Title: The Crow: The Lazarus Heart

Written By: Poppy Z. Brite

Released: 1999

Jared Poe wants vengeance, needs vengeance, if he is to find peace. Poe's lover has been killed, mutilated, by an identified serial murderer of the most perverse kind. But, for now, who he wants revenge from is not his main concern. First, he must escape his destiny of Louisiana's electric chair. He was convicted of his lover's murder. But this is no ordinary tale of love and revenge, for Jared Poe must first feel the cold, lonely chill of death and be resurrected by the most ancient of souls. The crow.

The man named for rivers stalks the streets of New Orleans for those who must be destroyed. He finds those who have had their gender changed, or mask their gender and takes them to his laboratory where his true work begins, the elimination of transsexuals by means of a prolonged torturous death.

The Crow: The Lazarus Heart by Poppy Z. Brite beautifully tells the tales of topics that can often be seen as ugly. The topics of love and hate, revenge and the way society creates outcasts of those who choose to live their lives differently are quite old, but are told in a new and unique way. We are invited to view the gay and sexually ambiguous society that Middle America rarely learns about and we see a New Orleans that tourists would hardly imagine.

I've always found Poppy Z. Brite to be an extraordinary author who hits subjects that most would avoid and pulls it off remarkably well. Though a friend of mine thought The Crow: The Lazarus Heart was good, but nothing special, I disagree. I greatly enjoyed the book and lost some sleep trying to read "just a few more pages" before bed.

The Crow: The Lazarus Heart by Poppy Z. Brite is available at Amazon.com.