A review by bigtomlaff
The Beetle by Richard Marsh

funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Read this for a Gothic horror module at university, expecting a sort of early 20th-century ghost story kind of book, which I suppose it is, but instead found a completely different book for possibly the wrong reasons. The book is not scary, as a lot of these older horrors are, it's almost funny, but it is entertaining. It's quick paced and kind of feels like a modern shitty, low-budget, trashy horror film and that's a compliment to it. To add to this, the villain is a hermaphrodite, which is interesting to me, in the way of the way that writes used to explore ideas of gender is interesting. This book is famous for outselling Dracula as they were released in the same year, and I can see why, I'd rather read this page-turner than that load of drag!