Customer Reviews

The Body Snatcher (Random House Chillers(TM))

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This really is old school horror. In case you are unaware, this short story was written in the latter 1800s and the writing style reflects the standard of the time. Stevenson (who brought us "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde") doles out a cautionary tale about supply and demand, and the meeting of old friends. A quick but satisfyingly grisly read.

Stevenson manages to create in a short space a dark world in which characters do terrible things without being able to help themselves. Enjoy the story on a cold, rainy winter night.

This story was very short and not exactly what I feel should be called a classic.

This is the story of a man named Fettes, who was an anatomy professor's assistant when he was younger. He would wake up every morning at 4 a.m. to pay two men who delivered a dead body for the professor's anatomy class. Fettes soon discovered that all the bodies that are coming in were victims of murder. When the men refused to deliver bodies anymore to him, he and a fellow student, named Macfarlane, became the ones who murder or dig graves for bodies.

I do not see how this short, and rather blandly told, story could be a classic. The language and the way Stevenson tells the story is often-times confusing and uninteresting. It is neither scary, nor a mystery. Look elsewhere for good reading.

~Atalanta