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The Undying Monster
The Undying Monster (1922) is a horror novel by Jessie Douglas Kerruish. Recognized as a groundbreaking work of lycanthropy, or werewolf fiction, The Undying Monster was adapted into a successful 1942 horror film starring James Ellison, Heather Angel, and John Howard.
Haunted for generations, the Hammand family has grown accustomed to tragedy. Early deaths, suicides, and gruesome injuries plague their family tree, and they have long been regarded as pariahs in their rural English community. When Oliver Hammand survives a vicious attack while walking in the woods one night, his sister Swanhild resolves to put an end to the ancient curse. Seeking the guidance of Luna Bartendale, a powerful psychic, Swanhild convinces her brother to join her on a journey of discovery and danger to not only free their family from its dreadful cycle, but to save their own young lives. Together with Luna, they scour ancient archives, investigate ruined graveyards, and search for whatever clues they can find. As they delve deep into the heart of their family's mystery, Oliver falls deeply in love with Luna. Led to the edge of existence itself, the trio find themselves face to face with a horror too terrible to imagine. The Undying Monster is a masterpiece of werewolf fiction by a largely forgotten writer of popular romance, mystery, and horror novels.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Jessie Douglas Kerruish's The Undying Monster is a classic of English horror fiction reimagined for modern readers.
Haunted for generations, the Hammand family has grown accustomed to tragedy. Early deaths, suicides, and gruesome injuries plague their family tree, and they have long been regarded as pariahs in their rural English community. When Oliver Hammand survives a vicious attack while walking in the woods one night, his sister Swanhild resolves to put an end to the ancient curse. Seeking the guidance of Luna Bartendale, a powerful psychic, Swanhild convinces her brother to join her on a journey of discovery and danger to not only free their family from its dreadful cycle, but to save their own young lives. Together with Luna, they scour ancient archives, investigate ruined graveyards, and search for whatever clues they can find. As they delve deep into the heart of their family's mystery, Oliver falls deeply in love with Luna. Led to the edge of existence itself, the trio find themselves face to face with a horror too terrible to imagine. The Undying Monster is a masterpiece of werewolf fiction by a largely forgotten writer of popular romance, mystery, and horror novels.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Jessie Douglas Kerruish's The Undying Monster is a classic of English horror fiction reimagined for modern readers.
218 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1922
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August 2, 2025
“There is nothing more harrowing than a deadly hush with the feel of a great noise around it”
This volume in the Tales of the Weird series is a novel from the 1920s. The novelist, Jessie Kerruish was deaf and lived with her sister once her parents had died, and they cared for each other. This, I think, is one of the earliest occult detective story to have a female protagonist, in the form of luna Bartendale.
This is actually a fascinating novel. It concerns an upper class family who suffer from a centuries old curse, where periodically family members and sometimes those close to them will die horribly in the local woods at certain times with certain weather conditions. Those who survive often commit suicide. In this generation the family consists of Oliver and his sister Swanhild. The curse runs through the male line.
Kerruish, pretty much throws all of the tropes at this: vampirism, lycanthropy, runes, symbols, ancient burial sites, hidden rooms, clues in Churches, a seventeenth century warlock, codes, old books, buried artifacts, hypnosis, fourth and fifth dimensions and much more. It’s set in Sussex and there are also mentions of Wagner and William Morris. It turns out that the curse goes back to the bronze age and to Scandinavia, so we have lots of old Norse gods as well. Despite all the contents Kerruish manages to pull off keeping the whole thing pretty much in order. This is also an exploration of the sinister side of masculinity and the role of the upper classes/lord of the manor.
This works well on the whole and as you can imagine there is an old black and white film of it somewhere.
This volume in the Tales of the Weird series is a novel from the 1920s. The novelist, Jessie Kerruish was deaf and lived with her sister once her parents had died, and they cared for each other. This, I think, is one of the earliest occult detective story to have a female protagonist, in the form of luna Bartendale.
This is actually a fascinating novel. It concerns an upper class family who suffer from a centuries old curse, where periodically family members and sometimes those close to them will die horribly in the local woods at certain times with certain weather conditions. Those who survive often commit suicide. In this generation the family consists of Oliver and his sister Swanhild. The curse runs through the male line.
Kerruish, pretty much throws all of the tropes at this: vampirism, lycanthropy, runes, symbols, ancient burial sites, hidden rooms, clues in Churches, a seventeenth century warlock, codes, old books, buried artifacts, hypnosis, fourth and fifth dimensions and much more. It’s set in Sussex and there are also mentions of Wagner and William Morris. It turns out that the curse goes back to the bronze age and to Scandinavia, so we have lots of old Norse gods as well. Despite all the contents Kerruish manages to pull off keeping the whole thing pretty much in order. This is also an exploration of the sinister side of masculinity and the role of the upper classes/lord of the manor.
This works well on the whole and as you can imagine there is an old black and white film of it somewhere.
