Herbert West - Reanimator

I finished this in one sitting. It was a really enjoyable read. I perchance read that this was originally published as a series, so I didn't get annoyed with the recaps in each “chapter”.

The tale is told by a friend and an assistant to a mad scientist type Herbert West, who turned his incredible intellect toward attempting to reanimate the recently deceased. Reading this in one sitting, you can feel the tension building up from one chapter to the next, as you watch the degeneration of an eccentric genius to a mad scientist. Each chapter ends with an eerie revelation or a macabre twist, making them all very effective closing scenes.

This has got to be an inspiration and source material for many books and movies that came along after.