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La poupée sanglante #2
La máquina de asesinar
This novel is a horror/sci fi hybrid about an android/cyborg mix whose mechanized body has been outfitted with the brain, eyes and nervous system of a guillotined murderer. The robotic man – called Gabriel – was created by Dr. Jacques Cotentin, who needed an absolutely fresh brain, hence having to settle for a just-executed criminal.
The criminal, Benedict Masson, is a monstrous-looking recluse put to death for a series of gory dismemberment killings whose quasi-sexual nature probably shocked readers in 1924. The foolish Dr. Cotentin believed the brain and nervous system would simply serve as an operating system for Gabriel, animating his body but with no consciousness of its previous life.
Needless to say he was wrong. Masson’s mind is intact and now resides in a robotic body impervious to pain and stronger than six men put together. In addition he does not need to breathe, sleep or eat and is powered by radium.
The criminal, Benedict Masson, is a monstrous-looking recluse put to death for a series of gory dismemberment killings whose quasi-sexual nature probably shocked readers in 1924. The foolish Dr. Cotentin believed the brain and nervous system would simply serve as an operating system for Gabriel, animating his body but with no consciousness of its previous life.
Needless to say he was wrong. Masson’s mind is intact and now resides in a robotic body impervious to pain and stronger than six men put together. In addition he does not need to breathe, sleep or eat and is powered by radium.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1923
4 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
About the author
Gaston Leroux
1,061 books1,082 followersGaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.
In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1910), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, such as the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. It was also the basis of the 1990 novel Phantom by Susan Kay.
Leroux went to school in Normandy and studied law in Paris, graduating in 1889. He inherited millions of francs and lived wildly until he nearly reached bankruptcy. Then in 1890, he began working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Écho de Paris. His most important journalism came when he began working as an international correspondent for the Paris newspaper Le Matin. In 1905 he was present at and covered the Russian Revolution. Another case he was present at involved the investigation and deep coverage of an opera house in Paris, later to become a ballet house. The basement consisted of a cell that held prisoners in the Paris Commune, which were the rulers of Paris through much of the Franco-Prussian war.
He suddenly left journalism in 1907, and began writing fiction. In 1909, he and Arthur Bernède formed their own film company, Société des Cinéromans to simultaneously publish novels and turn them into films. He first wrote a mystery novel entitled Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1908; The Mystery of the Yellow Room), starring the amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille. Leroux's contribution to French detective fiction is considered a parallel to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's in the United Kingdom and Edgar Allan Poe's in America. Leroux died in Nice on April 15, 1927, of a urinary tract infection.
In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1910), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, such as the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. It was also the basis of the 1990 novel Phantom by Susan Kay.
Leroux went to school in Normandy and studied law in Paris, graduating in 1889. He inherited millions of francs and lived wildly until he nearly reached bankruptcy. Then in 1890, he began working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Écho de Paris. His most important journalism came when he began working as an international correspondent for the Paris newspaper Le Matin. In 1905 he was present at and covered the Russian Revolution. Another case he was present at involved the investigation and deep coverage of an opera house in Paris, later to become a ballet house. The basement consisted of a cell that held prisoners in the Paris Commune, which were the rulers of Paris through much of the Franco-Prussian war.
He suddenly left journalism in 1907, and began writing fiction. In 1909, he and Arthur Bernède formed their own film company, Société des Cinéromans to simultaneously publish novels and turn them into films. He first wrote a mystery novel entitled Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1908; The Mystery of the Yellow Room), starring the amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille. Leroux's contribution to French detective fiction is considered a parallel to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's in the United Kingdom and Edgar Allan Poe's in America. Leroux died in Nice on April 15, 1927, of a urinary tract infection.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 18, 2020
Esta segunda parte es de lo más entretenida, mantiene lo imprevisto en la narrativa y la agilidad en la lectura. Me gustó mucho el agregado de los toques de comedia.
Creo importante advertir que es necesario leer antes La muñeca sangrienta (La poupée sanglante, #1), para aprovechar a pleno esta novela.
Personalmente me gustó más La máquina de asesinar porque tiene una acción más entretenida justamente por los toques de comedia magistral que da el autor. Ya en los últimos capítulos la comedia va decayendo y un dramático desenlace sorprende al lector.
