29 OCTOBER 1904, Page 23

The Evil that Men Do. By M. P. Shiel. (Ward,

Lock, and CO. Gs.)—Although Mr. Shiol as usual indulges in a fantastic situa- tion, his new book is at least free from the glaring faults of taste which have disfigured some of his former writings. To the ordinary reader there will seem (until his marvellously sudden " conversion ") very little in point of morality to choose between Robert Harts-ell and the villainous millionaire whom a strange facial resemblance enables him to impersonate. Mr. Shiel does not, and probably does not aspire to, draw pictures of everyday life as it is. But there is always something ingenious in his situations, and in this book, at any rate, he has contrived to avoid the developments which disfigured at least one of his earlier novels.