The Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs

  The Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs is a fascinating, classic horror story which begins with a friend of a family, an ex-military soldier called Morris, visiting the home of an elderly couple and their son, where he speaks about the mummified monkey paw which he came across which grants wishes. Morris throws the monkey paw onto a fire, but the elderly man saves it and uses it against Morris's warnings. The old man makes his three wishes. The first leads to bad news, the second leads to a potential false sense of hope, but the reader never knows for sure exactly what happens, and the reader never learns about the third wish.

This was a great, suspenseful and fast-paced classic horror book which I really enjoyed reading. One of the key messages of this book is that one should be careful what one wishes for, as one's wishes/actions have consequences. Both the mystery element and the shortness of the book really pull the reader into the story, making this an incredibly gripping book. Furthermore, even though this is a public domain book, the language is good, clear and reasonably understandable, which really adds value to this book and helps to encourage people to explore the world of public domain literature, potentially more so than some other public domain books.

There is not much I can say I really disliked about this book. Having said that, I chose to read this book as it was nice and short, yet it seems to have ended a bit too soon, so it would have been nice if it was maybe a bit longer or if the author had written a number of sequels for the book. Other than that, the book could have further been improved by making it scarier for a horror book as although it had the reader on the edge of their seats, some people, when they read horror might expect a bit more horror.

Altogether, I rate this book 3 stars as it is a good book that I find incredibly gripping and enjoyable. This book further has some important life lessons which is good for us all to remember even in the present day. I would definitely recommend this book.