blood and an absence of garlic and crosses), they have the problem of securing a living to ensure that they have somewhere to keep their coffins for their retreat to death during daylight hours. One (the eponymous Ice Maiden) works as a croupier, and the group decides to knock off the takings. There follows a whacky Keystone Cops type of farce as things go wrong with their plan and they are pursued by some hoodlums who also have their eye on the money, the cops and some religious fanatics with a crucifix. Far out!!

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unsung suspense writer and surrealist, better known as screenwriter (Beatles' Help!) and scenarist (Charade)