The Invisible Man

By H.G. Wells

We are introduced to a man wrapped head to toe and arriving into town on a chilly February who had stopped in Iping, a place which didn't see visitors this time of year and so when he'd dropped into an Inn, the proprietor made sure to show what she was worth, since her new guest didn't bother to haggle with her. When she moved to take his coat and hat, he informed her he'd rather keep it on, which is when she noticed how fully covered he was, with his wide spectacles, etc. When she goes back into the parlor to give him some more accouterments to his meal, she sees he's taken off a few articles of clothes and is shocked by the bandages on his face. Thereafter she tries to get information about what may have happened to him out of him, with no luck and so satisfied herself with observations as he stayed in the parlor, pacing and talking to himself.

I prefer the tone of this book so far, it's humorous and mysterious. Mrs. Hall was trying to unleash courage enough to go back into the parlor to ask if her guest would care for late-afternoon tea, when the clock repairman came, giving her an excuse to enter the room. After agreeing to let the man do his work, the bandaged guest makes clear he's a scientist who had come to Iping to try and work through some of his experiments and would be needing solitude and from this point on would require as few disturbances as could be managed, due to his accident making his eyes ache periodically and being extremely sensitive and annoyed if in this state. He then called the clock repairman out on trying to stay longer than necessary, barely masking his rage, which got the man moving and when he'd gone out and met Mr. Hall on his way back to the inn, told him of his mysterious guest which seemed odd and should look out for trouble from him, which Mr. Hall did look into once he'd arrived, expressing to Mrs. Hall to check his belongings closely when they were delivered.

Hall and Fearenside were bringing the man's luggage when Fearenside's dog attacks the owner of the luggage. After realizing the damage done, he makes for his room, shortly thereafter being followed by Hall, who when he enters the stranger's room sees something inexplicable and one he can't come to terms with for being thrown out of the room by the stranger. When they finally get his luggage to his room, he makes himself quite busy unpacking crates filled with bottles of all sorts and mixing tubes. He from then on begins conducting his experiments which makes a mess in the room, upsetting Mrs. Hall, but being dealt with by he informing her to add it to his bill, at his annoyance of being interrupted by her for tea, as well as upon this visit noticing his eyes being more recessed than usual and Mrs. Hall reminding him of the lock on the door if he was so opposed to being disturbed.

Fearenside is then mentioned speaking of what he'd seen of the stranger's mottled skin-tone, his leg being black and nose being pink, thinking this meant he was racially mixed. Also whilst he still got under Mrs. Hall's skin for his lack of upkeep for the room, he payed his bills on time, quelling her frustration and using this as her argument stance, to Hall's dislike and mistrust of their guest. The stranger, whilst usually staying close to his room, would venture out to the most secluded places, when he did go out at all and covered up despite the temperature. The Stranger usually scared anyone who met him, one being shamed by his fear when the stranger had his hat off and the light from an establishment illumined his skull.

He also had a tendency of scaring children, boys disliking him and vice versa. A rumor began as to the reason for his bandages and one man started an investigation of him which was futile, but Cuss the doctor of the town became extremely curious and decided to visit the man one day to leave shortly after ten minutes with, seemingly the shock of his life. Cuss then head's to the vicar's to unload what he's encountered, firstly making note he'd asked for a donation to a Nurse fund to the Stranger, then became quite nosy in discovering what he was experimenting on, soon seeing the Stranger had no hand. When he asked further about how his sleeve could lay how it did, the stranger gave him a closer look which scared the nosiness right out of him, ha-ha; even the vicar had a laugh at the end of Cuss's story.

Mr. and Mrs. Hall, meanwhile were going into the cellar to soften the beer they cure. When Mr. Hall had gone to fetch the desired ingredient they needed to add, he noticed the Stranger's door was not how it had been fastened before and decided to investigate. When he figures the guest is not there, he relays this to his wife who comes up to see for herself, then they both heard the door open and shut from downstairs and headed down to look, then hearing sneezing which they each thought the other was responsible for. Then some "paranormal" activities started happening with them they couldn't grasp and in the end got them out of the guest's room.

