Customer Reviews

A Spoiler of Men (Valancourt Classics)

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Richard Marsh's zombies are not the murderous mega-creatures of Hollywood films, but helpless humans deprived of their wits by psychopharmacological drugs. They respond to nothing but the voice of the unscrupulous man who "spoiled" them.

First published in 1905, A Spoiler of Men was a popular novel on mind control, a subject quite fascinating to readers in the early days of psychology. Drugs are the soul-numbing weapon of the handsome villain known in Australia as Jack the Chemist, and in London as the respectable Cyril Wentworth. He has a grim helper who practices mind control through hypnosis.

Why and how Jack the Chemist does his dark deeds unfolds quickly in this fast-paced novel. And his nemesis appears on page two: a young woman in search of her father, who disappeared mysteriously in Australia while working with Jack.

Agnes Capparoni is a charming personification of the New Woman. While she possesses the pretty face of a Victorian heroine, her intelligence and bold manners place her firmly in the camp of her sisters fighting for women's rights. She's an excellent detective and a woman of action.

Richard Marsh is best known for his supernatural gothic thriller The Beetle (1897). But his literary output was prolific and widely enjoyed by fin de siècle readers. Nowadays only a few good editions exist of his novels. This is one of them. Valancourt Classics does a great job, and I've taken to searching their book list lately for forgotten treasures.

After I finished the book, I savored the introduction, which is very well written and blessedly free from academic jargon. Editor Johan Höglund raised my rating of A Spoiler of Men from four to five stars. I was originally a bit put off by the simple-minded science of the book, but now I see it as compatible with the times. Höglund paints an insightful picture of the social and political anxieties of late Victorian England. He also argues convincingly that A Spoiler of Men marks the first appearance of zombies in English fiction.

Richard Marsh has an engaging way of mixing humor and romance with crime and horror. His books are eminently readable. He's my latest fun discovery among neglected fin de siècle novelists.