I found this more of a chore than a pleasure to read, and came close to giving up on it several times. I found the unnecessarily long sentences very hard to follow, and it constantly pulled me out of the story. If not for that I might have enjoyed the story, but as it was I was simply glad to get to the end of it. And what an abrupt end it was! Given the 'framing story' style opening, I was expecting a similar closing, and consequently found the ending very jarring.

I'm not sure whether it helped or hindered that I've seen at least one film adaptation of this book in the past, so was already aware of its plot. I'd have to agree with another reviewer, who thought this was one of those cases where the film (at least the version I recall) was preferable to the book.

Not really the Halloween read I was looking for.