“A masterpiece,” Arthur Conan Doyle said of this book, and perhaps it is. On the surface it contains the adventure elements that I love in Stevenson, but it also contains the deeply complex explorations of human character dynamics of relationships that he excels at depicting. What I maybe love most about RLS, though, is his explorations of good and evil. Evil is never quite so evil as it might initially appear, and neither is good ever purely good. This rings more true to the human experience than more black and white portrayals.

The story is delivered using another device that I love — the unreliable narrator. Nearly 100 years before [b:my favorite novel|28921|The Remains of the Day|Kazuo Ishiguro|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327128714s/28921.jpg|3333111] used that device, Stevenson was already paving the way. The result is a ride that is dark, sometimes confusing, but eminently worthwhile. My trek through Stevenson continues to be amply repaid at every turn.