Syncope blanche

by Kurt Steiner

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1958

About the author

Pseudonym of André Ruellan
Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1972 for his novel "Ortog et les tenebres".

Reviews

[KHLOARIS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contemporary vampire novel starts off slow. An annoying neurotic named Clarmont learns from a palm reader that his life-line is too short. He’s such a nutcase. He works up enough frustration to get a razor blade and extend it himself. Clarmont winds up in the hospital, hand in stitches and seemingly comatose. That’s when the book really commits to exploiting the medical gore. There are detailed descriptions of various surgical procedures and things like resuscitation after cardiac arrest via heart massage. But his drooling was just an act. Clarmont escapes, returning to his wife whose name is Lucie. This is the tip-off that everything’s just been building up for being a vampire story. At this point the perspective shifts to focus on Lucie for a while. She’s in total denial that her husband is a vampire and must deal with the police knocking at her door for him. Her husband has been feeding around town, even tracked down the doctors at the hospital who brought him back to life. The story ends like all vampire stories should. Clarmont the vampire eats lead.