This is an older out of print suspense novel that was made into a Disney live action movie in the 1960s (which I vaguely recall scared me silly as a child). It suffers some of the characteristics of a novel of its era, but I enjoyed reading it anyway. The descriptions go on for pages - they are beautifully written, and without them this could have easily been a novella or short story. The infuriating "women are weak" issue really stays in the background until near the end, and I did my best to excuse it given the era it was written in.