May 21, 2016
So I wanted to watch the 1942 horror film THE UNDYING MONSTER and then found out it was based on a 1922 novel. I checked my "never to be finished in my lifetime" reading lists and, yep, there it was. I ordered the Ash-Tree Press (fine purveyors of beautiful reprints and collections of vintage supernatural writings done in such small numbers that we mere peasants cannot afford them) edition from inter-library loan. Instead, I got sent an old Macmillan Company edition published in 1936 from some library in Utah (viva Inter-Library loan!).
I have some things to say about this book but if you think you're likely to actually read it, perhaps you shouldn't read much further. Short version for you - enjoyable, if excessively wordy (typical of the time, and not as bad as some from this period) "horror" novel (modern readers won't find it scary, probably) exploration of that horror staple, the "ancient family curse that has haunted the local gentry for eons" mixed in with some post-WWI era psychic sleuthing and a healthy dollop of love amongst the well-to-do. If that sounds good, go for it. There's some stuff to like here.
Okay, that out of the way. THE UNDYING MONSTER opens with a bang as Basically, this is a solid, if stodgy, read for fans who are historians of the genre but not for many others.
I have some things to say about this book but if you think you're likely to actually read it, perhaps you shouldn't read much further. Short version for you - enjoyable, if excessively wordy (typical of the time, and not as bad as some from this period) "horror" novel (modern readers won't find it scary, probably) exploration of that horror staple, the "ancient family curse that has haunted the local gentry for eons" mixed in with some post-WWI era psychic sleuthing and a healthy dollop of love amongst the well-to-do. If that sounds good, go for it. There's some stuff to like here.
Okay, that out of the way. THE UNDYING MONSTER opens with a bang as Basically, this is a solid, if stodgy, read for fans who are historians of the genre but not for many others.
October 14, 2015
It was around five years ago that I had the pleasure of watching the 1942 horror thriller "The Undying Monster" on DVD. I was moderately impressed with the film, enough to write the following:
"B material given A execution" is how film historian Drew Casper describes 20th Century Fox's first horror movie, 1942's "The Undying Monster," in one of the DVD's extras, and dang if the man hasn't described this movie to a T. The film, a unique melding of the detective, Gothic and monster genres, though uniformly well acted by its relatively no-name cast, features a trio of first-rate artists behind the camera who really manage to put this one over. And the film's script isn't half bad either. Here, Scotland Yard scientist Robert Curtis (James Ellison) comes to eerie Hammond Hall, a brooding pile on the English coast, sometime around 1900, to investigate some recent attacks ascribed to the legendary Hammond monster. Viewers expecting this legend of a voracious predator to wind up being explained in an anticlimactic, mundane fashion may be a bit surprised at how things play out. Ellison is fine in his no-nonsense, modern-detective role (he uses a spectrograph to analyze various clues!), and Heather Angel (who does have the face of one), playing the house's mistress, is equally good. But, as I've mentioned, it is the contributions of three men behind the scenes that really turn this little B into a work of art. Director John Brahm, who would go on to helm Fox's "The Lodger" and "Hangover Square," and DOP Lucien Ballard have combined their formidable talents to make a picture that is noirish, moody and fast moving, with superb use of light and shadow. And composer David Raksin, who two years later would achieve enduring fame for his score for that classiest of film noirs, "Laura," has co-contributed some background music here that is both mysterious and exciting. Fox head Darryl F. Zanuck apparently had hopes that "The Undying Monster" would be the opening salvo in his studio's bid to challenge Universal's monster domination, and in retrospect, it does seem like a fair way to start. This DVD, by the way, looks just fantastic, and sports more "extras" than you would believe capable of accompanying a minor B. All in all, a very pleasant surprise."
But what I failed to mention in that minireview back then was that this Fox picture was hardly an original conception of the studio, but was rather based on a 1922 novel by English authoress Jessie Douglas Kerruish. And now that I have finally read the original source material, I can recognize the film for what it is: a watered-down, abridged version of an infinitely more complex story, and a film whose debt to Universal Studios' 1941 classic "The Wolf Man" is a considerably large one. As for the novel, whose full title is actually "The Undying Monster: A Tale of the Fifth Dimension," it was Kerruish's third out of an eventual four, released when its author was 38. This book was the anomaly of Kerruish's oeuvre; the others, "Miss Haroun al-Raschid" (1917), "The Girl From Kurdistan" (1918) and "Babylonian Nights' Entertainment" (1934), as their titles might suggest, all dealt with Middle Eastern themes. The 1922 novel, on the other hand, was pretty much straight-out horror, set in a rather Gothically inflected England and combined with a 1,000-year-old mystery into one very atmospheric brew.