December 11, 2012
Que de souvenirs - la série sur TF1, assez proche de l'original, j'adore le style d'écriture e cette époque....
May 20, 2023
Es la continuación de “La muñeca sangrienta” . Este libro merece más reconocimiento
April 17, 2013
It brought me back to a carefree period of my life. In fact, I have discovered this book in the wake of a French series broadcast in the 70's, "La poupée sanglante" ("The bleeding doll"). As far as I know, it was never released on DVD, perhaps it was on VHS but the release must have been restricted. The story was terrifying while very steeped in gothic romantism. This novel (which is actually a two parts book) has it all : mystery, humor, occult, horror, science fiction... Some kind of steampunk scent.
Ce livre m'a ramenée à une époque d'insouciance. J'ai, en effet, découvert ce bouquin dans le sillage d'une série française diffusée dans les années 70, "La poupée sanglante". Pour autant que je sache, le feuilleton n'a jamais été diffusé en DVD. Il l'a sans doute été sur cassette VHS mais le tirage a dû être confidentiel car je n'en ai jamais vue. L'histoire est gorgée de douce terreurs et très imprégnée de romantisme gothique. Ce roman (en réalité, en deux parties)est une petite merveille qui emporte le lecteur. Il a tout pour lui : mystère, humour, paranormal, horreur, science fiction... Une perle parfumée à la steampunk!
Ce livre m'a ramenée à une époque d'insouciance. J'ai, en effet, découvert ce bouquin dans le sillage d'une série française diffusée dans les années 70, "La poupée sanglante". Pour autant que je sache, le feuilleton n'a jamais été diffusé en DVD. Il l'a sans doute été sur cassette VHS mais le tirage a dû être confidentiel car je n'en ai jamais vue. L'histoire est gorgée de douce terreurs et très imprégnée de romantisme gothique. Ce roman (en réalité, en deux parties)est une petite merveille qui emporte le lecteur. Il a tout pour lui : mystère, humour, paranormal, horreur, science fiction... Une perle parfumée à la steampunk!
September 13, 2019
La seconde partie est pire que la première. J'ai survolé de nombreuses pages et la résolution des différents mystères est décevante. Les personnages restent égaux à eux-mêmes, comprenez méprisables et égoïstes, et l'histoire sent bon la misogynie et le racisme. Le second degré ne sauve pas tout.
October 22, 2017
Intrigue complexe, fin un peu expédiée, le défaut de Gaston Leroux. Cependant, bon diptyque.
March 26, 2016
Rocambolesca continuacion de La Muñeca Sangrienta
June 23, 2021
The problem with this volume is that there is a great deal of heavy satire and very little plot, and most of the plot concerning Gabriel and Christine -nominally the subject of the novel- takes place off-stage and is mentioned only in a few pages of flashback. As a result, it's distinctly unsatisfactory as a sequel to "La poupée sanglante", where you become involved with the characters and are dyimg to know what happens next.
Symptomatic of this is the way that Christine, having briefly reappeared in the story after 150 pages or so and given us a summary of her activities in the interim, then gets kidnapped and abandoned on a cliffhanger at the end of chapter 19, and left there until three pages before the end of the book, where she appears in the story again and says casually "Some day I shall tell you in detail about how I was rescued by Gabriel at the last minute" - there is an entire dramatic history lurking behind the book that we have here, and for some reason Leroux chose not to show that story but to write instead about the stupidity and gullibility of various assorted sections of society. He amuses himself (but not necessarily the reader) greatly at the expense of the Parisians, the Vendéen peasants, the police, the politicians, the journalists, and the scientific establishment, as everyone goes hysterical over the idea of a supposedly murderous automaton. But Gabriel himself is given very little personality; in fact this book is mainly about Jacques Cotentin, whom the previous volume managed to render unexpectedly sympathetic but who was still the least interesting of the 'old' protagonists. As for Monsieur Lebouc, the 'scapegoat', he is more of a plot device than anything else.
Other reviews have mentioned the outstanding 1970s TV adaptation; it's outstanding in that it takes the opposite approach, that of following Gabriel and Christine. To be fair, it also makes up a good many extra events out of whole cloth in order to provide a direct confrontation with Jacques and to make Gabriel into a more sympathetic (because more proactive) character; the big (and essential for a dramatisation) change that they made was to give Gabriel a voice, thus enabling him to take part in the dialogue on screen, conduct his own investigations and present his own case. But of the three episodes of the TV series corresponding to the action of this volume, the first one covers approximately the first three-quarters of the book - which is how long it takes for anything significant to happen plotwise! - and the third one equates to more or less the last ten pages, which gives an idea of the totally lopsided pacing of this novel...