Mr. Hall calls in a local "expert" since the Mrs. became too much overwhelmed by the experience and to confirm what they were undergoing was something explainable. The man they called Mr. Wadgers believed it to be witchcraft, but then everyone who'd gathered to discuss and figure out what was happening saw the guest come out of the room and shut the door in all their faces, which everyone then thought Mr. Hall should go and ask the Stranger about what was happening, but didn't get far in their endeavor. After which the Stranger goes to the Coach and Horses for a few hours staying unmolested whilst there, even when ringing the bell for service since Mrs. Hall had heard of the burglaries and had divined what must have happened, deciding to ignore the Stranger's summons. After going back to his room and then some time later requesting for Mrs. Hall, she comes and asks if he's ready for his bill, whilst he's complaining about not having his meals served him, she making him aware he must settle the bill she'd been waiting on and he had been awaiting a payment, which she no longer cared to wait for if he wasn't going to pay what he owed already.

He then tries to assure her of money he's acquired and willing to use as payment, but before she would accept this, she demands to know what has been going on concerning his comings and goings and he acquiesces, showing her his lack of face and placing in her hand his nose, frightening her again and everyone else inside witnessing his lack of physical body, all running out of the establishment and those seeing everyone coming out, running to them to learning the news. Mr. Jaffers and Mr. Hall come with a warrant for the stranger's arrest, which is a struggle when the stranger realizes what the constable, Mr. Jaffer's planned, soon disrobing to the point of not being able to be hand-cuffed, continuing to disrobe so as to make it impossible for capture, but also announcing he didn't plan on resisting. The constable shouts for someone to stop him and Mr. Hall gets assaulted in the process of trying to assist, but Mr. Jaffer's has the Stranger for some time, before he makes good his escape out the door with the crowd pouring out around him and fleeing through the town. Then he makes it to the outskirts where Gibbons is dozing and hears cursing pass him with no body to accompany for the words and makes haste back to the town.

We are then introduced to Thomas Marvel, starting with his appearance. We soon discover he's contemplating the boots he's had over the boots which were given in charity, soon speaking to someone behind him about his being torn between the choosing. When Thomas finally turns to compare the boots of the Stranger, he sees no one. When the disembodied voice tries to keep the man calm, Thomas gets defensive and demands to know the voice's whereabouts.

When he gets jostled by empty space, he becomes even more concerned of his sanity and believes it to be caused by drinking, the voice expressing to him he isn't drunk. When the voice threatens to throw stones at him, Thomas is disbelieving and then begins to see them being thrown at him, scaring the wits out of him even more, but soon being convinced of the Stranger's existence by explaining it to him a couple more times and ways, soon explaining why he's come to "show" himself to Thomas, even letting him feel his face, which is bearded, soon having Thomas believe in his physicality and trying to enlist his help, threatening him if he betrays his trust, but Thomas wanted to help him however he could. The people of Iping were at first paranoid of the Stranger still being about, but were soon taken over by Whit-Monday's festivities, since it had been looked forward to all month. A few people, even whilst taken up by their activities, saw a stranger enter the town and head to the Coach and Horses, also noticing his odd behavior and before entering, seemed to struggle with whether to do so until ultimately deciding to go in, we then hear the goings on of what the stranger seemed to be doing.

He exits the building and goes to a gate-post and lights his clay pipe. One of the store-owner's, Old Fletcher senses suspicion in the new stranger's demeanor and soon realizes he's acting like he's about to nick something, running after him once he sees he's got a bundle of items after disappearing for a moment to collect them, running off with Fletcher behind him until he's tripped up, losing him. We are then given the necessary information as to what happened inside whilst we saw what happened from Fletcher's perspective. Mr.'s Cuss and Bunting had gone into the stranger's room for further investigation whilst Jaffer's convalesced at home with his friends well-wishings.

They soon discovered the Stranger's diary, which doesn't help them much since it seems to be in code. Mr. Cuss figures out some of it is in what looks like Russian with Greek throughout, which Bunting should have been able to shed some light upon for supposedly knowing some Greek, but apparently lost his ability quite a bit. He began to cover his inability to decipher the words, but was saved by someone entering the room asking where the bar was. They direct him out of the room and he leaves, closing the door behind him, as asked.

The two men are left to contemplate the strange man who entered the room and then moved on to the unbelievable happenings in the town as of late. Then Cuss recognizes some Greek letters, but before he can decipher them, they both feel a pressure on their necks and a threat to stop what they're doing or else physical violence will be in their immediate futures, which left them both staring at each other in horror. After convincing the two of his being able to overpower them, they agree to work with him, he soon is able to receive what is requested, from what we learned from Fletcher's side. Then we see from the bar what Mr. Huxter, Mr. Hall, and Teddy Henfrey were witnessing, Huxter observing Thomas whilst Hall soon heard a scuffle within the Stranger's quarters, Teddy and he moving in this direction.

Mr. Hall calls to them to make sure everything is alright, still curious and suspicious of their noise and smelling chemicals. Mrs. Hall soon sees them and asks why they're listening at the door, Hall, trying to convey she should come and listen, but she not playing and they move off to confide in her quietly what's happening. She tries to uncover a reasonable explanation for what they shared with her and then they all see Mr. Huxter from across the street yelling about the thief and see his complex fall. Soon, everyone who tried to follow the escaping Thomas wound up being tripped or thrown aside in some way, before-which, people were thinking Thomas was the invisible man now visible.

Whilst all this is happening, Mrs. Hall had stayed indoors next to the register and Mr. Cuss believed as long as Thomas held the package of items, he'd stay visible; the dope. Soon, the Stranger is hit and becomes enraged, following Mr. Cuss back indoors, warning Bunting to get out of there, which he does. Everyone clears out of the street as the invisible man wreaks his havoc. After two hours people felt it safe to go back outside, the invisible man leaving Iping. Meanwhile, Thomas and the invisible man are traveling still and apparently Thomas has been trying to ditch the invisible man, which he doesn't take kindly to.

Thomas maintains he didn't try to do it on purpose, not knowing the area at all. The Stranger moves onto how he'd been treated in the town and it was bad enough how they learned about his being invisible, Thomas being his only reliable enough visible companion, which Thomas tries to talk himself down about being a bad choice, which the Stranger had started to be candid about, but him being his only option. They pass through a town with the invisible man making his presence known only to Thomas, warning him not to try any funny business, Thomas resigning to do as asked. They reach Port Stowe, a fictitious town and Thomas is engaged in conversation by an elderly seaman, which made Thomas uncomfortable and fearful.

The mariner goes on to pursue his mostly one-sided conversation, first regarding the books lying next to Thomas and then speaking of a newspaper which had interesting findings in it of an invisible man. Thomas plays dumb and the mariner goes on to describe what had happened at the Coach and Horses. Thomas tries to fish for information of whether any accomplices are mentioned, which the mariner confirms there was no mention of. When Thomas is reassured he might not be near the Stranger at the moment, he confides in the man he had more facts of the invisible man, which perks the mariner's interest, when he seems to be prodded by the invisible man a certain way to make him end the conversation and rescind his statements to the mariner about the whole thing being a hoax, upsetting the mariner since he'd spent all his time describing the news to Thomas, he walking off in an awkward way when the mariner sees a bundle of folded bills levitating away which is when we are told of men seeing this happen about town, to end in the pocket of Thomas.

The next chapter begins with Dr. Kemp sitting in a room I finally understand the meaning of since the days of Mr. Belvedere the TV series. He'd been marveling his work he hoped would get him in a private Society, when he sees, most likely Thomas running down a hill toward his home. He had been used to people coming to him with talks of the invisible man and believed him to be one of those, but noticed how slowly his running seemed to be getting him. Those on the streets found Thomas' state worrisome as he hurried straight down the street. People began making haste indoors as they found out the invisible man was coming.

We then see a barman conversing with a black-bearded man when they and a cab man in the bar begin hearing the commotion outside. The barman guesses it's a fire. Thomas streaks in not long after, distraught by the invisible man following him; a policeman inside helps him get the door shut and tries to get more information out of him. Thomas tries to explain how he'd escaped the companionship of the invisible man again, when a powerful shock to the door puts him in terror and the policeman investigates the identity of whoever is on the other side.

The barman let's Thomas hide behind the bar due to his display of being panic-stricken. Meanwhile the policeman considers reopening the door to distinguish who's out there, the lawman mentions not being properly attired with weapons which the black-bearded man showed was unnecessary by displaying his gun, promising not to shoot to kill, but would aim at the intruder's legs. They soon come to realize not all the doors were fastened and the invisible man could already be within their midst, which they soon recognize to be true when Thomas is hauled off by an unseen force with the barman and policeman trailing behind, the barman getting a grip on the invisible man. The two are able to land some blows before he escapes their grasp and soon follow him outdoors where a tile is thrown at them.

