This started with a bang and ended with a whimper, I’m afraid.

The beginning is great. The atmosphere, the characters, the terror—it all feels very genuine and enticing. But then the main villain short of vanishes and the stories drags on for... well, almost until the very end.

Don’t get me wrong: it was worth reading. I gave it three stars, after all, and that’s a good rating in my eyes. It just didn’t live up to what it promised. I think the epistolary format that worked so well in the beginning is at fault—it’s hard to build tension when the narrator already knows what happened.

I do understand why it is considered a classic, though. I’d’ve loved to have studied it in uni.