Symptomatic of this is the way that Christine, having briefly reappeared in the story after 150 pages or so and given us a summary of her activities in the interim, then gets kidnapped and abandoned on a cliffhanger at the end of chapter 19, and left there until three pages before the end of the book, where she appears in the story again and says casually "Some day I shall tell you in detail about how I was rescued by Gabriel at the last minute" - there is an entire dramatic history lurking behind the book that we have here, and for some reason Leroux chose not to show that story but to write instead about the stupidity and gullibility of various assorted sections of society. He amuses himself (but not necessarily the reader) greatly at the expense of the Parisians, the Vendéen peasants, the police, the politicians, the journalists, and the scientific establishment, as everyone goes hysterical over the idea of a supposedly murderous automaton. But Gabriel himself is given very little personality; in fact this book is mainly about Jacques Cotentin, whom the previous volume managed to render unexpectedly sympathetic but who was still the least interesting of the 'old' protagonists. As for Monsieur Lebouc, the 'scapegoat', he is more of a plot device than anything else.
Other reviews have mentioned the outstanding 1970s TV adaptation; it's outstanding in that it takes the opposite approach, that of following Gabriel and Christine. To be fair, it also makes up a good many extra events out of whole cloth in order to provide a direct confrontation with Jacques and to make Gabriel into a more sympathetic (because more proactive) character; the big (and essential for a dramatisation) change that they made was to give Gabriel a voice, thus enabling him to take part in the dialogue on screen, conduct his own investigations and present his own case. But of the three episodes of the TV series corresponding to the action of this volume, the first one covers approximately the first three-quarters of the book - which is how long it takes for anything significant to happen plotwise! - and the third one equates to more or less the last ten pages, which gives an idea of the totally lopsided pacing of this novel...
July 1, 2025
"Entonces se le ocurrió, ya que no había podido vencer a la muerte en general, intentar el triunfo en lo particular. Ya que no había podido aún crear la vida, intentaría, con tejidos arrancados de la muerte, crear un ser vivo, un hombre y hasta un superhombre..."
🧑🏻🔬
¡Woow! ¿Que acabo de leer?; ¿Vampiros? ¿Sectas? ¿Zombies? ¿Autómatas cerrados a base de restos humanos? Y todo envuelto en un policial periodístico a lo Gastón Leroux.
Es cierto que lo mejor sería leer antes La muñeca sangrienta, libro que no leí pero que no busqué un resumen por Youtube 😅 así que este lo pude seguir sin dificultades. Libro corto y muy entretenido que nos muestra una faceta diferente del autor de Él fantasma de la opera.
🤯
"¡La máquina de asesinar!...¿Que nuevo invento es este? ¿Era necesario?
🧛🏻
Obvio primero pensaríamos en Frankenstein con esta historia pero Gastón Leroux creo que comete el error de dar demasiados datos de como construir dicho autómata coronandolo con un cerebro lo más fresco posible. Creo que eso quita un poco de lo que nosotros como lectores podemos llegar a imaginar; sin embargo lo que hace muy bien es poner de ejemplos muchos otros inventos de la época que sacudieron la opinión pública y eso se agradece porque al menos yo los desconocía y me dió el pie a investigar (cosa que amo hacer con estos datos históricos).
🧝🏻
"El asunto del muñeco sanguinario, que ya ha hecho correr tanta tinta (y tanta sangre), va a entrar en una nueva fase y a tomar una amplitud espantosa SI SE TIENE EL VALOR PARA IR HASTA EL FIN".
🕵🏻
Resumiendo, no deja de ser un policial en el que hay que investigar una serie de asesinatos y en los cuales el principal sospechoso es este autónomata llamado Gabriel. Una historia con un final triste, y la eterna pregunta de que tan cerca nos creemos de ser dioses y jueces amparados por la ciencia y nuestras propias leyes.
🫣
Me olvidé mencionar que no esperen un desarrollo del autómata como en Frankenstein y conocer todos sus pesares (lo cual habría estado genia a mi gusto); Leroux solo se enfoca en lo policíal y el dilema de la ciencia y la religión.😬
🧑🏻🔬
¡Woow! ¿Que acabo de leer?; ¿Vampiros? ¿Sectas? ¿Zombies? ¿Autómatas cerrados a base de restos humanos? Y todo envuelto en un policial periodístico a lo Gastón Leroux.
Es cierto que lo mejor sería leer antes La muñeca sangrienta, libro que no leí pero que no busqué un resumen por Youtube 😅 así que este lo pude seguir sin dificultades. Libro corto y muy entretenido que nos muestra una faceta diferente del autor de Él fantasma de la opera.
🤯
"¡La máquina de asesinar!...¿Que nuevo invento es este? ¿Era necesario?
🧛🏻
Obvio primero pensaríamos en Frankenstein con esta historia pero Gastón Leroux creo que comete el error de dar demasiados datos de como construir dicho autómata coronandolo con un cerebro lo más fresco posible. Creo que eso quita un poco de lo que nosotros como lectores podemos llegar a imaginar; sin embargo lo que hace muy bien es poner de ejemplos muchos otros inventos de la época que sacudieron la opinión pública y eso se agradece porque al menos yo los desconocía y me dió el pie a investigar (cosa que amo hacer con estos datos históricos).
🧝🏻
"El asunto del muñeco sanguinario, que ya ha hecho correr tanta tinta (y tanta sangre), va a entrar en una nueva fase y a tomar una amplitud espantosa SI SE TIENE EL VALOR PARA IR HASTA EL FIN".
🕵🏻
Resumiendo, no deja de ser un policial en el que hay que investigar una serie de asesinatos y en los cuales el principal sospechoso es este autónomata llamado Gabriel. Una historia con un final triste, y la eterna pregunta de que tan cerca nos creemos de ser dioses y jueces amparados por la ciencia y nuestras propias leyes.
🫣
Me olvidé mencionar que no esperen un desarrollo del autómata como en Frankenstein y conocer todos sus pesares (lo cual habría estado genia a mi gusto); Leroux solo se enfoca en lo policíal y el dilema de la ciencia y la religión.😬
May 17, 2025
Esta novela empezó como una historia de misterio y poco a poco fue convirtiéndose en una historia, mas que fantasía, de ciencia ficción. Es la continuación de una novela anterior del mismo autor y si bien se disfruta sola, sería recomendable leer la novela anterior.
Finalmente, esperaba que me gustara más pero encontré que algunos personajes, considero yo, son innecesarios y no logré empatizar con ellos. Ni si quiera con los protagonistas.
No considero que haya perdido el tiempo leyéndola, pero creo que no la leería nuevamente en un futuro. :(
Finalmente, esperaba que me gustara más pero encontré que algunos personajes, considero yo, son innecesarios y no logré empatizar con ellos. Ni si quiera con los protagonistas.
No considero que haya perdido el tiempo leyéndola, pero creo que no la leería nuevamente en un futuro. :(
February 18, 2017
Esperaba una gran cosa respecto a este libro debido a que al primer libro "La muñeca sangrienta" me gusto muchísimo, esperaba las mismas expectativas de su precuela, pero no fue así.
Esta vez Leroux nos trae un Frankenstein —que creo que eso arruino todo—, tenemos lo que es el cuerpo de Gabriel y el cerebro de Benedict Masson, que secuestran a la adorada Christine y la llevan a muchos lugares para huir de su prometido y primo Jamie.
Por otro lado, también vuelve la Marquesa y el Marques de Coulteray...
En fin, no me gustó, da demasiado rodeos y la historia termina siendo insufrible.
Citas: http://hechaensilencio.blogspot.com.a...
Esta vez Leroux nos trae un Frankenstein —que creo que eso arruino todo—, tenemos lo que es el cuerpo de Gabriel y el cerebro de Benedict Masson, que secuestran a la adorada Christine y la llevan a muchos lugares para huir de su prometido y primo Jamie.
Por otro lado, también vuelve la Marquesa y el Marques de Coulteray...
En fin, no me gustó, da demasiado rodeos y la historia termina siendo insufrible.
Citas: http://hechaensilencio.blogspot.com.a...
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews