BOOKS . . . THE BLOOD COUNTESS
TIME's R.Z. Sheppard says that if novelist and sometime National Public Radio commentator Andrei Codrescu continues with the kinks and Gothic whoopee of his new book (Simon & Schuster; 347 pages; $23), he could become as rich as Anne Rice. The only thing that may hold him back is his attempt to thicken his plot with serious themes. The story centers on Elizabeth Bathory, a real life 16th century Hungarian tyrant alleged to have killed 650 girls in the belief that bathing in their blood would preserve her youth and beauty. Codrescu pleats the 16th and 20th centuries together address his real concerns, the recurrent patterns of evil and its handmaiden, absolute authority.
Most Popular »
- How Cash Keeps Poor People Poor
- E.T. Turns 30: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Our Favorite Extraterrestrial
- 15-Year-Old Creates Test for Pancreatic Cancer
- Fourth Flesh-Eating-Bacteria Case Confirmed in Georgia, Possible Fifth
- Nevada Ghosts: Rare Photos From an A-Bomb Test
- A New First Amendment Right: Videotaping The Police
- Euro Crisis: Why A Greek Exit Could Be Much Worse Than Expected
- 10 Dangerous Products You Might Have in Your Home
- No Spontanaeity Allowed: How to Visit North Korea as a Tourist in Four (Restrictive) Steps
- Could a Fertility Gene Discovery Lead to New Male Contraception?
- Researchers Probe the Potential Health Benefits of Palm Oil
- A Visit with Turkey's Controversial Religious Movement
- Feeding the Planet Without Destroying It
- Bubble on the Potomac
- Falcon's Liftoff: How a Private Firm Could Change Space Exploration
- The Fatal Flight of the Superjet 100: Why Did It Slam Into a Mountain?
- Learning That Works
- The Man Who Remade Motherhood
- Bibi's Choice
- Seoul: 10 Things to Do
More News from Our Partners
Top Stories on TIME.com
Quotes of the Day »
RAY KELLY, New York City Police Commissioner, on the arrest of a New Jersey man in one of the nation's most baffling missing-children cases, the disappearance more than three decades ago of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
