Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought "The Ghost Writer" after reading several glowing reviews in my local newspaper and online. I'm a sucker for gothic ghostie stories, and was hoping this would be worth the hardcover price. AND IT WAS...almost. Actually, I've never had this kind of reaction to a book before. This is my first Amazon review, and I'm writing it because this book elicited enough of a passionate, if completely confused, reaction in me. So maybe that does make it worth the price. From the first few pages, I absolutely could not put this book down. I abandoned chores, evening television and my signifcant other in pursuit of discovering the next plot revelation and how everything would tie together. Others have relayed the details of the plot, so I won't go into them here. But I found all the characters to be completely attention-worthy; at least in within the gothic genre (okay, this isn't "Atonement" or "Madame Bovary"). The "stories within the story", that is, the ghost stories written by Gerard's grandmother, Viola, are also quite wonderful. They are able to stand alone as compelling and enchanting short gothic stories. I was turning pages as fast as I could. And then I got to the last chapter. I read it once. Then twice. Then I went back and read the two previous chapters. I didn't get it. Sometimes, when you have been lucky enough to find a real page turner, you may be reading a little too fast and miss important stuff. That's what I assumed happened to me. I put the book down and went back to it the next day, rereading the last quarter. I was still baffled. I reread the last quarter again. What happened? What did those last few mumbled remarks by The Character In The Last Chapter mean? Did they indicate insanity? Were they revelations? If so, how were The Character In The Last Chapter's actions carried out in the past? How did The Character In The Last Chapter obtain The Important Item In The Attic? (List of more detailed, plot-revealing questions continues offline) So... I did some online research and discovered others had this same reaction. I felt a little better...sort of. I would LOVE to go into more detail, but that would force me to basically make this review a whole bunch of evil SPOILERS. And that's just not fair. Let me just say that the ending leaves much to be desired (unless I've just suddenly suffered serious brain dysfunction and can no longer analyze plot like I used to). BUT...I suspect this would be a FANTASTIC book club book. Everybody would have their own theories, and there would be a lot of arguing and screaming and wailing, and isn't that what a good book club is all about?