In the book, World War I has just about decimated the entire Hammand family (why the film changed "Hammand" to "Hammond" is quite beyond me), to the point where only brother Oliver and sister Swanhild remain at the ancestral castle in the Sussex village of Dannow. When a village woman is brutally murdered, and Oliver's pet mastiff is literally torn apart, it becomes horribly apparent that the Hammand curse has struck again. For a millennium, some kind of creature has been attacking the villagers, but only on cold, starlit nights, and under firs or pines. Now, however, after an absence of some four decades, the "undying monster" would seem to have returned. To assist in their dilemma, Swanhild and her fiancé, Goddard Covert, enlist the aid of self-styled "supersensitive" Luna Bartendale, who, Swanhild declares, combines "the functions of the White Witch and detective." And remarkably, employing her trusty divining rod, old-fashioned footwork, some archaeological digging, historical research, hypnosis and the use of racial memories, Luna IS able to discover the monster’s secret...to the dismay of her Hammand employers....
OK, I’m not going to lie to you: "The Undying Monster" was something of a labor for me to get through, but only because I happen to be one of those oddballs who feels the need to look up every single word, place name and historical reference of which I'm not familiar when reading. I've always found that a little extra work usually pays big dividends as regards a fuller appreciation, and such was surely the case here, but my goodness, how much research Kerruish herself must have done, preparatory to penning her book! In short, readers should be prepared to bone up on their War of the Roses, Norse mythology, and medieval English and Danish history while committing to this novel, and be ready to encounter a lot of 100-year-old British slang ("napoo," anyone?). You don't know about Foxe's "Book of Martyrs," the Marian persecution of 1555, or the type of swords that were used in 700 B.C.? You will, by the time you finish Kerruish's work! Fortunately, having said all that, I must also report that the book in question IS a fascinating one, with great suspense, a truly engaging mystery, some beautifully written passages (overwritten, some might fairly accuse), and interesting characters. And foremost among those interesting characters is Luna Bartendale herself, a character wholly excised from the 1942 film in favor of the more prosaic Scotland Yard inspector. Petite, bedimpled and golden curled, Luna is yet completely in charge of events, dominating every scene that she appears in. What a shame that Kerruish did not use her as the central character in an ongoing series of stories; an Edwardian-era supernatural detective a la Algernon Blackwood's John Silence, William Hope Hodgson's Thomas Carnacki, and Aleister Crowley's Simon Iff. To be quite fair, events at the conclusion of "The Undying Monster" do preclude Luna appearing again in another, similar tale; a pity. Ultimately, as mentioned, Luna does succeed in the Dannow case, a case that had earlier stumped (real-life personages) Madame Helena Blavatsky and Prof. William Crookes; the mention of these two famous spiritualist researchers adds both humor and credence to the affair. "There's nothing so actively alive as the dead," Luna declares; just one of many wonderful quotes from this most remarkable woman. Kerruish's tale is somewhat complexly plotted, and a slow and careful reading is necessary to process all the many bits of disparate evidence that Luna (sometimes literally) unearths. So yes, the book is challenging, but ultimately rewarding, and the pseudoscientific explanation that Kerruish gives us for the monster's origin is an intriguing one. A most impressive piece of work, all around!
I would like to say a word now about the edition of "The Undying Monster" that I just read. It is from a U.K. publisher called Flame Tree 451, and, to be blunt, is an absolute disgrace. The book contains more typographical errors of every description than any other book I have ever read, and dozens of them on practically every page! Thus, punctuation is a complete botch, Swanhild's name is spelt three different ways on the second page (Swanhild, Swanbild and Swanhuld!), the word "monster" turns into "Kenster" (!), "cataclysm" becomes "catadysnr," "Magnus" is transformed into "Ivlagnus" and on and on, to the point where the book becomes, at times, borderline unreadable. Between the complexity of the story itself, the requisite research involved and the flabbergasting number of typos, I often felt as if I were translating this book, rather than reading it! As a proofreader and copy editor myself, I found this edition of an English classic deplorable, and so availed myself of the publisher's e-mail address, which is accurately given (halleleujah!) on the book's back cover. I asked whether or not ALL their books had been brought to market without the benefit of a thorough proofreading, because if so, I would not be able to purchase any others from their impressive catalog. (And Flame Tree 451 DOES have any number of comparatively rare titles that I would be interested in acquiring, such as Algernon Blackwood's "Jimbo," Jules Verne's "Robur the Conqueror," John Buchan's "Witch Wood" and Sax Rohmer's "Brood of the Witch-Queen.") They never responded to my e-mail. Thus, I must assume that all their books are in a similar, execrable state, and would warn all readers away from this British outfit. "The Undying Monster" deserves to be in bookstores, and to be made available to a new generation of readers. I urge all lovers of vintage horror to experience it...but please, do so in another edition....
(This review, by the way, originally appeared on the FanLit website at http://www.fantasyliterature.com ...a most excellent destination for all fans of this type of fare....)
