Lost Souls (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "The night wind felt wonderful in Steve's hair..." (more)
Key Phrases: sacred yew, clove cigarettes, Missing Mile, New Orleans, Miz Catlin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Launching the Abyss imprint for Delacorte, this stylishly written, daringly provocative first novel plays on the appeal of vampires as romantic antiheroes. Three bloodsuckers who might pass for rock stars roll into New Orleans for Mardi Gras and then disappear again, but only after their handsome leader, Zillah, has impregnated an adolescent girl. Fifteen years later, their offspring, who calls himself Nothing, is living with adoptive parents in the suburbs and wondering, like many other teenagers, why he feels so different. In this case the answer is that he's really a vampire, a fact he discovers when he runs away from home and meets up with none other than Zillah, accompanied by sidekicks Molochai and Twig. Together they seek out Nothing's favorite band, Lost Souls, for an explosive meeting that leads to a bloody, somewhat overdone climax back in New Orleans. Brite creates a convincing, evocative atmosphere in which youthful alienation meets gothic horror, but her prose sometimes turns purplish (for example, both sperm and the liqueur Chartreuse are likened to altars). More regrettably, the story lacks a moral center: neither terrifyingly malevolent supernatural creatures nor (like Anne Rice's protagonists) tortured souls torn between good and evil, these vampires simply add blood-drinking to the amoral panoply of drug abuse, problem drinking and empty sex practiced by their human counterparts. Rather than horror, Lost Souls prompts disgust mixed with morbid titillation, but it will surely be devoured by genre aficionados. BOMC featured alternate.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

This book comes highly recommended by some of the best horror writers in the business, and deservedly so, but it is not for the weak of stomach. It is the story of a lost soul, a boy named Nothing, who was born of a vampire and is searching for his true family. But he dimly understands that joining his vampire brothers will cost him more of his humanity than he wants to give up. A mysterious, caring psychic named Ghost tries to save him from his fate and, because Nothing loves this man, he must choose to preserve his own humanity in order to save Ghost's life. The book is graphic in its presentation of kinky sex mixed with vampirism and murder but nonetheless compelling.
- Marylaine Block, St. Ambrose Univ. Lib., Davenport, Ia.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Dell (September 10, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440212812
• ISBN-13: 978-0440212812
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (236 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,897 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lost angels or demons, so hard to tell...., March 14, 2000

By	Rebbeca (Virginia Beach, VA) - See all my reviews

At the age of 22, I am still caught up in a bit of my teen angst, but I was never so reminded as when I stepped into the whirlwind of PZB's, "Lost Souls". Whether you were a tragic outcast or not, you will be able to understand that nuances of a small town and how it feels to be misunderstood.

It's easy to fall in love with Ghost, simple yet complex, sensitive and mystical. To lust after Zillah, beautiful, passionate, green eyed, and brutal. To care so much for Nothing, to take him into your arms and show him that the world is not as fake and cruel as it seems (though it may well be sometimes).

Even though I knew the ending (unfortunately read a review that spelled it out for me), I enjoyed every moment of the book. It was at times confusing in it's madness, yet it was littered and sparkled with magic at every turn of the page.

I have not been able to get this book out of my mind. It's sensuality and overwhelming contrast of light and dark make this book an amazing read for anyone who isn't afraid of something that's a bit different.

The only problem is with letting go of the book when one is finished reading :).

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark Horror Fiction at its Finest, October 19, 2000

By	Sarah E. Golding (Lowell, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Several years ago I walked into a book store and my eyes fell upon Poppy Z. Brites Lost Souls. At the time it was her only novel. I bought the book initially just based on the fact that I liked the cover art. Now my original copy is held together with duct tape. I love this book. It is fascinating, original, dark, erotic, and in my opinion one of the best horror books out there. I have re-read this book more times then any other. I still get hooked into the story line and feel for the characters that I have grown to love. This novel explores many topics that are fairly common in horror fiction. Yet, Poppy breathes new life and fascination into both vampires, misguided youth, and rock n' roll. This book is almost the modern day tale of vampires. I recommend it to all dark horror lover, vampire fans, and anyone who loves a well crafted and executed story. If this is your first time trying Brite--be warned her words are potent, strong, and filled with images. This is the original Poppy book. I urge you to give it a try, and maybe, just maybe, a few years from now you will find your copy of this book held together with duct tape from too many late night readings.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unique, well-written, but..., August 19, 2001

By A Customer

As a fan of Storm Constantine and other writers in this vein (pun not intended), I was recommended to PZB's works multiple times. I finally decided to start with the first-written, although others warned me that it was not her best.

And it was definitely interesting. This was definitely a new take on the vampire renaissance heralded by Anne Rice and others. These vamps are dark but not romantically so, decadent but not admirably so, and brutally cruel. I was wowed by the writing style, which was lush (not overly so) and yet very engaging; the uniqueness of the vampires, who truly are a different species (with their own subspecies); the blatant inclusion of homoerotic material that other writers often only touch upon glancingly, if at all (and which is very satisfyingly fulfilled here).

The problem? I hate the characters.

Call me jaded, or maybe just too old to understand. Nothing was very much a nothing, to me. I couldn't get into his teenaged angst---which, granted, had some real basis in his being "different". But some of his angst had to do with things like, "My parents want me to clean my room because I haven't bathed in days and it reeks." Or, "Nobody understands me except the singer on this underground tape I got from my friends, so I'm going to run away from home to find him." It's really hard for me to find sympathy with those kinds of laments, even though I remember feeling the same way when I was a teenager (well, I had no problem with baths). I guess it bothers me because I'm an adult, now, and this sort of pointless whining just seems stupid, not angsty.

I also hated Zillah, who's a psychopath but not even a particularly interesting one---just one who seems to be blessed with a kind of bizarre magic that helps him attract weaker souls and pervert them into strangeness or stupidity. He does this to every female character in the story; one of the women, Ann, was a strong and interesting character until she has a liaison with Zillah. Then her brains and strength just seem to... vanish. The other female character meets the same fate, earlier in the novel, but she didn't really start out as a strong character (her motivations were completely unclear), so I didn't really mind in her case. She was too uninteresting for me to care about her---which is the problem for most of the characters in the story.

I do like some of the characters. Christian, for example, is a none-too-subtle poke at the more romanticized, old-worldish vamps of other authors like Rice; he too falls under Zillah's spell, and is basically dragged into the more crude, brutal, modern vamp world PZB has created here. His corruption is actually interesting to watch. Ghost is fascinating---although his devotion to his uber-macho, rapist buddy Steve just leaves me cold. It's as if a subtle theme of this story is Why Smart People Do Really Dumb Things.

Still, I'll definitely recommend this story, if only for its fresh and original take on vampirism. Its takes on teen angst, relationship abuse, friendship, good/evil, etc., are more common.