The Forbidden

The Forbidden is a historical, scare-your-socks off gothic horror by F. R. Tallis, author of the Vienna Blood series.When ambitious Doctor Paul Clément takes a job at the mission hospital on Saint Sébastien, he has dreams of discovering cures for tropical diseases. What he finds is a place where the black arts are just a way of life. After witnessing the ritualistic murder of a young man, said to be one of the living dead, her is forbidden to speak of what he has seen. On returning to Paris, Clément's attention turns to studying the nervous system and resuscitation. He is told of patients who have apparently died, been brought back to life, and whilst suspended between life and death, experience what they believe to be heaven. Clément attempts a daring experiment in order to confirm these extraordinary reports, but the outcome is wholly unexpected. Could it be that when he is resuscitated, he brings something back with him – an ancient evil, so powerful that it can never be destroyed? Is the good doctor slowly succumbing to madness, or has he really passed through the gates of hell?

From Booklist

We’re in Paris, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Dr. Paul Clément’s interests in the techniques of human resuscitation—interests that started growing when, working at a mission hospital in the French Antilles, he witnessed the shocking death of a young man who appeared to have been turned into a zombie—have taken over his life, leading him to take the biggest risk a man can take: to bring himself back from death so he can see what those who have been resuscitated have experienced. What he discovers, though, is a lot more terrifying than even he had expected. Written in a lightly ornamented style to match its Victorian setting, this is a full-on horror story that grabs us pretty much from the first paragraph and doesn’t let go until it’s good and ready to. For fans of gothic horror, a tasty treat. --David Pitt

About the Author

F. R. Tallis is a writer and clinical psychologist. Between 1999 and 2012, he has received or been nominated for numerous awards, including the New London Writers’ Award, the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, the Elle Prix de Letrice, the Crime Writers’ Association Historical Dagger Award, and two Edgar Allen Poe Awards. His critically acclaimed Liebermann series (written as Frank Tallis) has been translated into fourteen languages and optioned for TV adaptation.

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