“Nothing short of physical handicap has ever made anybody turn over a new leaf.”

Gothic horror best read with a shot of bourbon or a glass of wine.

Meet Maurice Allington, a surprisingly likable, sex-obsessed, dipsomaniac innkeeper who knowingly dwells on the cusp of carnal debauchery and unknowingly on the precipice of Satan’s abyss. Picture Dean Martin in Hell House; One minute you’re laughing hysterically, the next you’re sleeping with a light on. I’d put this on par with Poe and Lovecraft for sheer frightful brilliance. Five stars.