We get to see the ruses before Inspector Juve does, making many of the scenes involving his detective work simply redundant. And judging from this first Fantomas novel, one would also have to conclude that the twists and turns by which the crimes are perpetrated do not even offer mystery lovers the satisfaction of trying to unravel a difficult puzzle. As Ashbery wryly observes: “With Fantomas, terror becomes almost monotonous.” The master criminal goes to incredible lengths of ingenuity to commit despicable deeds without being caught, although Juve is always on the brink of nabbing him. Nor are the storylines particularly remarkable. So too the characters of Inspector Juve, his tireless pursuer Lady Beltham, his aristocratic lover and Fandor, the young reporter who is Juve’s foil. The character of Fantomas is devoid of fascination: Not only does his portrait lack psychological depth, but even his surface features are rather blank. Allain and Souvestre,” even in the realm of popular fiction. He considers most other purveyors of the “novel of terror,” from Gustave LeRouge to Gaston Leroux, “superior to Messrs. Ashbery holds no brief for the literary merits of the book. His latest publishers credit the return (yet again) of “Fantomas” to the distinguished American poet John Ashbery, who provides a short but incisive introduction to this updated version of an early translation. Marcel Allain went on to produce 11 more sequels on his own, marry Souvestre’s widow and over the span of a career that ended in the late 1960s write more than 600 novels, not to mention miscellaneous articles. Fantomas’ progenitors, a pair of hack journalists, rose to the challenge of instant success by providing 20 sequels before Pierre Souvestre’s death in 1914 from the Spanish influenza. A huge publicity campaign helped orchestrate a craze that swept nearly every sector of the French reading public, from aristocrats to artisans, from bartenders to the budding avant-garde of the arts.

Fantomas, evil genius of crime, made his original debut in this novel, first published in 1911.

Souvestre fantomas