Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish writer; his most popular and recognizable works include, Treasure Island, A Child’s Garden of Verses, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Suicide Club was first published in New Arabian Nights, a short story collection of Stevenson’s from 1882.

The Suicide Club is composed of three interrelated stories entitled, Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts, Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk, and The Adventure of the Hansom Cab. Each story follows the saga of “the Suicide Club”, an elusive and macabre club, and is unified by the involvement of Prince Florizel of Bohemia.

Each piece is enjoyable and richly imaginative, painting a fantastically exciting and morbid tale. All of the short pieces are around 20 pages long, the book a total of 59 pages, easily completed in one sitting. A unique aspect of this work that I appreciated was that each smaller story would end with a brief acknowledgment of the futures or fates of those featured in the accompanying part. This served to intensify the morbidity of the characters’ actions, by giving the story a more realistic feel. The individual short tales were connected by Stevenson’s recognizable writing style and several shared characters, each piece was separately enthralling.

Despite this book’s short length, due to its initial sole inclusion in a much larger collection, it was still incredibly captivating and an altogether excellent read. This book was also strengthened by disguised bursts of frank wisdom. A favorite quote of mine states, “The sight of a sick man, whom we can still help, should appeal more directly to the feelings than that of a dead man who is equally beyond help or harm, love or hatred (42)”.
Due to the short length of the stories, it was tough to get a clear understanding of several plot points and characters. I also found some characters quite unlikable. Other characters I was very intrigued by, and found myself wishing for more stories in which they appeared. I was left with several unresolved questions after the completion of this book. However, this vagueness could also be interpretively appropriate, adding to the mysterious and somber nature of the book. The length was also nice as some can find larger books very overwhelming.

I’d recommend this book to lovers of short stories, drama, mystery, absurdity bordering on fantasy, and dark themes. Overall, I’d give The Suicide Club four out of five stars. It was a very enjoyable and quick book, which I look forward to picking up again.