The Beetle
Publisher: Standard Ebooks
Published: 2020
Language: eng
Subjects: Horror tales; London (England) -- Fiction; Revenge -- Fiction; Monsters -- Fiction; Politicians -- Fiction; British -- Egypt -- Fiction; Egyptologists -- Fiction; Egypt -- Antiquities -- Collection and preservation -- Fiction; Paranormal fiction; Champnell, Augustus (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
Description: <p><i>The Beetle</i> was published in 1897, the same year as <i><a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/bram-stoker/dracula">Dracula</a></i>—and outsold it six to one that year. Like <i>Dracula</i>, the novel is steeped in the evil mysteries of an ancient horror: in this case, a mysterious ancient Egyptian creature bent on revenge.</p>
			<p>The story is told through the sequential points of view of a group of middle-class Victorians who find themselves enmeshed in the creature’s plot. The creature, in the guise of an Egyptian man, appears in London seeking revenge against a popular member of Parliament. They soon find out that it can shape shift into other things, including women; that it can control minds and use hypnosis; and that it won’t stop at anything to get the revenge it seeks. The heroes are soon caught in a whirlwind of chase scenes, underground laboratories, secret cults, and more as they race to foil the creature.</p>
			<p>While <i>The Beetle</i> didn’t earn the lasting popularity of <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/bram-stoker">Stoker’s</a> counterpart, it remains a strange and unique morsel of Victorian sensationalist fiction.</p>