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Like Russia's Anton Chekhov, when it comes to the short story de Maupassant has rarely let me down. This is easily read in one sitting, and it's a bit of gothic horror affair, that is thought of as influencing the classic Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Things start off innocently enough before we witness one man's descent into madness. Through a series of journal entries a man tells he is not feeling so good, of which leads to various vacations, but his illness always returns when he gets back home. He starts to believe he is indeed going mad, with hallucinations, and eventually he muses upon whether he is a rational man having hallucinations or simply he is a madman. The story really got under my skin, and even though it's short, it always had me fully engaged. Having read quite a few de maupassant stories, I would say this sits somewhere in the middle ground. It wasn't his best, but it wasn't him having an off day either.