First of all, RLS is a vastly underappreciated writer. He is not just a Victorian adventure writer, which I fear is his reputation. The the characters' psychology and motivations are complex and believable. In particular, I was struck by James, the villain. I came here to ask other readers: Is this the first literary description of narcissistic personality disorder? I was intrigued by the fact that even people who knew they were being charmed by a rascal (such as the narrator Mackellar) found themselved succumbing to his spell.

When I picked the book up I nearly put it aside because of the dense, old-fashioned writing. But after a few pages, the writer's sensibilities overcame me and I was glad I stayed. The writing is not hard, just different, like listening to someone with a heavy accent. You will pick it up soon enough, and then come to love it. It is one of those things that those reading it NOT in translation should see as a bonus, as it is filled with Scottish turns of phrase that I am now glad to understand. I believe this is the book that reintroduced the word "eldritch" to modern English.

The only reason I didn't give the book five stars is that I had the distinct feeling that RLS had lost the plot at the end. Not literally, the book has a coherent, plausible ending, but I felt that he was distracted and not giving the last section his full artistic attention. Regardless, there were multiple times while reading the book that I said to myself "This guy is a really good writer. Why didn't I know that?"