The Tale of the Body Thief

The Tale of the Body Thief is book four of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. I count Interview with the Vampire (book one) as one of my favorite books of all time, and despite the fact that I feel the books have gotten progressively worse, I still enjoyed the second two (I mean, it's not like they were Twilight). Unlike Interview with the Vampire, which is a story told by the vampire Louis of his history, the second two books (The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned) are written by Lestat, who became Anne Rice’s main protagonist.

The Tale of the Body Thief is another installment written by Lestat. And while the first three books in the series delve into the history and origins of the characters and span across centuries, this is a story told over the course of a week or so. Think of this as a week in the life of Lestat. The story is a bit farfetched (although I guess that assumes you don’t find the vampire part farfetched to begin with) with Lestat encountering a man who offers him a chance to become human for a short time by switching bodies with him. The impetuous Lestat agrees, and predictably (do I need to write spoiler alert?) the body switcher becomes the body thief and makes off with Lestat’s vampire body and mayhem ensues. Lestat has been left in a human body with no money and soon becomes gravely ill, realizing that life as a human isn’t what he remembered (having been a vampire for the almost 250 years). The remainder of the story involves Lestat chasing after the body thief trying to recover his body.

The book is filled with the typical Anne Rice questions of good and evil, and it leads you on an adventure that keeps you turning the page. As I mentioned, the story is a bit of a departure from the previous three. Part of what made Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat so good was that they took you back to the 17th and 18th centuries and across the globe, and this book is definitely missing that aspect, having been set in modern day (at least 1990's modern day). If you haven’t read any of the previous books you’re probably not going to start with The Tale of the Body Thief. But if you’ve read the previous three I’d recommend diving into this one. Despite its flaws, it was interesting enough to make me want to move to book five (if you care – and you probably don’t - there are nine books in the vampire chronicles series).

Next up: To hold up my end of the bargain I’m currently in the midst of Pride and Prejudice.