The Beetle

Description

A supernatural thriller from the Victorian period – this is what this novel by Richard Marsh is. Published in 1897, the same year as Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published, it enjoyed more popularity and sold more copies than Stoker’s novel and even though it has not been considered to be part of the canon for about a century, that does not make it less of an ingenious and original story.

The Beetle features numerous weird characters and weird events. The complexity of the story is increased by the multiple-narrator structure – there are four people who tell about their experiences related to the beast, giving their testimony in writing to detective Champnell. The antagonist is the Beetle, an oriental figure able to transform himself who hypnotizes the protagonist of the novel. The Beetle can change its size and its sex, and it can even transform into various different species. The creature comes to London to seek revenge on an English politician it encountered some time before in Cairo by attacking the politician’s fiancée. The mysterious creature dies eventually, so the world is safe and all those affected by its appearance get on with their lives.

The Beetle is an eventful story that mixes all the ingredients of a good Victorian thriller in the fashion of Stoker, Wilkie Collins, H. P. Lovecraft, George du Maurier and Sax Rohmer, with his Fu Manchu series. Supernatural elements mix with politics, the worship of Isis plays a role just as important as romance and humor, there is cross-dressing and orgies, shape-shifting and blood sacrifice – the book is actually a vast inventory of elements taken from different cultures and subcultures, glued together by the narration. The Beetle is well-written and entertaining – if you are looking for a delighting reading with some supernatural flavor to it, The Beetle makes the perfect choice.
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