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Title/Author

The Tale of the Body Thief

Anne Rice

Average Review Rating Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)
Book Details

Publisher : Penguin Books Ltd

Published : 1992

Copyright : Anne Rice 1992

ISBN-10 : PB 0-099-47139-6
ISBN-13 : PB 978-0-099-47139-4

Publisher's Write-Up

Returning to Lestat as the main character, the fourth in the Vampire Chronicles series finds Lestat impulsive and careless in the pursuit of what he wants: a serial killer in Southern Florida. Lestat is surrounded by mortals in this tale, and a new worthy counterpoint character to Lestat is introduced, Raglan James. James is a vampire hunter, and a formidable adversary for Lestat. James offers Lestat the opportunity to switch bodies temporarily with a young mortal. Against Louis' advice, Lestat accepts and discovers he hates everything about being human. He also finds that James has disappeared with Lestat's powerful vampire body. Louis refuses to help Lestat become a vampire again, and he turns to another mortal to help him trick James into switching souls, and giving up Lestat's body.

Centering on the themes of body and soul and soul migration, The Tale of the Body Thief is a novel of action.

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Reader Reviews

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Review by Helen (310106) Rating (8/10)

Review by Helen
Rating 8/10
This is the fourth book in the vampire chronicles. The first being the fairly well known Interview with the Vampire. It continues the story of Lestat de Lioncourt, the vampire protagonist of most of this series. Lestat is sick of being a vampire and he cannot die, although he has tried. So he enlists the help of Raglan James, who has been sending Lestat mysterious notes that hint at the talents he possess.

He is warned against the body swap, by David Talbot, his mortal friend and Superior General of the order of Talamasca (paranormal investigators). But Lestat, being arrogant and cocky as usual, thinks he can handle himself and pays Raglan James a great deal of money to do the swap for 2 days, with the promise of more money when the body gets returned after the 2 days. But this is where it starts to go horribly wrong for Lestat. All the human bodily functions he did not have to worry about as a vampire were now a necessity, and there was even worse to come. Lestat learns what it is like to be truly human and powerless.

This is definitely one the better vampire chronicles books. The story is rich and descriptive like most of Ann Rice’s work, but the plot is quite different compared to her two previous books. It is full of imagination and you feel really involved in the story. I really felt sorry for Lestat and couldn’t wait to find out how or if he was going to get his body back. Being human is very cleverly told from a vampire’s perspective. All the things we take for granted, like eating and using the bathroom, for someone who has not done these things for hundreds of years become quite difficult.

I really enjoyed this story and you don’t even have to have read the previous books, as there is a prologue to introduce the characters. I would recommend this to anyone interested in vampire or supernatural fiction.
Helen (31st January 2006)

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