Rating: Summary: Review of Audio Book version Review: 1) Roddey McDowall is such an enjoyable reader of books. His voice inflections appropriatley matching the fear, excitement, etc of the character is so well done. Not to mention his voice overs for different characters makes it easier to keep track of who is who.2) Very interesting and gripping story. Something of a supernatural flavor with demons and spirits...or so it implies. The story leaves you guessing until the end what is actually going on. The story is definitely one of the spookiest stories I've read (heard) in a long time. 3) By chance my local library has 75% of their sci-fi/fantasy audio books all from this author. I've never been a L. Ron Hubbard fan but the more I hear his books the more I'm enjoying his fictional writings. This was more supernatural than sci-fi but in all the author's pieces so far the characters are interesting and engaging.
Rating: Summary: An intellectual exercise in suspense Review: At the risk of seeming dim-witted, I have to admit that I initially didn't really "get" this book. This is not to say that Fear isn't a good book. I enjoyed reading it, and the strange journey of Lowry was presented strikingly and richly, giving me a great sense of the growing mania afflicting the protagonist, inspiring my sympathy and inculcating my own dislike for Lowry's friend Tommy Williams. Lowry's surreal journey down a disappearing staircase outside his door was a little overblown for my tastes, but the more tangible effects of Lowry's situation, from the sublime to the overt, struck me as very well done. I wanted to know what happened to Lowry's missing four hours almost as much as he did. My problem was that I just could not reconcile the ending with the story as I had read it. I understood the ending, although perhaps not at every level the author intended, but I just didn't find it fully acceptable. It was like a splash of cold water hitting your face, awakening you to the realization that everything you just experienced was not quite real. Perhaps it is this sudden splash of "truth" that makes this book so wonderful to many readers (including the likes of Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, and Isaac Asimov), but I initially found it disappointing. A day later, I have found my thoughts returning to this little tale, and a new sense of appreciation has begun to take root in my mind. Bits and pieces, particularly the oft-repeated frantic calls of Lowry's wife interspersed throughout the action, have begun to coalesce and make more sense to me. I must say that the ending is no longer so unsatisfying as it was at first. My visceral reactions have given way to more philosophical musings, so I must credit the author with producing a work that stays with you and makes you think. Having said that, though, I still find that, whichever way I look at the novel, I have questions that are not answered and can point to incidents that still don't make perfect sense to me. As such, I cannot go so far as to declare this book a classic. This book can quite easily be read in the course of a single sitting; in fact, it probably should be read from cover to cover nonstop in order to achieve the fullest effect possible on the senses and thoughts of the reader. The most compelling aspect of the tale is the way it draws the reader into Lowry's mind and taps the reader's emotions; to fully experience the journey, one really should read the book without pause. As for the scare factor, I did not find this book scary or unnerving at all, nor can I really understand why some readers obviously do find it frightening. The tale is gripping, it does draw the reader into the story, and the ending, while not necessarily surprising, is refreshing in its nonconformity with most readers' expectations, so I would certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in the suspense and horror genres. I would also urge future reviewers to wait a day before writing a review complaining about the ending; many of my impressions of the book changed dramatically after a day's thought.
Rating: Summary: Hubbard's best work Review: Fear is by far Hubbard's best work of fiction, and it's of a style he never wrote in, horror. It's much better than the stuff he wrote last decade, which is not the place to go for really good Hubbard fiction. A man loses four hours of his life and risks his sanity (and loses) attempting to figure it out. The progression of scenes as they become truly bizarre and finally enter a world of paranoid fantasy is something I've never seen matched. Foolishly, I read this book at night. It is truly hypnotic reading, and I recommend it to anyone looking for bloodless horror. My one complaint is that the characters were not terribly well-developed, but they were much more believable and realistic than most of Hubbard's fiction. Interestingly, however, I have noticed that in new editions, the voices of the two demon siblings have been purged. I wonder what else has changed in these new editions. I guess the Church of Scientology doesn't just stick with his "non"-fiction when they're altering (without notice) his writings. For Hubbard critics, it is definitely a keen look into his psyche.
