The Invisible Man

How it reads

The Invisible Man is science fiction (classic science fiction horror, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in a big city setting, in the historical past, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are identity, power and politics and class and society. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. At 192 pages it's a single-sitting book. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.