James Lowry, a Professor of Ethnology, discredited the belief in demons and devils. When his hat disappears, four hours of his life disappear with it. He recieves a warning: if he finds his hat, he finds his fours. If he finds his four hours, he dies.



This book is actually one of the oldest psychological thrillers in that it does not use supernatural elements to scare the readers. A lot of the weirdness within the story is due to the main character going through the aftereffects of something very bad, that he did, which is revealed by the end of the novel.

The book is written in such a way that it actually scares the reader. There are parts of this book in which it seems almost cheerful and nice, but Hubbard developed in this book a way of changing the style perfectly to suit the mood of the current scenario in the book. Thus, effectively, the book is extremely good at being scary, especially for the time when it was written (1940).

The book made little attempt at making the characters very likeable. The main character is just a normal professor, but defining characteristics that make you care about him are not present.

A little creeped out by the end of it. Hubbard explains at the beginning of the novel that the story is completely logical, and it shows by the end of the book. But while you are reading it you cannot help feel that the story is outrageous and cannot be explained in any logical way. After a little thought after reading it, you can see that it is completely logical.

L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986). The guy has written so many books it's ridiculous. Mostly a sci-fi writer, Hubbard is most known for his establishment of the belief of Scientology.

This book will scare the socks off of you if you read it right. Which means reading it carefully and thinking about it right. You've got to read this if have any interest in horror at all.

If you like peaceful, nice things that do not show you how scary this world can be.

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Created Jan 06, 2003 at 9:55pm • Submit your own review...