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jeremyanderberg 's review for:
The Gold Bug
by Edgar Allan Poe
“The Gold-Bug” is a delightful cross between adventure and mystery.
It starts with the odd instance of a man being bitten by a pure gold, scarab-like bug. This fellow, Legrand, has captured the now-dead insect and recruits our unnamed narrator to help solve the mystery of its odd look and hefty weight.
The problem is that Legrand starts to go a little crazy, thinking that the bug is actually the first clue to the uncovering of a buried treasure. The narrator dutifully follows along, though, and starts to realize that Legrand may not be so crazy after all . . .
The beauty of the story is that the reader has no idea where the plot is going until the very end. It’s a classic adventure/mystery story in that regard, and Poe paves the way for centuries of plot twists and puzzle solving. We even get a cryptogram and some invisible ink! Honestly, it felt like this story just had to have an influence on the late Clive Cussler.
If you think you know Poe, think again. This story doesn’t read like him at all, which just fascinates me for some reason. If you want to have a look at the origins of the classic adventure tale, check out “The Gold-Bug.”
It starts with the odd instance of a man being bitten by a pure gold, scarab-like bug. This fellow, Legrand, has captured the now-dead insect and recruits our unnamed narrator to help solve the mystery of its odd look and hefty weight.
The problem is that Legrand starts to go a little crazy, thinking that the bug is actually the first clue to the uncovering of a buried treasure. The narrator dutifully follows along, though, and starts to realize that Legrand may not be so crazy after all . . .
The beauty of the story is that the reader has no idea where the plot is going until the very end. It’s a classic adventure/mystery story in that regard, and Poe paves the way for centuries of plot twists and puzzle solving. We even get a cryptogram and some invisible ink! Honestly, it felt like this story just had to have an influence on the late Clive Cussler.
If you think you know Poe, think again. This story doesn’t read like him at all, which just fascinates me for some reason. If you want to have a look at the origins of the classic adventure tale, check out “The Gold-Bug.”