Now that's how you write a thrilling story. All I knew about this before going in was that Sigmund Freud (who I've unfortunately studied to death) used this story as a piece of analysis for his own work and studies, which I found really interesting and is the main reason why I picked this up. And I totally understand why. This was a super morbid story detailing a man's descent into madness, essentially, before certain mental illnesses were recognised as such. I can only imagine how this book was received by audiences when first published, because even today I find it a gruesome read. This was super digestible and I really enjoyed my time reading it, so I would definitely recommend it. I hope to read more of Hoffmann's work!