"B material given A execution" is how film historian Drew Casper describes 20th Century Fox's first horror movie, 1942's "The Undying Monster," in one of the DVD's extras, and dang if the man hasn't described this movie to a T. The film, a unique melding of the detective, Gothic and monster genres, though uniformly well acted by its relatively no-name cast, features a trio of first-rate artists behind the camera who really manage to put this one over. And the film's script isn't half bad either. Here, Scotland Yard scientist Robert Curtis (James Ellison) comes to eerie Hammond Hall, a brooding pile on the English coast, sometime around 1900, to investigate some recent attacks ascribed to the legendary Hammond monster. Viewers expecting this legend of a voracious predator to wind up being explained in an anticlimactic, mundane fashion may be a bit surprised at how things play out. Ellison is fine in his no-nonsense, modern-detective role (he uses a spectrograph to analyze various clues!), and Heather Angel (who does have the face of one), playing the house's mistress, is equally good. But, as I've mentioned, it is the contributions of three men behind the scenes that really turn this little B into a work of art. Director John Brahm, who would go on to helm Fox's "The Lodger" and "Hangover Square," and DOP Lucien Ballard have combined their formidable talents to make a picture that is noirish, moody and fast moving, with superb use of light and shadow. And composer David Raksin, who two years later would achieve enduring fame for his score for that classiest of film noirs, "Laura," has co-contributed some background music here that is both mysterious and exciting. Fox head Darryl F. Zanuck apparently had hopes that "The Undying Monster" would be the opening salvo in his studio's bid to challenge Universal's monster domination, and in retrospect, it does seem like a fair way to start. This DVD, by the way, looks just fantastic, and sports more "extras" than you would believe capable of accompanying a minor B. All in all, a very pleasant surprise."
But what I failed to mention in that minireview back then was that this Fox picture was hardly an original conception of the studio, but was rather based on a 1922 novel by English authoress Jessie Douglas Kerruish. And now that I have finally read the original source material, I can recognize the film for what it is: a watered-down, abridged version of an infinitely more complex story, and a film whose debt to Universal Studios' 1941 classic "The Wolf Man" is a considerably large one. As for the novel, whose full title is actually "The Undying Monster: A Tale of the Fifth Dimension," it was Kerruish's third out of an eventual four, released when its author was 38. This book was the anomaly of Kerruish's oeuvre; the others, "Miss Haroun al-Raschid" (1917), "The Girl From Kurdistan" (1918) and "Babylonian Nights' Entertainment" (1934), as their titles might suggest, all dealt with Middle Eastern themes. The 1922 novel, on the other hand, was pretty much straight-out horror, set in a rather Gothically inflected England and combined with a 1,000-year-old mystery into one very atmospheric brew.
In the book, World War I has just about decimated the entire Hammand family (why the film changed "Hammand" to "Hammond" is quite beyond me), to the point where only brother Oliver and sister Swanhild remain at the ancestral castle in the Sussex village of Dannow. When a village woman is brutally murdered, and Oliver's pet mastiff is literally torn apart, it becomes horribly apparent that the Hammand curse has struck again. For a millennium, some kind of creature has been attacking the villagers, but only on cold, starlit nights, and under firs or pines. Now, however, after an absence of some four decades, the "undying monster" would seem to have returned. To assist in their dilemma, Swanhild and her fiancé, Goddard Covert, enlist the aid of self-styled "supersensitive" Luna Bartendale, who, Swanhild declares, combines "the functions of the White Witch and detective." And remarkably, employing her trusty divining rod, old-fashioned footwork, some archaeological digging, historical research, hypnosis and the use of racial memories, Luna IS able to discover the monster’s secret...to the dismay of her Hammand employers....
OK, I’m not going to lie to you: "The Undying Monster" was something of a labor for me to get through, but only because I happen to be one of those oddballs who feels the need to look up every single word, place name and historical reference of which I'm not familiar when reading. I've always found that a little extra work usually pays big dividends as regards a fuller appreciation, and such was surely the case here, but my goodness, how much research Kerruish herself must have done, preparatory to penning her book! In short, readers should be prepared to bone up on their War of the Roses, Norse mythology, and medieval English and Danish history while committing to this novel, and be ready to encounter a lot of 100-year-old British slang ("napoo," anyone?). You don't know about Foxe's "Book of Martyrs," the Marian persecution of 1555, or the type of swords that were used in 700 B.C.? You will, by the time you finish Kerruish's work! Fortunately, having said all that, I must also report that the book in question IS a fascinating one, with great suspense, a truly engaging mystery, some beautifully written passages (overwritten, some might fairly accuse), and interesting characters. And foremost among those interesting characters is Luna Bartendale herself, a character wholly excised from the 1942 film in favor of the more prosaic Scotland Yard inspector. Petite, bedimpled and golden curled, Luna is yet completely in charge of events, dominating every scene that she appears in. What a shame that Kerruish did not use her as the central character in an ongoing series of stories; an Edwardian-era supernatural detective a la Algernon Blackwood's John Silence, William Hope Hodgson's Thomas Carnacki, and Aleister Crowley's Simon Iff. To be quite fair, events at the conclusion of "The Undying Monster" do preclude Luna appearing again in another, similar tale; a pity. Ultimately, as mentioned, Luna does succeed in the Dannow case, a case that had earlier stumped (real-life personages) Madame Helena Blavatsky and Prof. William Crookes; the mention of these two famous spiritualist researchers adds both humor and credence to the affair. "There's nothing so actively alive as the dead," Luna declares; just one of many wonderful quotes from this most remarkable woman. Kerruish's tale is somewhat complexly plotted, and a slow and careful reading is necessary to process all the many bits of disparate evidence that Luna (sometimes literally) unearths. So yes, the book is challenging, but ultimately rewarding, and the pseudoscientific explanation that Kerruish gives us for the monster's origin is an intriguing one. A most impressive piece of work, all around!
I would like to say a word now about the edition of "The Undying Monster" that I just read. It is from a U.K. publisher called Flame Tree 451, and, to be blunt, is an absolute disgrace. The book contains more typographical errors of every description than any other book I have ever read, and dozens of them on practically every page! Thus, punctuation is a complete botch, Swanhild's name is spelt three different ways on the second page (Swanhild, Swanbild and Swanhuld!), the word "monster" turns into "Kenster" (!), "cataclysm" becomes "catadysnr," "Magnus" is transformed into "Ivlagnus" and on and on, to the point where the book becomes, at times, borderline unreadable. Between the complexity of the story itself, the requisite research involved and the flabbergasting number of typos, I often felt as if I were translating this book, rather than reading it! As a proofreader and copy editor myself, I found this edition of an English classic deplorable, and so availed myself of the publisher's e-mail address, which is accurately given (halleleujah!) on the book's back cover. I asked whether or not ALL their books had been brought to market without the benefit of a thorough proofreading, because if so, I would not be able to purchase any others from their impressive catalog. (And Flame Tree 451 DOES have any number of comparatively rare titles that I would be interested in acquiring, such as Algernon Blackwood's "Jimbo," Jules Verne's "Robur the Conqueror," John Buchan's "Witch Wood" and Sax Rohmer's "Brood of the Witch-Queen.") They never responded to my e-mail. Thus, I must assume that all their books are in a similar, execrable state, and would warn all readers away from this British outfit. "The Undying Monster" deserves to be in bookstores, and to be made available to a new generation of readers. I urge all lovers of vintage horror to experience it...but please, do so in another edition....
(This review, by the way, originally appeared on the FanLit website at http://www.fantasyliterature.com ...a most excellent destination for all fans of this type of fare....)
December 15, 2013
I'm a huge fan of the 1942 film of the same name, and so I was excited to read the book upon which it was based. Aside from the broad strokes of plot, they're actually pretty different form one-another, and while I still love the movie, the book certainly has some advantages. Notably, that the book is a whole lot weirder. It's got past-life regressions and a hand of glory and Norse mythology and ancient barrows and a chalk figure of a giant man and etc etc. Like I said, a lot weirder. It's also got a frequently delightful character in the form of lady psychic investigator Luna Bartendale.
While I adore the investigator characters in the movie, I am a little sad that Miss Bartendale didn't make it in.
While I adore the investigator characters in the movie, I am a little sad that Miss Bartendale didn't make it in.
Read
February 16, 2017What a wild ride. The Undying Monster reads like a Gothic serial but with the recent memory of World War One hanging over the characters. It's got ancient curses, Norse mythology, family secrets, red herrings, and anything else you could want from what feels like a later-period penny dreadful. I enjoyed seeing a woman in the role of occult detective, and I found her and the other characters endearing enough - compared to a lot of similar books, I could feel that this one was written by a woman, mainly in the way the characters and relationships are portrayed. Kerruish's prose is pretty purple - delightful or annoying, depending on your tolerance for that. The Flame Tree 451 edition is riddled with typos (I have to wonder if they just printed the text from a corrupted PDF file), so not worth buying at full price, but if you can get it used or at the library, and you enjoy Gothic melodrama with a good helping of weird pseudo-science, this one is short enough that it's worth checking out. It's bizarre enough to be of interest to fans of the genre/time period.
July 31, 2016
Despite the hilariously terrible cover, this was probably the best postwar Gothic Scandinavian English Theosophist werewolf drawing room mystery I've ever read.
June 9, 2016
I started to type a review and then found that Sandy had already said everything I was planning to say. So please, read her review, because it's completely accurate about everything, both the book's strengths and its weaknesses.
But if you want to know what I thought of the book myself, I found it to be gothic (in 1920s' England!), atmospheric, dramatic, well-researched, compelling (I couldn't put it down), puzzling, tragic in places and, ultimately, gloriously fun. As Sandy says, there are countless errors in punctuation and spelling, which is why I marked it down, and I would strongly advise you to find an edition which has been better proofread, but I genuinely enjoyed Kerruish's book despite such irksome flaws.
But if you want to know what I thought of the book myself, I found it to be gothic (in 1920s' England!), atmospheric, dramatic, well-researched, compelling (I couldn't put it down), puzzling, tragic in places and, ultimately, gloriously fun. As Sandy says, there are countless errors in punctuation and spelling, which is why I marked it down, and I would strongly advise you to find an edition which has been better proofread, but I genuinely enjoyed Kerruish's book despite such irksome flaws.
June 7, 2025
Satisfying horror novel from the early 1920s. I say horror because it's certainly not in the Gothic genre of the previous centuries and, although it does have a healthy dose of Sherlock Holmes-ian mystery and detective in its form, it's not exactly a mystery in the classic format either, having, as it does, a monster and all. Certainly there's more of that British rationale here than Lovecraft's weird fiction of he same era, so while this might seem a little supernaturally tame by that standard, it makes up for this by pretty well exploiting the mystery/detective genre and producing a fairly engrossing page-turning thriller. While it might at first seem strangely contradictory to have a detective of the supernatural (since the supernatural seems the opposite of rationality and what deductive reasoning could logically deduce) it actually works given that only rationality can explain the unexplainable and the novel ultimately could be lumped into what Anne Williams calls the "female Gothic" because of that. The novel finds a way to rationally explain its monster.
Sadly, much of the suspense of the novel is ruined both by the subsequent popularization of the monster under scrutiny here and by knowing what monster we're dealing with--thus I won't name it and I recommend you read the novel now, right away, if you can, before going any further and finding out which monster it is. Try not to glance even at the back blurb!
My one writerly/authorial/aesthetic observation: the omnisciently narrated novel's basic POV shifts as the plot proceeds. We begin with Swanhilde, who's a likable strong female lead, but later we move over to follow her fiancee Goddard, who, because he's a bit distrustful of our detective (which has a hint of sexism since the detective, also, is female) is less likable. Well, in the end I can see why the narrative does this and that it followed the events and who best to witness them, but while I was reading it bothered (or maybe disappointed) me a bit, mostly I think because as the tale went on I wanted to stay more with the characters I liked (the women) rather than the men. They were just more interesting and the gender aspects of this are quite interesting a century and three years on.
Still, all very satisfying in the end, just right for the kind of thriller it is.
Sadly, much of the suspense of the novel is ruined both by the subsequent popularization of the monster under scrutiny here and by knowing what monster we're dealing with--thus I won't name it and I recommend you read the novel now, right away, if you can, before going any further and finding out which monster it is. Try not to glance even at the back blurb!
My one writerly/authorial/aesthetic observation: the omnisciently narrated novel's basic POV shifts as the plot proceeds. We begin with Swanhilde, who's a likable strong female lead, but later we move over to follow her fiancee Goddard, who, because he's a bit distrustful of our detective (which has a hint of sexism since the detective, also, is female) is less likable. Well, in the end I can see why the narrative does this and that it followed the events and who best to witness them, but while I was reading it bothered (or maybe disappointed) me a bit, mostly I think because as the tale went on I wanted to stay more with the characters I liked (the women) rather than the men. They were just more interesting and the gender aspects of this are quite interesting a century and three years on.
Still, all very satisfying in the end, just right for the kind of thriller it is.
March 18, 2024
Considering this was written in 1922, it's very modern despite being only 4 years after The Great War - and some of the protagonists clearly suffered in that conflict.
There's a family curse which manifests itself via horrible deaths over the centuries and something so terrible that the cursed family members become reclusive or take their own lives.
Several story elements seen, to me, to have inspired later horror & sci fi stories.
EG the Norse mythology - see Curse of Fenric, ancestral memories, - see Bene Gesserit, "higher dimensions" - parallel planes of existence etc.
Luna, the lead psychic explores these higher planes.
I can imagine her as a psychic miss Marple! (Or see also Tarot from Ace of Wands or Jonathan Creek!)
Some period language & slang, but a real page turner for me
4½* but only allowed to award 4*.
There's a family curse which manifests itself via horrible deaths over the centuries and something so terrible that the cursed family members become reclusive or take their own lives.
Several story elements seen, to me, to have inspired later horror & sci fi stories.
EG the Norse mythology - see Curse of Fenric, ancestral memories, - see Bene Gesserit, "higher dimensions" - parallel planes of existence etc.
Luna, the lead psychic explores these higher planes.
I can imagine her as a psychic miss Marple! (Or see also Tarot from Ace of Wands or Jonathan Creek!)
Some period language & slang, but a real page turner for me
4½* but only allowed to award 4*.
May 3, 2024
Not off to the best of starts since I found trouble focusing on it for the first 40 pages or so. But once I got used to the writing style (nothing too experimental, just a little outdated - for obvious reasons), I found this to be perfectly pleasant and enjoyable. I appreciated the thought and occult / mythological knowledge that has gone into the novel to create a plot and a mystery that could easily satisfy modern audiences, too.
March 1, 2024
Although 'The Undying Monster' felt somewhat predictable, it offered an enjoyable experience that reflects its era. The atmospheric setting added depth to the story, making it a fun read. Luna's character, in particular, added an intriguing dimension to the narrative.
February 21, 2024
'Where grow pines and firs amain, Under Stars, sans heat or rain, Chief of Hammand, ‘ware thy Bane!
'This was great fun, a great old school horror mystery and at times surprisingly violent for the 1920s (or maybe i haven't read enough from that period). An entertaining and engaging easy read with a corking plot and fun characters, its pulpy style and melodramatic dialogue makes a welcome change to more modern fare.
'This was great fun, a great old school horror mystery and at times surprisingly violent for the 1920s (or maybe i haven't read enough from that period). An entertaining and engaging easy read with a corking plot and fun characters, its pulpy style and melodramatic dialogue makes a welcome change to more modern fare.
March 5, 2024
A lovely quick read with interesting characters that felt real. Set just after WW1 and dealing with an ancient family curse, it could have been just like a plethora of other weird fiction tales;however, the writer’s ability to write dialogue that flowed naturally and to fashion strong female characters that seemed believable for their time period really added to my immersion and enjoyment of the story.
I loved the focus on ancient Nordic mythology and also the methodical way in which Luna (the first occult female detective in a novel) went about solving the mystery.
The real source of disappointment in the story was that the sense of terror at times was noticeably absent, leading to less of an atmosphere of dread. At only one point during the 300 pages did I worry for the life of one of the principal characters.
Likewise, the love story seemed tacked on to appeal to its readers and instead of adding to the character of Luna, who up until the end was a great early example of a feminist character, it seemed to remove her agency and relegated her to fulfilling a more traditional female role in society.
Very well written (although confusing at times), with a fantastic command of the English language, a great mystery and believable characters that you care about but with a somewhat disappointing end.
I loved the focus on ancient Nordic mythology and also the methodical way in which Luna (the first occult female detective in a novel) went about solving the mystery.
The real source of disappointment in the story was that the sense of terror at times was noticeably absent, leading to less of an atmosphere of dread. At only one point during the 300 pages did I worry for the life of one of the principal characters.
Likewise, the love story seemed tacked on to appeal to its readers and instead of adding to the character of Luna, who up until the end was a great early example of a feminist character, it seemed to remove her agency and relegated her to fulfilling a more traditional female role in society.
Very well written (although confusing at times), with a fantastic command of the English language, a great mystery and believable characters that you care about but with a somewhat disappointing end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 28, 2022
Written in 1922, it is possibly the most original werewolf depiction.
Oliver Hammond is the head of his family. Along with his sister, Swanhild, they live under a family curse. There is something out there that has stalked the heads of their family for generations. After seeing it, many of their ancestors have committed suicide.
One creepy night, Swanhild gets a phone call and rushes out in an effort to save her brother from the Undying Monster. What she finds is a gruesome scene. Her brother nearly dead, his companion nearly dead, and his dog ripped to shreds.
She seeks the help of a super sensitive detective, Luna, who helps them find the monster. In their quest, they find a hidden room, and also dig up a long buried ancestor.
This book gives excellent gothic, gloomy vibes, but there are incredibly long passages about mythology and situations from the past that, while greatly inventive, don’t make for interesting reading, at least not for me. I’m glad I read it, but I’m also glad to have finished it. 3 stars.
Also, my copy was a mess as far as typos and wording goes. I’m not sure if this was how it was originally published, but someone should try to fix it.
Oliver Hammond is the head of his family. Along with his sister, Swanhild, they live under a family curse. There is something out there that has stalked the heads of their family for generations. After seeing it, many of their ancestors have committed suicide.
One creepy night, Swanhild gets a phone call and rushes out in an effort to save her brother from the Undying Monster. What she finds is a gruesome scene. Her brother nearly dead, his companion nearly dead, and his dog ripped to shreds.
She seeks the help of a super sensitive detective, Luna, who helps them find the monster. In their quest, they find a hidden room, and also dig up a long buried ancestor.
This book gives excellent gothic, gloomy vibes, but there are incredibly long passages about mythology and situations from the past that, while greatly inventive, don’t make for interesting reading, at least not for me. I’m glad I read it, but I’m also glad to have finished it. 3 stars.
Also, my copy was a mess as far as typos and wording goes. I’m not sure if this was how it was originally published, but someone should try to fix it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2019
This was utterly amazing! One of the best books I've read. Written in 1922 (by a deaf woman!) it is a wonderful occult tale of suspense, in a big old mansion with a family curse. What makes this book unique is that it's all about the women in it. It starts with the daughter saving her brother and a servant girl from the monster, then has her using the Post office directories(!!!) to find a woman Occultist investigator that she heard of. For all the 20s books I've read about occultism in the 20s this was the FIRST I found where the person with all the knowledge was a woman and that was WONDERFUL! I wish someone would make this into a new film or tv series. It would be glorious. Definitely recommended.