The black-bearded man retaliates with gun-fire in the direction of where the tile had been thrown, soon requesting someone to go see if a body could be found, believing he would've had to hit his mark after five shots. During which time, Dr. Kemp has heard the shots go off from his study and wonders what the local "asses" could be doing. He doesn't investigate and instead focuses on his work with lackluster enthusiasm until his bell rings, perking his curiosity when his maid doesn't come to inform him who had called, he goes to see and realizes it was a ding-dong ditch, going back to his study to continue his work, finishing at two in the morning. He was on his way downstairs for a night-cap when he notices a spot on the floor, its consistency to blood and upon further investigation detects his door-handle smeared in like-wise form.

He goes inside to discover more blood on his sheets and a depression on his bed-clothes like someone had been sitting on them, then spooking himself out of believing he'd heard someone speak, he closes his bedroom door, even though he was adrenalized and comes across a bloody rag hanging in the air before him. This is when the invisible man makes his presence officially realized to Kemp who disbelieves until feeling the invisible fingers when he reaches out, throwing himself into a panic moreso than before. The invisible man pleads for him to calm himself, needing his help, but not receiving Kemp's counsel without further struggle at first, having to restrain, then threaten him. Blawger's Note: Now normally I don't abide the "Spoiler" rule, but if one hasn't read the story and wants to be properly surprised, I'm hoping the reader has stopped much sooner than this point, but if not, I'll let it be known I'll be using the invisible man's given name from this point on. Griffin finally introduces himself, apparently having attended college with Kemp.

He has trouble believing this, but after Griffin describes how he looked in college and tries to repetitiously explain how and why he'd become invisible, he then asks for a drink due to his injury, Kemp complying to the request, not truly accepting Griffin's reality. Griffin soon puts this to rest by requesting clothing and food. Kemp agrees to give him what he asks, but is still incapable of believing what he's experiencing. Whilst Griffin eats, he tries to explain how his blood becomes visible after coagulation which is still blowing Kemp's mind as he asks to know more, but Griffin wishes to eat more before going into the long blundering tale and also wished to stay overnight, so whilst Kemp left to look for more food downstairs, Griffin awaits his return, then after eating an enormous meal, he calls for a cigar and as the smoke was exhaled, one could see his throat and nose outlined by the smoke. Kemp joins him for a drink after as Griffin postulates how they'll work together whilst Kemp "badgered" Griffin to know how he'd become this way and Griffin firmly stating to let him finish his cigar before going into it.

Instead Griffin raves about Thomas getting away from him and wanting to recover him before he got away, but also requiring sleep for not having but a few dozes during the past three days. Kemp asks where Griffin had gotten the money, which Griffin had mentioned when raving of how Thomas had gotten away with his money and books, but declined divulging to him anymore, not explaining how he'd become invisible either, verbalizing his pain. Kemp still offers his room for the night and Griffin announces his paranoia of being caught and how gullible it was of him to announce it to Kemp. After checking the room, Griffin confesses of how he's too sleep-deprived to share much at the moment and again confirms how he needs Kemp's help.

Griffin still shows his distrust by locking Kemp out of his bedroom, in mid-threat upon being back-stabbed, Kemp reiterates how he'd given Griffin his word. Kemp goes downstairs talking to himself forcefully of where in nature there are invisible creatures. Kemp then goes to look at his newspapers to determine if there was anything he could divulge to corroborate Griffin's story, coming upon the story told by the mariner to Thomas and then looking at another paper for any extra research he could notice, landing on one other and wondering what Griffin's true motives were. After reading the reprinted story of Iping, he took the report with a grain of salt.

Kemp tries to make sense of why Griffin would be trying to stalk the tramp, Thomas, coming to the conclusion Griffin had become a homicidal maniac. He contemplated until early dawn too caught up in the fascination to sleep, his servants waking to witness him still consumed by his thoughts. He directs them to make enough breakfast for two and to stay in the lower quarters of his home. Kemp reads his morning paper, which doesn't add many new facts of the night before nor how Thomas became involved.

He requests his housemaid to acquire as many newspapers as she can so he can read as much of the news as the reporters had been able to gather. Arriving at the same conclusion Griffin had gone crazy, he pondered as to what he could do now Griffin had landed at his doorstep. He decides to send a note to the chief of police at Port Burdock, during which he hears Griffin awake and shattering a glass, which he took as his queue to go and rap on the door to ascertain what was happening. When Griffin admits Kemp, he witnesses Griffin having an explosion of temporary anger due to not remembering the injury to his arm, Kemp also realizing this is common for him.