Rating: Summary: Forget all you know: this book is scarier Review: I bought this book because my favourite bookshop didn't receive the one I ordered and I didn't have anything to read. Started it at 11pm... Couldn't sleep for 2 days. The preamble tells that the story is logical... "OK", I thought... And started reading. The book is good and scary as hell. But then I remembered what the preamble said: Yes, the story is really logic and the fantasmagories inside it are absolutely possible. Then I felt really terrified. I've never been scared of anything. Except this book... And I loved that...
Rating: Summary: Not scary, but imaginative and fun Review: I enjoyed reading this book because it takes on a strange journey. Reading it from the "victim's" perspective adds a real feeling of fright and nervousness to the events that are happening. As a reader, you never know what's going to happen next. Like I said, it's not that scary, but it's fun and the payoff at the end is excellent.
Rating: Summary: One of my favorites Review: I really like mistery and horror books, I always did - why, I don't know, since a lot of them gave me nightmares! This book was different. This book was mysterious and involving, without being introverting. It was incredibly good. The book takes you though a great description of the characters and their life, which turns more into a living nightmare for the main character. The end is as surprising as it gets - I had to read the last 2 pages a few times to make sure I understood it right - it was the last thing I could have ever expected! I am trying to forget a bit about this book so I can read it again, but it's so peculiar and written so well that it's hard to forget. I rarely read a book which I liked from beginning to end - actually, I never did, until I read this one! An absolute must for anyone who is into mystery books.
Rating: Summary: Not my thing, but enjoyable enough Review: I'll keep this review simple and state that this type of book is not really my thing. It starts off normal enough, but then a Professor Lowry loses his job over an article and, after visiting a friend, loses his hat and four hours of his life. Following this, Lowry becomes obsessed by what happened to him in that time and in turn becomes haunted by "things" who warn him away from finding his hat and 4 hours. An interesting enough concept, and what follows is Lowry's slow decent into maddness. Without revealing too much, the ending of this book will make or break it for most people. At first I was annoyed by the ending, but thinking about it later it does make sense and fit, even if you weren't expecting it. All in all, it is a short, light read that does prove entertaining (if somewhat strange at times) and if this type of book is your thing, then you'll probably love it.
Rating: Summary: Quick Reading Horror Novel Review: If you're in the mood for a easy/fast reading and scary novel, then "Fear" is the book for you. "Fear" is by far the scariest book I have ever read and probably the best too. Once I started to read it, I couldn't put it down and read every time I had the chance, and in a day or two, I finished it. The novel is about a college professor named Jim Lowry who strongly disbelieves in demons and devils. He believes that they were created by witch doctors in order to control people by telling them that they exist in order to sacre them so the people would obey them. Lowry finds himself in a world of madness after he writes an article about his beliefs, loses his teaching job, and then abruptly loses four hours of his life. What happened to him during these four hours is what he searches for and slowly drives himself mad doing so. Lowry suffers an ironic fate during his quest to find his "missing" hours, and a twisted end waits at the end for the reader of this book. I urge anyone, other than the weak minded, to read this book if they are looking for a very short, yet thrilling novel.
Rating: Summary: Quick Reading Horror Novel Review: If you're in the mood for a easy/fast reading and scary novel, then "Fear" is the book for you. "Fear" is by far the scariest book I have ever read and probably the best too. Once I started to read it, I couldn't put it down and read every time I had the chance, and in a day or two, I finished it. The novel is about a college professor named Jim Lowry who strongly disbelieves in demons and devils. He believes that they were created by witch doctors in order to control people by telling them that they exist in order to sacre them so the people would obey them. Lowry finds himself in a world of madness after he writes an article about his beliefs, loses his teaching job, and then abruptly loses four hours of his life. What happened to him during these four hours is what he searches for and slowly drives himself mad doing so. Lowry suffers an ironic fate during his quest to find his "missing" hours, and a twisted end waits at the end for the reader of this book. I urge anyone, other than the weak minded, to read this book if they are looking for a very short, yet thrilling novel.
Rating: Summary: A classic of Psychological Terror Review: This is a small, quite famous short novel by the controversial Ron Hubbard. I must say that I found an exaggeration the high number of comments about the chills that this novel conveys. Nevertheless I think that the plot is fast paced and ingenious specially when it is contrasted with the shock ending, which contains the classical "Twilight Zone" twist. Although written with a lack of brilliance, it can be considered one of the early effective efforts in the psychological thriller genre.
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