The Beetle

About this book

An ancient, shape-shifting presence enters Victorian London to pursue a respected politician whose past conceals an encounter in Egypt. Richard Marsh tells the resulting nightmare through four narrators, each supplying a different piece of a story involving mesmerism, sexual ambiguity, political vulnerability, and revenge. The creature known as the Beetle crosses bodily and social boundaries that the confident imperial city assumes are secure. Rapid changes of perspective increase suspense while raising questions about whose testimony deserves belief. More than a period horror tale, the novel reveals the anxieties beneath modern rationality and the terror of discovering that a buried crime has returned in a form no category can contain.