After seeing his fit of rage, he felt his note being sent was the right course to take and invites Griffin to breakfast, asking about how he became invisible. We discover where Griffin happened upon the substance which would turn him invisible and how old he was when he'd discovered it. Griffin goes on to explain how he discovered the fourth dimension (a different definition than used for The Time Machine. This referring to the refraction of light and color as opposed to being time related.) Griffin goes on to explain how light would reflect off certain surfaces, focusing on glass. Kemp directs him around to explaining how the Human body could be included to the likes of glass and Griffin scoffs at how much time it had taken for Kemp to forget his physics, going on to mention types of fiber which could be transparent, including the Human body other than blood and the black pigment of hair.

Griffin then reveals why he'd kept his research to himself and how he'd accidentally made a breakthrough in physiology by coming up with turning blood colorless. Griffin then states to Kemp why he'd gone through with it, being unfulfilled in his work, but also needing funding he'd acquired underhandedly. Griffin describes his lack of compassion towards his father and his untimely death, how he saw the funeral and how his work had been progressing. He didn't feel badly for his father and only felt obligated to attend his funeral for appearances sake.

He then describes in some detail how he first made a piece of cloth disappear, soon trying his experiment on a cat which almost worked, but for the claws and eyes, soon shooing it out of his little room, not to hear from her again other than four days later when people were gathered around a grating where they heard meowing. Griffin then describes how consumed he was for four years by his research and becoming exhausted, self medicating as a way to rest. His landlord began to question what he'd been doing in the apartment and gave him the third degree, Griffin ending the badgering by forcibly getting him out his door, locking him out. Griffin considered his next move, which couldn't involve a move for lack of money, also worrying about what would happen with his belongings if more investigation were pursued. He then takes action by sending forward his three diaries and cheque-book, which Thomas now had, to a place which kept packages and letters.

When he got back, he saw the landlord was trying to sneak up the stairs and so brushes past him slamming his door shut, but the landlord continued to incessantly knock repetitively throughout the day. Meanwhile Griffin had begun the undertaking of using the drugs necessary to change his blood color and at this time the landlord finally tried to slip an eviction notice under his door, which is when Griffin quickly opened the door and saw the look on the landlord's face, making him retreat rapidly away. Griffin goes to a mirror to notice his face was completely white. Which wasn't the end of the process of course, he now understood why the cat had put up such a fuss, his night filled with pain and delirium.

When Griffin wakes, he realizes the process had worked, but for a couple different spots, which he decided in undertaking the process once more and upon completion and sleep, he is awoken by the landlord again with heavies to start the process of his removal. He dissembles his set up of scientific equipment and then hears one of the men had charged the door, making Griffin angry, but goes more quickly in gathering his belongings before they do get in. He's able to get out of the window before they smash through his door and when they've satisfied their curiosity of what wasn't in the room, Griffin goes back in and messes with them before setting fire to the house. He now realizes how much he could get away with since he wasn't visible.

Griffin also noticed how difficult it was to walk at times without seeing his body, but he managed well enough from the first. He gets his first taste of being almost caught not long after he is run into by a man with a big load in his arms, which he is fortunate to escape before being truly detected. He's chased by a dog who catches his smell, but stops following when the Salvation Army crowd gets in the way, Griffin waiting on some steps for them to pass then being spotted by two street urchins who have seen his muddy footprints go up the stairs but not come down, soon noticing the mud outlining his feet, to his horror. Soon after hopping the wall to the next doorway though, he has more than a few people noticing the boys exclaiming of running feet and try to follow him, but he loses them once his feet begin to dry. He notices after how people are running to the fire he had set to his home, containing all of his belongings, but for the three books and cheque-book, which is where Griffin pauses and Kemp bids him continue.

Griffin goes to a place, in this era imaginary, sounding like a mall or a shop has a wide variety of wares, like Bed, Bath and Beyond or Walmart. After the place closed up and all the staff had left and locked up, Griffin had gone about searching for clothing, soon feeling humanity return to his psyche. He then searches and determines there is enough food in the grocery area and beds down to sleep for the night with quilts, having dreams which aren't comforting. He is awoken by a nightmare and then hears voices of night crew or almost-opening crew, which see him for the clothes he's swiped, he is then chased for some time before finally leaving his clothing behind due to the day being warmer, then trying to figure out his next move and how to check on the packages he's sent for himself.

