Demon Lover [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Victoria Holt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1984

Kate Collison is summoned to the chateau of the Baron de Centeville to paint the Baron's portrait. But there is a high price to pay for her picture of 'The Demon Lover'.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

8 1.5-hour cassettes --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From the Inside Flap

When Kate Collison, to help her ailing father, completes his portrait of the powerful Baron de Centeville, her only thought is to be a dutiful daughter. But when the Baron presents her to Parisian society as the painter, Kate finds herself basking in the recognition . . . until she discovers that the Baron has plans for her -- shocking plans that will change her life unless she can fight the Baron with his own weapons . . . --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd; Large Print edition edition (January 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0708910734
• ISBN-13: 978-0708910733
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Definetly a demonic rapist not a lover, July 29, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Demon Lover (Audio Cassette)

The story is certainly very well written but the end is more than disappointing. The story is about Kate, a gifted artist who paints a picture of the powerful and charismatic machiavellian Baron Centreville. The baron soon discovers that not Kate's father, a famous miniaturist, who is about to loose his eyesight paints him, but Kate. Instead of being furious he is inspired by her and patronizes her further career. Kate is erotically attracted by him but repulsed by his machiavellian use of power. She falls in love with the man the Baron wants to marry of to a former mistress. Due to the fact that Kate severly interferes with his plans he intends to punish her and her fianceé for their "insubordination". He kidnapps Kate, drugs her and rapes her several times and makes it very clear that this is meant as a punishment. There is no indication that the baron fiercly desires Kate or that Kate enjoys the whole thing and it would be very unlikely under the given circumstances. The whole thing is about power and the use of power. His original plan to marry of the now besmirched Kate to his rebellious subject is thwarted by Kate who now refuses to marry this man. The plot is interesting so far and I expected some poetic justice because Kate, a very spirited and strong woman could be the ideal person to revenge herself on the baron but this is not the case. Instead of it she gets pregnant and gives birth to a son. Of course she secretly yearns for the baron and let no other man touch her for years. Then after a failed marriage of the baron he finds out about the son and comes to claim him. The rest of the story is ridiculous nonsense. I don't critizise the fact that Kate in the beginning feels attracted to so unsympathetic a character. It is believable for the baron is handsome and powerful and that is in fact attractive. I wouldn't have minded the baron seducing Kate as a means of punishment (like Valmont seduced the virtuous Madame de Tourville). It would be more than believable that after that Kate is not able to forget her demonic lover. But her demonic rapist? He was a cruel barbarian and not a highly seductive and sinister Valmont who was a skilled lover not a neanterthaler who tears his woman in his cave. The story is very well written but the content is [...]. Because of it's very dubious moral I can only give one star.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's Just a Fantasy, January 27, 2009

By 

C. Morse "MsTigerHawk" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Demon Lover (Unbound)

I find it humorous that so many rate this book so low because of the rape scene. You have to realize when this book was written. In the 1970's and 1980's there was a subgenre of romance novels called boddice rippers. Most romance readers couldn't get enough of them. They usually had a rape scene and after awhile the heroine would come to fall in love with the man who raped her. Some of the authors who wrote these books were Katherine Woodiwiss, Jennifer Wilde, etc. Apparently Victoria Holt figured she may as well try her hand at it, too.

Pop psychology at that time said that many women had rape fantasies. It's true. That doesn't mean they want to be raped in real life. It's just an erotic fantasy. Most people know the difference between reality and fantasy. These bodice rippers are fantasy, and a lot of women got off on them. Nowadays, of course, it's totally politically incorrect to write this kind of book.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible book and a dreadful disappointment from a fine author, August 21, 2005

By 

Fruit Loop (Down South) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Demon Lover (Mass Market Paperback)

This longtime Holt fan was horrified and sickened as well as bitterly disappointed in this novel because (a) it's not a "romance" at all and (b) this is one of the finest authors alive.

The "hero" tricks and rapes the heroine, but she falls in love with him? NO! NO! NO! Rape is a violent act committed by men who despise women. No man who does that can EVER be a hero, and Holt's attempt to have him reason out his actions and redeem himself are an utter failure. Equally disappointing is having his helpless, violated victim decide he's worthy of her affection, and worse, fit to be a father to the child he conceived through force.

This is a sad attempt at entertainment from a wonderful writer, a slap in the face to real victims of rape, a perpetuation of the myth that it's possible for some rape victims to secretly enjoy their brutalization, and that men who rape really aren't so bad.

Read "The Pride of the Peacock" or "Mistress of Mellyn" instead.