MadgeWhitlin

I haven't read this one since high school, or maybe even earlier, and had forgotten exactly what it was about. I remembered the running part, and the murder confession, but that was all. I actually don't particularly love the verbose introductory...essay? But, after getting to the meat of the story, you realize it's kind of necessary. At that point, the story goes from the ledge, teetering between interesting and boring, to full steam ahead so fast you barely have time to process what's going on before it abruptly ends.

The Imp of the Perverse is, I think, a story we can all see reflections of in ourselves from time to time, which is part of what makes it just a little bit frightening. Not that we're all murderers, of course, but those scary little "What if I..." self-destructive thoughts we have that seem to come from nowhere and be out of our control. It's a fantastic psychological story, and an examination of human nature.