We then learn the downside of being invisible and what lengths Griffin had to go in order to stay transparent. After, Griffin mentions of soon coming up with a plan on how to get clothing and a disguise for his face. He ends up at a costume shop after almost getting pushed into the street in front of a hansom. With the idea of nicking what he needed as well as any available cash from the store, he doesn't consider the sharpness of hearing of the old man who owned the masquerade shop he'd planned on lifting from.

Griffin gets in to his private quarters with some difficulty and then gets stuck there until the old man finished eating, following him downstairs to his kitchen, then back up once nothing of interest was occurring and his feet were growing cold. Griffin withdraws back to his little living area and makes some noise which brings the old man back upstairs for a moment, before resuming his cleaning up, then getting ready to go upstairs, Griffin has trouble passing him without being noticed, again the old man wondering if he's heard movement, but then continuing upstairs, soon hearing Griffin's not-as-quiet-as-he-believes moving along with him and the old man becoming confused, then angry, checking downstairs once more for intruders before entering his room and shutting the door before Griffin can squeeze in, deciding to explore the rooms downstairs as quietly as possible, observing most being empty, but one with clothing he's rifling through until hearing the old man approach again, this time with a gun and after inspecting the room from the door, decides "she" could be responsible and goes off again, locking the door behind him, which Griffin soon realizing he's now trapped, first angry and then making a bit of noise so the old man would return, more angry than ever and at one point touching Griffin, moving back with amazement. Soon excusing his physical contact and hastily trying to lock all the doors in his house, Griffin stops him with a blow to the head with a stool. Kemp stops his story, exclaiming he was in the wrong, but Griffin excuses this with the explanation of normal considerations are for normal people to abide by, then trying to justify what he was doing with his invisible position, Kemp stating he sees both sides of the case, but soon changing his stance so Griffin will continue his story.

After restraining the man, Griffin goes on his way of securing something to eat and taking another look at the old clothes in the room he was trapped in. He then goes about gathering any funds he saw fit to take which were plentiful enough, soon bravely making his way onto the street once more, visible and unnoticed. He heads for a restaurant to eat and after ordering becomes flustered in the knowledge he wouldn't be able to eat it, leaving and going to another to posit he required a private room due to disfiguration, which they oblige. Then he contemplated all the reasons for why he'd wanted to become invisible and realizes the downsides once getting the desired objects of affection.

Kemp tries to keep Griffin talking and soon asks how he'd come to Iping, quickly going over the fates of the constable and whoever else had gotten in Griffin's way upon his escape, confiding in Kemp he'd come to him with the idea of how to return himself visible once he'd finished acquiring the ingredients he wanted, invisibly. Griffin continues to rant of the plentiful people who dumbly got in his way and why they couldn't keep to themselves, making his goals much more difficult to attain, Kemp accepting his position and seeming empathetic. Kemp soon sees the men he's waiting for through the window and tries to block Griffin's view with his body, trying to keep Griffin talking, revealing to him where Thomas had decided to "hide" himself. Griffin also discloses his plans of trying to leave the country, but needing a compatriot to help him, feed and let him rest.

Griffin continues with what needs to be done about how some people now know of his existence as an invisible man, leading into the need for killing, which Kemp repeats, but asks him to elaborate, for not necessarily agreeing. Griffin continues describing a need for power, but not explaining the reason for this, then hearing movement downstairs, which Kemp plays off as "nothing" and trying to keep his attention on him by asking more questions imploring him to at least trust in the nation to be his helpers of sorts. Griffin's attention has now swayed upon hearing someone upon the stair, mentioning this to Kemp, who disregards this, which makes Griffin decide to go check. Kemp soon makes it obvious he's in on the capture and Griffin disrobes, but doesn't make it out the door before Kemp closes it. Griffin soon has the door open enough for him to get out though and falls on top of Kemp, both of them falling to the floor, the Chief of police making his way upstairs, stopping to see Kemp struggle with the still robed figure and being flung down a couple times.

Griffin assaults the Chief as well, making his way out of the house and ruining Kemp's up to then, perfect plan of capture. Kemp soon confesses of the terrible ideas Griffin has in mind for the country, the Chief responding to the affirmative, but Kemp continues with the diagnosis of Griffin not being in his right mind and how the country must lock up everything and be on look out, as well as the police Chief needing to call in help to secure train stations, etc. to watch for Griffin's move to escape. He, still trying to get at his books, the Chief wishing for Kemp to join him and share more of his ideas, which he does as they meet a car which will drive them to the station. Kemp shares dogs being able to catch his smell and how he can be seen if his food is still digesting. Kemp then mentions needing powdered glass, which the Chief agrees to only if Griffin gets out of hand, which Kemp is certain will happen if he's willing to do all he's told him.

