CUWAC: The Moonstone

Title: The Moonstone

Author: Wilkie Collins

Pages: 473

Rating: ***1/2

Summary: When Franklin Blake arrives at the Verinder house, no one would have expected the chaos that followed--not from his presence, but from what he brought with him: the Moonstone. A valuable gem with a dark and violent past, the Moonstone is said to be cursed--and when it is stolen the night after Rachel Verinder receives it for her birthday, that reputation proves to be deserved.

Review: This novel took me almost four months to read. The language is slightly difficult, and there is a lot of extraneous detail. However, it is truly a great detective novel, which is why it is sometimes called the first and greatest mystery novel.
I liked how the story was told from various points of view. Each narrator offered something different to the telling of the story, and that kept me interested. Almost the first half is told from a single perspective, and in my opinion, it is the hardest to get through.
Collins weaves an imaginative ending, one I was far from expecting. I don't think anyone could predict what was going to happen--I honestly had no idea who had done it until the last 20 or so pages!
There is love, betrayal, intrigue, superstition, and mystery in this novel. I would recommend it to fans of classic literature who are patient enough to get through the boring parts for a very satisfying ending.

Recommended to: classics and detective fans