Rating: 
Summary: a well-written but slow moving crime novel
Review: The Moonstone and The Woman in White are considered to be the best works of Wilkie Collins. Maybe so, but the novels differ tremendously. The Woman in White is a page-turning thriller of frantic proportions ... to the extent it almost feels like a slapstick comedy. The Moonstone is a straightforward crime story, complete with well-developed characters and interesting dialogue, culminating in solving the mystery: who stole the Moonstone (..a collosal diamond)?. The story is never dull, but compared to The Woman in White it is hopelessly conventional. So I recommend The Woman in White over The Moonstone for most people. However if you prefer a more leisurely, conventional (ie, less complicated) read then The Moonstone might be more enjoyable for you. You really can't go wrong either way.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: I thought The Moonstone was enjoyable until about the last quarter of the book. Forgive me, but my 21st century thinking couldn't reconcile the opium story line. Until that was introduced, I really enjoyed the narrative by different characters, the mystery and the Victorian insights.
Rating: 
Summary: Where the genre began
Review: Wilkie Collins is considered by many to be the "Inventor" of the modern mystery. I state this not as an absolute, rather as a commonly held literary opinion. Other reviewers often refer to Mr. Collins in a review of a Charles Palliser Novel, or many others who are at the top of the Mystery Genre today. Mr. Collins was also a contemporary, literary collaborator, and business partner of another rather well known writer, Charles Dickens. This book later would influence the novel that Charles Dickens was never to complete "The Mystery Of Edwin Drood" due to his death in the midst of writing what was his final novel. There was a common denominator in these novels and it related to a drug, Laudanum. Mr. Collins was a user of the substance however I have never read of Mr. Dickens also having used the drug. When preparing for the book he was never to finish, Collins took Dickens to the opium dens of London, whether or not Dickens participated is a mystery along with the ending of his final work. Laudanum is a key factor in the mystery of the "Moonstone" that the book revolves around. Collins wanted to write a story that would be directly impacted by the use of the drug on a person or persons, with or without their knowledge, and how their behavior would be affected during a dramatic event while under the influence. Mr. Collins as mentioned was a consumer of this drug, when he set out to write the book he stated, "he would write the story as it would have happened, not how it may have happened". He was referring to his own experiences with the opiate, which takes an already complicated plot and adds the altered behavior Laudanum can have. The book is as complex as Palliser's "Quincunx", but I find it easier to follow "Moonstone". To the extent you feel a familiarity with the Author it may be because so much of what is written today is derivative. The "Diamond" that plays center stage in this work during the England of Queen Victoria was astonishingly "new" when published. I believe were it published again today under a new title and Author, it would be found again on the Bestseller Lists, as it was over a century ago, Mr. Collins writes with an elegant hand, which immerses the reader and binds him or her to the characters and the roles they play. The book is not brief as this was a time when Authors wrote as much as was needed, not what was allowed or could potentially be shown at the local multiplex. From the moment the diamond is found, and the story unfolds, clearly for some, less clearly for those who may have been influenced by something other than the dinner wine, the book will delight any reader of Mysteries. If Mr. Collins was not the absolute first to write a modern mystery, he certainly has yet to be surpassed by any other's pen.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't read this book if illogical characters annoy you
Review: The fact that this book has a "classic" label is the real mystery here. I can't think of another "classic" that has such basic and major flaws. I am mystified that, as noted above in the professional reviews, T.S. Eliot thought so much of it. Honestly, the characters in the Moonstone are really ridiculous. I don't mean that they're badly drawn or personally obnoxious. But the reasoning behind their actions is frequently, in fact at many key points, illogical. It's hard to give examples that don't also give away the plot, but, for instance: the Moonstone is stolen. Everyone almost immediately fears that it was taken by the heroine, who ACTUALLY OWNS the diamond and was, in fact, just given it as a present. Why would she steal her own diamond? We follow the merrily skipping Mr. Wilkie down several more garden chapters before he finally suggests that maybe the heroine stole her own diamond in order to pay off debts, from, like, gambling or something! Even if it had been suggested that the heroine could have incurred any such debts -- which is entirely nonsensical, because she's watched like a hawk by her highly morally exemplary mom and about 50 devoted old servants, and she's an heiress -- even if she could have owed large sums of money, then WHY in the world wouldn't she have just pretended to LOSE the diamond while boating, or have a copy made and replace the original with the copy, or any other of a dozen much more plausible possibilities? Later on, a suicide note (or, technically, a letter that was only to be opened in the event of suicide) goes on for, I believe, 20 close-written pages, carefully explaining all the gaps in the plot up to that time. The letter is so long that the hero stops in the middle of it (delaying the resolution of the mystery) to REST HIS EYES! And (surprisingly!), the note is written in the same voice and style as all the other characters' accounts are written, chatty and surprisingly cheerful for a suicide note, except towards the end, when it suddenly turns mawkish. Characters change their minds constantly, in ways that just happen to further the plot. Mysterious suggestions are made about characters' backgrounds that are then dropped and never come into play at all. That and many other such psychologically inconsistent occurences and attitudes make the story a waste of time for any reader who pays attention to anything deeper than the superficial plot line. The other customer reviewer below, who quoted Dickens's opinion of the book, it right on. Still, I give it 3 stars because, if you can suspend your disbelief in the regard I've described (and I know many readers are not fussy about such things, and probably would think I was nit-picking), the book could be a lot of fun. Cursed jewels, family vengeance, proposals of marriage, dark murderous foreigners, quicksand, lots of traveling between London and the country, and England and the continent - it's certainly entertaining on that score. And they say the book is important in terms of literary history. I just wish Wilkie would have been a little more hard on himself during the plot formulation phase, and in the rewrite.
Rating:
Summary: a must for detective fans
Review: If I hadn't been lucky enough to take a college course that required The Moonstone, I would have missed reading this tremendous mystery. It's great reading through and through -- great Victorian writing, exotic characters and scenery, terrific plot, likeable characters (Sergeant Cuff and Franklin) etc... Not only that, it's an important work for those who consider themselves fans of detective fiction since many consider it the first detective novel of all time. In fact, I'd argue that it puts many modern and popular detective novels to shame. I'm amazed that Collins had such a good handle on a "page turner" that long ago. This is such a good mystery that it will make you want to read The Woman in White which is equally as good if not better. I have to admit that I also enjoyed the PBS version of the Moonstone as well. Don't read the abridged version -- the full version is a classic read and well worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but not engrossing
Review: This Victorian Era detective novel is a fun read and it definitely encapsulates the attitudes and social customs of that time. I can't say I was enthralled or felt compelled by the text to keep turning the pages to discover the identity of the thief and solve the mystery. I've read most of the Sherlock Holmes stories and this is a nice companion to them.
Rating: 
Summary: Dickens Was Right
Review: Wilkie Collins' close friend, Charles Dickens, was right when he wrote to W. H. Wills "I quite agree with you about "The Moonstone." The construction is wearisome beyond endurance, and there is a vein of obstinate conceit in it that make enemies of its readers." Wilkie's work is a failure both as a novel and as a mystery.
Rating:
Summary: trandescends the detective genre it helped to create
Review: The Moonstone is one of those books that, while the first in a particular genre, still holds fast over time. Masterfully written, its themes are surprisingly contemporary more often than not--the use of opiates to delve into the unconscious, the moral arguments about stealing relics from imperial colonies. The twists and turns are stunning, but they're used to a greater aim: to map the contours of human interaction. The intro in this edition is particularly well written as well.
Rating:
Summary: The Moonstone
Review: An excellent suspense novel that will keep you turning the pages. As one expects with a Wilke Collins novel, the characters are fully developed, the plots are intertwined, and the outcome remains a surprise. Truly a master of the genre! You'll enjoy every word.
Rating:
Summary: fabulous
Review: I have to say that I'm not usually one for detective stories. I didn't know this was one, I just bought it because it was in English and it was cheap. I wasn't able to detect whodunnit. Usually it becomes fairly obvious. I did suspect the criminal, as I suspected everyone else in turn. And it was so superbly written, I had it read in one night. You don't have to be a fan of detective novels to read this. I highly recommend it and I hope to find some more of Collins' works in Germany. Otherwise I will buy some when I go home at Christmas
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