Kemp confides how Griffin believes he's separated himself from humanity. We then see how Griffin, once getting out of Kemp's house, is in such a rage, he assaults a child near his gate and no one hears of him until late afternoon. We soon learn how this happens with the knowledge the police force, train and shop owners all begin locking up their goods and doors so as no trespassers could pass. We then learn of a murder which had happened involving a man Griffin had for some reason attacked and killed mercilessly.

We are given suppositions as to why Griffin would murder the man in question and how he may have spent his night for not being able to enter anyone's home. We then observe Griffin would have found some way of getting food and sleep and returning to a semblance of his re-emerging former self; rage and the resolve to make his last stand against the people of his country. Kemp receives a letter by Griffin which shows what he's learned and how he plans on attacking them for the start of his reign of "terror", he being the Terror. Kemp confirms the death threat is written by Griffin and then proceeds to write letters of his own, one to the Chief of Police, sending his maid out to deliver them.

Chief Adye comes to call and states his maid hadn't reached her destination before being assaulted and asks what his letter was about. After the predicament Kemp found himself, he began hearing glass from his windows shattering, the Chief deciding to go back for the bloodhounds, not far away. Kemp lends his revolver to the Chief for his return trip, and is met by Griffin asking him to go back into the house. The Chief declines and Griffin begins his assault, wrestling the gun away from him and demanding he go back to the house, which the Chief says is useless, for Kemp won't let him back in, Griffin replying with pity for him.

When the Chief finally agrees to go back, he tries and fails to grab the pistol again, Griffin putting him down, seemingly for good; Kemp watches all of this from his window upstairs, soon losing sight of the gun. Then he hears the ringing of his bell and incessant knocking upon his front door, not answering and checking the windows and door to be sure of them all being secured, then seeing his housemaid and two policemen slowly approaching his home. The blows to the windows and door soon resume and Kemp hears the ringing of the bell, presumably by the policemen. Kemp goes to get the door and updates them as to what's occurred.

Griffin is soon attacking all of them, one of the policemen disabling him by whacking the gun out of his hand with a fireplace poker. Griffin disables the policeman in return and the second officer finally lays a blow upon Griffin which knocks him down, presumptuously. Soon the officer doesn't know where Griffin is and Kemp and the housemaid have vanished, the two officers now left to figure out where they'd gone. We then are given the perspective of Kemp's next door neighbor, a Mr. Heelas, who didn't believe the invisible man existed, but after awaking from his nap with a bad feeling saw all of the damage to Kemp's house and couldn't believe such wreckage could have occurred in such a short time, he sees the housemaid and Mr. Kemp escaping the house through the window midst crashing and the sound of glass breaking, he running straight for Mr. Heelas.

Mr. Heelas takes action by getting all of his house-workers to lock the place down and turns Kemp away before he can get in. Kemp makes his way around the house with the invisible feet leaving prints not far behind him, Mr. Heelas being able to see this happen. Kemp runs all the way back to town with an option of hopping on to a tram or heading for the police station, ultimately deciding the police station a better destination, but then decides differently making his way through an alley, soon being followed by townspeople. When he notices they're trying to make a trap for the invisible man he's about to help them with words of direction when Griffin catches up and begins his assault.

Griffin gets a good few blows in and is going for the killing death grip when he's knocked by a construction worker, effectively stopping his violence. When the crowd tries to hold him down, though, Griffin makes a second effort to break free, then cries of surrender which makes Kemp try to hold back the men who have a grip on Griffin. A space is made, but the construction worker who is helping to hold Griffin down is sure to announce Griffin may well be faking his injuries. Kemp believes otherwise and feels for life, not successful, then a woman begins to see Griffin is becoming visible, soon everyone else notices this as well.

Not long after, Griffin's angry expression is seen, even in death and a sheet to cover him is called for, removing his body to the Jolly Cricketers house. The epilogue has Thomas giving his side of of the story and where he wished us to believe Griffin's three books actually were. We realize Kemp is still asking after them and Adye has recovered from his injury and continues to question Thomas, but no one would know of the true location of the books until Thomas croaked. An easy read to get through once it really gets going. Dramatic and fast-paced by the last few chapters; I enjoyed it and I'm glad I read it.