Jamaica Inn

A cold winter's night. A bleak and desolate moor, and a terrified driver racing his stagecoach through the dark towards Jamaica Inn. He doesn't want to go there, doesn't want to be seen, but his only passenger, Mary Yellan, insists on going. Shaking with fear the driver dumps Mary at the doorway of the Inn and then races away, glad to be leaving with the skin on his back... The first chapter of Jamaica Inn is dark and deadly with the bite of cold and the smell of real fear. And it just gets better and better. If you haven't read it, watch out for Francis Davey, the albino vicar. He's unforgettable.

9/10