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The Dead Hour
141 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
2 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 29, 2025
A book that I read a long time ago, and couldn't remember much about.
Richard is 17, and falls in love with Louise. He also invents an imaginary character, "The Spirit of Death", who starts to feel more and more real as the book progresses. Richard also discovers that Louise had a younger brother, who died.
You can probably guess that when lots of spooky stuff starts, it is probably Ben causing it, and Richard and Louise start to investigate mysterious happenings, like tapping on the window. There is also a mysterious dark figure that starts to manifest itself, as Richard's bedroom starts to feel like another place altogether.
This was a quite short book, so easy to read in a few days, and I just had to get used to the first person narration, which is mainly by Richard, so we get to understand more about his feelings for Louise.
Overall, this felt like a good exploration of grief and moving on, written for teens, but I still found it enjoyable re-reading as an adult.
Richard is 17, and falls in love with Louise. He also invents an imaginary character, "The Spirit of Death", who starts to feel more and more real as the book progresses. Richard also discovers that Louise had a younger brother, who died.
You can probably guess that when lots of spooky stuff starts, it is probably Ben causing it, and Richard and Louise start to investigate mysterious happenings, like tapping on the window. There is also a mysterious dark figure that starts to manifest itself, as Richard's bedroom starts to feel like another place altogether.
This was a quite short book, so easy to read in a few days, and I just had to get used to the first person narration, which is mainly by Richard, so we get to understand more about his feelings for Louise.
Overall, this felt like a good exploration of grief and moving on, written for teens, but I still found it enjoyable re-reading as an adult.
August 13, 2017
Richard ha diciassette anni e ha paura del buio. Ha anche una cotta per Louise, coetanea bella e tenebrosa che non riesce a superare il lutto per il fratellino Ben, morto da poco più di un anno di malattia. Richard ha una fervida immaginazione con la quale dal buio crea mostri spaventosi, pronti a perseguitarlo, ma saranno tutti frutto della sua fantasia? Poco importa, ciò che conta è che sia lui sia Louise devono fare i conti con il superamento del lutto (di Ben lei e Richard dell'amata nonna), che fa più paura di qualsiasi spettro e creatura soprannaturale.
Un ottimo romanzo in chiave horror che in realtà parla alla profondità della coscienza, ai nostri viscerali attaccamenti e ai timori che vadano perduti, ad ogni età.
Un ottimo romanzo in chiave horror che in realtà parla alla profondità della coscienza, ai nostri viscerali attaccamenti e ai timori che vadano perduti, ad ogni età.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews