Product Description

"A wonderfully mesmerizing adventure, delving into the convoluted mind of one of modern fiction's most famous anti-heroes, the vampire Lestat. Rice's writing is elegant and thought-provoking and her story is a gem."
THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

For centuries Lestat has been a courted prince in the universe of the dead. Now he is alone and everything he once believed in seems false. So he embarks on a dangerous journey to destroy his doubts and loneliness forever....

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62207 in Books
• Published on: 1993-09-01
• Released on: 1993-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 448 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780345384751
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
It's been said that Vladimir Nabokov's best novels are the ones he wrote after starting a failed novel. Anne Rice wrote The Body Thief, the fourth thrilling episode of her Vampire Chronicles, right after she spent a long time poring over that most romantic of horror novels, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, to research a novel Rice abandoned about an artificial man. Perhaps as a result of Shelley's influence, The Body Thief is far more psychologically penetrating than its predecessors, with a laser-like focus on a single tormented soul. Oh, we meet some wild new characters, and Rice's toothsome vampire-hero Lestat zooms around the globe--as is his magical habit--from Miami to the Gobi desert, but he's in such despair that he trades his immortal body to a con man named Raglan James, who offers him in return two days of strictly mortal bliss.

Lestat has always had a faulty impulse-control valve, and it gets him in truly intriguing trouble this time. On the plus side, he gets to experience romance with a nun and orange juice--"thick like blood, but full of sweetness." But Lestat is horrified by an uncommon cold, and his toilet training proves traumatic. He's also got to catch Raglan James, who has no intention of giving up his dishonestly acquired new superpowered body. Lestat enlists the help of David Talbot, a mortal in the Talamasca, a secret society of immortal watchers described in Queen of the Damned.

The swapping of bodies and supernatural stories is choice, and there's even a moral: never give a bloodsucker an even break. --Tim Appelo

From Publishers Weekly
Rice's fourth Vampire Chronicle--a 14-week PW bestseller and a BOMC main selection in cloth--depicts the tormented vampire Lestat's struggles with immortality. An enchanting tale of body-switching, necromancy and betrayal, set in New Orleans, Miami and Paris.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This fourth book of the "The Vampire Chronicles" is by far the weakest. The plot involves everybody's favorite blood drinker, Lestat de Lioncourt, who foolishly strikes a bargain with sinister sorcerer Raglan James for a brief exchange of bodies; the soul of each vacates its respective flesh and slips into that of the other. Once befanged, James welshes on the deal, so Lestat, aided by David Talbot, Superior General of the Talamasca (a sort of CIA of the supernatural) must pursue and evict him from the immortal coil. The characters' body swapping could have made fun reading, but rather than using the vampire powers to truly seize the night, Rice has James merely dance with old ladies on the QE2 and rob wall safes. Lestat in human form contracts pneumonia, adopts a stray dog, and has safe sex with a nun. In between, there are doses of homoerotica and much silly talk on the nature of God, the soul, and good and evil. Though Rice's popularity demands its purchase, this book has little sound and less fury that signify next to nothing. A real disappointment. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/92; BOMC main selection.
- Michael Rogers, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Very good, but something's missing...
This book is undeniably entertaining. The whole 'Lestat can't even handle everyday aspects of being a human' had me laughing out loud at times, and was a wonderful characterization on the part of Anne. However, I can't help but feel that this novel didn't drag me into its narrative so wonderfully as the first three books in this series. The writing seemed to have lost that...indescribably beautiful flow. The breathtaking mixture of gothic tragedy, horror and romance so notable in its predecessors remains, for the most part, aloof, and at times it feels like you are reading a well-written piece of fan-fiction rather than part of the Vampire Chronicles. I also had real problems with the character of David. Granted, he was mildly intriguing in 'Queen of the Damned', but now he just appears as yet another character in what had been a wonderful cross-section of characters created in the first few novels. He also annoyed me because the excellent love-hate relationship between Louis and Lestat, something that this series is infamous for, was often ousted for his ramblings on God. Enough! In fact, this character so bored me that I have to draw on points raised by some of the other reviewers-- you end up hoping desperatley that Louis, Armand or one of the others will show up again. And that's the thing; the scenes between Louis and Lestat are so entertaining, so insightful that when Lestat leaves to return to David, you just groan and think 'here we go again'. This novel is good for two things-- firstly, as an insight into the tragedy of growing old, of the waste of life, (so wonderfully linked to Yeats's 'Sailing to Byzantium') and also if you are just in the mood for a comic-book type of adventure. However, if the reason you read the first novels was for that blend of history, romance and gothic themes-- you will find it here, only not quite as much as you had hoped. Shame. In summary, all I can say is that perhaps this series should have ended with 'Queen of the Damned'. Memnoch was a travesty; this story, though entertaining, does not feel as 'tight' as the others in terms of narrative and characterization. I feel it should have simply ended with the scene where the other vampires have gone off to pursue their own adventures, and a furious Louis is stalking the streets of London with a grinning Lestat who howls, 'Tell me how bad I am! It makes me feel so good!' That's only because this story doesn't end quite so well, for all its excellent parts. Think of it as 'Ernest does necromancy'.

a delightful tale
I wonder why _The tale of the Body Thief_ didn't get the same success as _Interview_ or _The Vampire Lestat_.
The story is strong and original: Lestat, bored of his immortal and static life, accepts to exchange his supernatural body with a rascal, named Raglan James. Thus Lestat can experience human life: food, drinks and, for the first time, sex.
His love affair with the young waitress is an enchanting piece of literary skillness. We see Lestat enjoying sex with the reluctant girl -but his real problem is not the girl's unwillingness, it is the relation with his new mortal body!
The romance with the nun is less convincing: Lestat could have chosen something less complicated for his spiritual evolution.
But that doesn't matter: the immortal vampire experiences human life, he is attracted by it, but finally prefers to return to his originale condition. No sweat, no hunger, no bad smells, no problems....
Of course, Lestat will have to face the treacherous and unfaithful Raglan James for returning to his original state. But this is not very important: I think that in the seconda part of the book the most interesting scene is Lestat's visit to the waitress, to beg her pardon. Something very human and sweet, a very significant moment in Lestat's development from _Interview with the vampire_ Miss Roce's style is at its best, vivid and intriguing.

The Best Vampire Chronicle Yet!
I've been a loyal Anne Rice reader (and vampire fan) for some time now, and it all started with this book! Rather than the usual run down vampire plot (in which a normal person is transformed unwillingly into a vampire and has trouble coping) or the "classic" horror movie motif (usually along the lines of a psychotic vampire terrorizing everyone on his mad and seemingly pointless killing sprees), Anne Rice has pulled through with a truly innovative plot from deep whithin the regions of imagination. The Tale of the Body Thief is the story of a once powerful and headstrong vampire who finds himself with the prosect of becoming human again. He readily accepts the mysterious stranger's offer and recieves what he has always wanted- or has he? Lestat soon realizes that being human isn't all wonderful moments and experiences. He finds himself longing for his strong vampiric body back, only to find that the man he traded bodies with has reneged on their agreement and decided to keep his body after all. Lestat now finds himself in unfamiliar territory- unable to defend himself. All the more determined, he calls upon the help of an old friend, and all of his tricks and cunning. Filled with magic, chases, and friendship, The Tale of the Body Thief leads both characters and readers on an adventure that is sure to change their perspectives forever