Title The Invisible Man Series --- Author H.G. Wells Illustrator Grahame Baker Publisher The Folio Society - 2004 First Printing 1897 Category Science Fiction Warnings None Main Characters Griffin, Kemp, Marvel, Hall Main Elements Mad Scientists Website ---

With his face swaddled in bandages, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses and his hands covered even indoors, Griffin the new guest at The Coach and Horses is at first assumed to be a shy accident-victim. But the true reason for his disguise is far more chilling: he has developed a process that has made him invisible, and is locked in a struggle to discover the antidote. Forced from the village, and driven to murder, he seeks the aid of an old friend, Kemp. The horror of his fate has affected his mind, however and when Kemp refuse to help, he resolves to wreak his revenge.

This Folio Society edition follows the text of the authoritative 1924 Atlantic Edition with minor emendations. Typeset in Founder's Caslon at The Folio Society. Printed on Caxton Wove paper by Memminger MedienCentrum and bound by Real Lachenmaier in full library buckram blocked with a design by the artist.

What a perfect tale to read right before Halloween, though to be fair, I excepted more horror and less comedy. But then there would be something amusing about the adventures of an invisible man. Sure you can do a bunch of things you couldn't otherwise do if people could see you...except normal things like walking down the street without people walking into you. And you are only invisible if you happen to be running about stark naked. And don't even think about eating without being covered up, it's kind of gross. And I know a bit of the horror was to come from the invisible man also being mad, be he seemed a little off even before his experiments, that it wasn't his change (like in Jeckyl and Hyde) that turned him evil. He was just finally able to indulge his desire for people to live under his tyranny.

On the whole though, I enjoyed it. I found that while I truly loved The War of the Worlds, other tales like The Time Machine were actually kind of boring. But the Invisible Man kept my interest, seeing what Griffin did while trying to keep his secret, and then to what lengths he went when the secret was out. Oddly, the tale that popped into my mind while reading this was Varney the Vampire. He too wanted to be superior to everyone else, but instead ended up being chased about by the local villagers. The similarities with the villains was surprising too (e.g. Varney also stole money from his father). Mind you, The Invisible Man is infinitely better written, the other being a Penny Dreadful soap opera dragged out as long as possible since they paid by the word (as becomes blatantly obvious to the reader pretty quickly).

Wells even tried to squeeze in a little science there, having Griffin explain all about light and refraction to explain how it was possible for a human to become invisible. Or how things that are white are often actually transparent, polar bear fur jumped to mind at that moment. So just remove the pigments and jiggle some refractive properties of the human body and tadah, invisibility! Still, I like how this does get place firmly into science fiction and not just some gothic fantasy.