For the film, see: La Bête humaine (1938) La Bête Humaine is an 1890 novel by Émile Zola. The story has been made into film several times. It is based around the railway between Paris and Le Havre in the 19th century and is a tense, psychological thriller. The main characters are Roubaud, the deputy station master at Le Havre, his wife Séverine, and Jacques Lantier. Lantier is an engine driver on the line and the family link with the rest of Les Rougon-Macquart series. He is the son of Gervaise (L'Assommoir), the brother of Étienne Lantier (Germinal) and Claude Lantier (L'?uvre), and the half-brother of the eponymous Nana. Lantier, the ?human beast? of the title, suffers from an hereditary madness which has several times in his life led him to want to murder women. At the beginning of the story he is an engine driver, in control of his engine ?La Lison?. His relationship with "La Li