August 23, 2024
Like several other reviewers, I found the book after watching the 1942 film adaptation. The book is better. Though fair warning, what might have sounded like plausible pseudoscience in 1922 sounds a lot weirder now.
The Hammand family are cursed. Every so often, when one of them walks in the nearby pine wood, a monster attacks, killing whoever they're with. Sometimes the Hammand dies, sometimes they go mad from what they've seen, sometimes they kill themselves. Now, for the first time in a generation, the Monster has struck again. Can a psychic help figure out what it is and how to destroy it?
In addition to being a ripping yarn, the sense of place is terrific, reminding me a lot of Alan Garner's Weirdstone of Brisingamen, if that means anything to anyone.
The Hammand family are cursed. Every so often, when one of them walks in the nearby pine wood, a monster attacks, killing whoever they're with. Sometimes the Hammand dies, sometimes they go mad from what they've seen, sometimes they kill themselves. Now, for the first time in a generation, the Monster has struck again. Can a psychic help figure out what it is and how to destroy it?
In addition to being a ripping yarn, the sense of place is terrific, reminding me a lot of Alan Garner's Weirdstone of Brisingamen, if that means anything to anyone.
October 16, 2025
A good old tale of the supernatural. A very old English family plagued by the titular "monster," which periodically kills people in the woods near the old manor house. Somewhat similar to "The Hound of the Baskervilles," except that in this one the "detective" is a woman named Luna, a "super-sensitive" who can discern the supernatural where others can't. For a book written in the 1920s, this novel's pretty progressive when it comes to women. Luna calls all the shots and dominates every situation she's in. The author has a way of establishing dread and malevolence that reminded me of H. P. Lovecraft. Great book for Halloween time.
August 29, 2025
Think of a classic horror trope and it is probably here, in the best way. It was an absolute blast of a read with a ton going on, it’s like Hammer Horror as a novel.
The downsides: while the writing is brisk, I found it to be little more than competent, and I really did not love the final 50 pages turning this into a story where heterosexuality saves the day by making everyone blissfully normal.
It’s a very fun read for Halloween season, you just kind of need to turn your brain off and go along for the ride.
The downsides: while the writing is brisk, I found it to be little more than competent, and I really did not love the final 50 pages turning this into a story where heterosexuality saves the day by making everyone blissfully normal.
It’s a very fun read for Halloween season, you just kind of need to turn your brain off and go along for the ride.
April 30, 2024
I loved this until the end, which saw the rich man get away scott free with murder with no repercussions on him at all.
I know this is over 100 years old and attitudes were different but honestly, I couldn't believe what I was reading. A shame, as I said I thoroughly enjoyed it until the last three chapters.
I know this is over 100 years old and attitudes were different but honestly, I couldn't believe what I was reading. A shame, as I said I thoroughly enjoyed it until the last three chapters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2024
This book needed like 150 pages to say “generational trauma is turning you into a werewolf.” Was most interesting as a historic object. Olden days people were into weird shit just like us! I will admit the werewolf twist got me though. I had a fun enough time but got bored towards the end and skimmed the last few chapters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 10, 2024
Another great book from the British Library of the Weird. A complete full story this time. The Undying Monster kept me spellbound throughout. Jessie Douglas Kerruish should be more well known as her writing is excellent. I shall now watch the film version of The Undying Monster on You Tube.
December 30, 2021
Superb occult detective novel - also a novel of Sussex deeply resonant of its places and lore.
June 12, 2022
Reader beware - this paperback edition is littered with typographical errors.
October 29, 2024
Once I'd gotten my head around the language it was an interesting story.
February 26, 2024
What a fantastic read, from start to finish it had me hooked and the outcome brought a genuine smile to my face
March 18, 2024
The story is a good, original variation of a werewolf legend, but I found it to be a bit overwritten and somewhat plodding in reaching its denouement. Also, this edition is not very good. The print is small (and difficult for my aging eyes) and there were numerous typos. If you decide to try this, I recommend another edition.
EDIT: I just reread this -- not this edition, but one recently published as part of the British Library Tales of the Weird series, and this version is a lot better, I think. The print and layout are much easier on the eyes, leading to less reader frustration, and I am not sure the edition I read before was actually complete. While still a bit slow and plodding, I enjoyed this version a lot more.
EDIT: I just reread this -- not this edition, but one recently published as part of the British Library Tales of the Weird series, and this version is a lot better, I think. The print and layout are much easier on the eyes, leading to less reader frustration, and I am not sure the edition I read before was actually complete. While still a bit slow and plodding, I enjoyed this version a lot more.
September 3, 2013
Cliched and dull, couldn't get beyond the first fifty pages before starting to skim read it. Not recommended!
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February 4, 20164 stars from Sandy: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
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