La Machine à Assassiner

This novel is a horror/sci fi hybrid about an android/cyborg mix whose mechanized body has been outfitted with the brain, eyes and nervous system of a guillotined murderer. The robotic man – called Gabriel – was created by Dr. Jacques Cotentin, who needed an absolutely fresh brain, hence having to settle for a just-executed criminal.

The criminal, Benedict Masson, is a monstrous-looking recluse put to death for a series of gory dismemberment killings whose quasi-sexual nature probably shocked readers in 1924. The foolish Dr. Cotentin believed the brain and nervous system would simply serve as an operating system for Gabriel, animating his body but with no consciousness of its previous life.

Needless to say he was wrong. Masson’s mind is intact and now resides in a robotic body impervious to pain and stronger than six men put together. In addition he does not need to breathe, sleep or eat and is powered by radium.