The story begins in a Victorian fashion, with a conversational tone as the narrator addresses the reader directly. From there, we descend into such earthy brutality as one might not expect to see written in Victorian literature--though everyone then was probably thinking it anyway. The juxtaposition rather pleases me, in fact. There's also a certain clinical detachment about the tone, when it comes to that brutality; the overall effect is paint a picture of the Amon Shaw of the title, without resorting to descriptives. In short, this is a work of character, and the character shines through; everything else should follow.