The Beetle is one of those rare books that positively throb with symbolism and significance - while gripping you by the throat with a terrific tale. In 1897 it was a popular sensation outselling Dracula, which was published the same year.
The characters are well drawn: Paul Lessingham, a budding cabinet minister with an ominous gap in his past; lovely Marjorie Linton, a witty New Woman caught between her Radical lover (Paul) and her Tory father; madcap young scientist Sydney Atherton who also adores Miss Linton and is meanwhile working on weapons of mass destruction for the glory of the British Empire; Robert Holt, down-and-out clerk who falls into the clutches of the Beetle.
As for the Beetle, this amorphous, androgynous nightmare transmigrates at will between a barely human form and a sadistic Egyptian scarab. An accomplished mesmerist, the Beetle can make a slave of almost anyone (including the reader). Why is it hiding out in civilized London instead of pursuing its hideous prehistoric rituals back in Egypt? Paul Lessingham, to his horror, is the unwilling magnet drawing the vengeful Beetle ever closer.
The plot offers a steady stream of dramas and crises peppered by exciting chases on foot, by cab and by rail. There are quite a few comic moments, despite the heavy nature of the threat to everyone's life and sanity. That, in fact, is one of the most remarkable aspects of the book. It's both a Kafkaesque plunge into paranoia and a Shakespearean comedy of errors, a confrontation with unsavory eroticism and a pure love story.
I'd recommend the Broadview edition above all others because of its readable format and thought-provoking scholarly content.
But don't read the introduction before the book. Save those insightful interpretations of The Beetle for dessert! Approach The Beetle without preconceptions and have your own visceral experience of the Uncanny, just as readers did in 1897.
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Reviews with images
Effective, Surreal Indirect Horror
Eerie mystery about a dark cult of Isis from pre-history roaming Victorian London, mind control via mesmerism, and a monstrous scarab beetle with intense powers that’s presented obliquely, indirectly, and to great effect. Mysterious goings-on, dark figures, villains and victims who vanish inexplicably, chases, encounters, conflicts — despite prose too flowery or dense at times, the story keeps moving.Told in four voices, each distinct, a couple overwrought, the story unfolds with surreal incidents of horror and baffling motives. It explores several interesting Victorian concerns, from hypnotism and Ancient Egypt, to poverty and politics, along with a worry that the New Woman, independent and outspoken, might be the ruination of society.Published the same time as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Beetle by Richard Marsh out-sold its now more famous rival for a year. It deserves to be remembered better and read more widely. There’s room for both.The Beetle is a bravura performance by a writer at the peak of his abilities.The Wordsworth trade paperback edition I read was impeccably printed, with an embossed cover, and includes an informative introduction. Being in public domain, it’s also available in several Kindle editions, etc. This review is attached to the Kindle version I read in tandem. Or tag team, I guess.Marsh’s two volumes of collected, eerie short fiction, The Seen and The Unseen, and Both Sides of the Veil, are also recommended. His style is surprisingly modern in how it goes for the jugular. Vivid, vicious imagery abounds in his work, defining a precursor to modern horror’s cinematic approach.The Beetle provides street-level adventure as its four narrators combine to delve into a mystery that’s tearing some of them apart, wasting them into cadavers, and promoting an agenda none can quite delineate. If you like a rousing, rollicking, headlong rush through high and low Victorian society, complete with gaslit shadows and hidden threats everywhere, not to mention an appalling … thing … this novel’s for you.Great for Samhain season, for Sherlockians, or anyone who likes the good old stuff from the top shelf./ Gene Stewart
Top reviews from other countries
Joann Field
Wonderful classic. Very quick delivery
Reviewed in Canada on September 18, 2015
Jb
Slow to start but worth the trip.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 16, 2015Amazon Customer
A good and little known example of Victorian horror fiction
Reviewed in Canada on July 6, 2023