Sorry to hear you were disappointed, Crooksy.
The Werewolf of Paris is a favorite of mine. A few years ago I wrote up the following for another site:
The Werewolf of Paris follows two main story lines, the first a psychological portrait of Bertrand, whose mother was raped by a priest one of whose direct ancestors had been degraded and tortured into a bestial madman. Bertrand finds himself the victim of unconquerable urges, perhaps inherited, slowly becoming aware of the extent of his obsession and struggling to fight or control it with limited success. Endore follows him from a boy to a young man who runs to Paris and joins the National Guard, and even falls in love.
The other story line follows Aymar, Bertrand’s adopted uncle, who struggles between helping him and revealing his secret. Taking place just before and during the time of the Paris Commune, Endore’s novel contrasts the behavior and deeds of one luckless man against the brutality and cruelty of a social structure and a good portion of the novel’s impact stems from Endore’s portrayal of Aymar moving among the Paris elite. Once a Revolutionary, now pursuing Bertrand in hope of stopping his crimes, Aymar is in position to meet former colleagues and their friends, among them a judge who radiates good will until defendants demonstrate that they do not know which laws attach to which citations; a lawyer who shows Aymar how to circumvent the law; a priest who tells him he could never be a priest – the church would not allow someone physically defective (Aymar has a limp from a war injury) to lead a Mass – but also explains a method for in essence buying priesthood; and a band of scientists devoted to expanding the Parisian palette during this time of siege and turmoil.
The Werewolf of Paris, from all accounts was quite popular when published. And why not? It features sex, rape, murder, cannibalism, incest, duplicity, love, more sex, honor and near-genocide, all the ingredients for a best-seller. This is horror as social satire, still Endore neither sacrifices Bertrand’s story to the needs of the satire nor skimps on establishing the parallels between one man’s lycanthropy and the behavior of mobs and, for that matter, of an entire society.
One note on that point: This is horror in the post-"Turn of the Screw" mold. Endore does not quite commit to a true physical change; Bertrand’s mood changes and his compulsion overtakes him, but Endore never describes him as physically transforming. He does, however, sometimes allude to the possibility as when, for instance, a hunter shoots at what he believes in the dark of night to be a wolf and the next day Aymar has to dig a bullet out of Bertrand’s leg.
I read this so many years ago that I had forgotten most of it. And I am bemused that it has fallen out of print so often and for such long stretches of time since it's every bit as good as Dracula. This is another novel that I can’t recommend highly enough. Read it soon before it disappears again and for who knows how many years.
Randy M.
