By CROMWELL GIBBONS (Bruin Books; 1938/2017)
The back cover description of this newly published oldie advises us to “Prepare for Schlock and Awe!” That first adjective is accurate, but the second not at all.
“Prepare for Schlock and Awe!”
Exactly why Bruin Books thought THE BAT WOMAN, a heretofore impossible-to-find potboiler from the 1930s, was worthy of a republication (especially when certain other, worthier books from that era remain obscure), is beyond me, as there’s a reason this novel has become so little known. Yet here it is, in an attractively designed trade paperback that reprints the entire text; at least, at just 206 pages, it’s not very long.
Getting back to that back cover description, it suggests the book was intended as a treatment for a Universal horror movie. It certainly has all the elements: vampirism, science run amok (as we all know, Mankind Must Not Tamper with What He Does Not Understand!) and a very politically incorrect depiction of “primitive” cultures.
…bad novels generally don’t improve much with age.
The title refers to Cynthia, a bohemian woman who marries the straight-laced son of a dignified sportsman. It’s the latter who foregrounds the narrative in the form of a lengthy discussion with several colleagues, among them Captain Sheldon, who speaks of a South American expedition in which he met Dr. Eric von Schalkenbach, a scientist who “abandoned the cultured world to revel in the jungles like a savage, in utter contempt of civilization and God.” The latter has, however, relocated to New York, where he’s continued the unholy genetic experiments he commenced in the jungle, with Cynthia being his latest subject.
She, you see, has died, but was spotted post-mortem by her husband in the company of Dr. Schalkenbach at, appropriately enough, an opera–as is revealed via another discussion (after-the-fact conversations being this novel’s major driving force). It’s in this way that the “mystery” of Cynthia’s dead/not dead state (which a modern reader will be able to figure out immediately) is revealed: she’s a vampire (albeit not a bat) who’s able to prolong her existence by drinking blood. Horrors!
Please understand: I’m all for reprintings of age-old horror relics, as I believe my review history indicates. I will, however, urge prospective publishers to exercise a little quality control, as bad novels generally don’t improve much with age. Case in point: THE BAT WOMAN.