Jacques Lantier, a locomotive engineer on the Paris-Le Havre line, is afflicted by a hereditary urge to kill women. When the station master Roubaud murders a wealthy man out of jealousy, with the help of his wife Séverine, Lantier knows their secret and begins an affair with Séverine. Émile Zola links the lines of the railway with the lines of heredity, using the machine as a symbol of unstoppable forces and showing the passion and corruption in French society under the Second Empire.
It's part of the Rougon-Macquart cycle, but it can be read alone. Readers who like dark psychological thrillers and naturalist fiction will find a dark story set in the steam age.
Deep and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Story Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2001
- Publisher
- Gallimard
- Language
- FR
