The Tell-Tale Heart (Graphic Horror Set 2)

Reader Reviews
The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe is a short story to be read by all in a lifetime. This horror classic starts off in the first person narrative of a crazed psycho who assures the reader he is not mad. As he begins the detailed tail of his murder, the reader, becomes certain of the man's deranged mental state. Having a dilemma with the elderly man he works for, he decides that he must destroy his employer and his evil eye. After he suffocates him, the lunatic takes the old man's body, cuts it into pieces and buries him under the floor. When the police arrive the killer's confidence begins to fade as his "acute sense of hearing" notices heartbeats. Rapidly going insane, he believes that the police are mocking him and finally confesses to the crime. This story is a true thriller. Hearing comments from my peers about the story at a camp fire, I just had to check it out myself. The only limitation that I would give on a recommendation is for children under 13. Because of the graphic descriptions and the nature of the story it can be a little scary for the youth. Poe's finest forte in the story is his development of characters as well as his detailed imagery. With a few words he can paint a perfect picture of the scene and of the characters. "--Nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute." In this first creative line of the story, Poe starts of by having the character deny insanity. By doing this the reader right away suspects that he is. Poe's characterization method is original and admirable to other authors. His morbid imagery is also legendary as he writes to describe the stalking of the old man, "..because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel --although he neither saw nor heard --to feel the presence of my head within the room." The suspenseful story line is a landmark in literature as Poe's flawless writings carry on through generations. Edgar Allan Poe's writings have become my favorite. His style, descriptions, and methods of creating a fiction are one of a kind. His literature is Entertaining and I would recommend it to all with a high tolerance for "blood and gut" stories.


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