Anne Rice’s newest novel arrives just in time for Valentine’s Day; that is, if you like your plot to have some bite to it (I won’t do that again, promise). I have a soft spot for the woman some might call the grand dame of Gothic horror. Indeed, Anne Rice found that writing this book was a “pure joy … a return (…) to gothic motifs: the old dark house, a mysterious death … family secrets, and the supernatural monster as hero”.
The protagonist is Reuben Golding. He is handsome, works for the San Francisco Observer, and has a girlfriend who loves him for himself and not for his not inconsiderable family fortune. Reuben is sent to interview Marchent Nideck, a mysterious woman who wants to sell an equally mysterious house located in the north of SF.
The house belonged to Marchent’s great uncle Felix, who has been declared dead after disappearing 20 years ago. Reuben finds the house and his hostess thoroughly captivating, and the bond between guest and host is quickly turned into something else.
The unexpected violence that follows this idyllic encounter is nightmarish and surreal, to put it mildly, following which Reuben is also bitten by a beast that stays in the darkness, and undergoes a life-changing experience.
Having survived both encounters, Reuben discovers that he is changing. He develops uncanny visual and auditory acuity, becomes more powerful, and finally, is able to transform. Reuben the Man Wolf is not a werewolf of yore; he finds himself acting as an agent of Good. As one reader puts it, he sniffs out evil and snuffs out evildoers.
Although possession of the Nideck estate is conferred upon him, Reuben is troubled by his transformation, and seeks advice from his brother Jim, who is a Roman Catholic priest. In time, he discovers that coincidence might have had nothing to do with what has happened to him, and that “a higher calling” is more than a figure of speech for some people.
