How can a person of complete competence go from an intelligent scientist who made a brilliant discover to a criminal with a lack of mental stability? Griffin, a scientist, theorized that if a person's refractive index is adjusted to that of air and did not reflect or absorb any light, then that person will become invisible. He tests his theory, and though his theory is a success, a horrifying outcome came about; Griffin turned himself invisible. H.G Wells' The Invisible Man made twists and turns from the beginning to end.
When reading The Invisible Man, I immediately noticed how Wells introduced his readers to the characters. Each character had individuality. The characters had their own style, their own appearance, their own personality, and their own past. Wells' detail on this story's characters can be compared to a great artist's skill of detail on his painting. Some barely use old English slang, such as Dr. Kemp, others use jargon in every other sentence, such as Mr. and Mrs. Hall.
The story began with Griffin's arrival at the Hall's inn, the Coach and Horses Inn, where he appeared as an unconventional and reclusive stranger to the citizens of Iping by covering up every inch of his skin. The stranger worked with chemicals and demanded to be left alone. Who would find that ordinary? At the same time all of this happens, mysterious robberies occurred in Iping, and none of the victims caught the sight of their thief. One morning, as Mr. and Mrs. Hall passed the stranger's room, they notice the stranger's clothing scattered all over the floor with no stranger in sight. The furniture appeared to come alive and leaped into mid-air to push the couple out of the room. Griffin then revealed his invisibility by ripping off his bandages and goggles to reveal that there was nothing under it all. The chaos started here when the police tried to catch Griffin, but he stripped himself of all his clothing and makes an escape. Griffin encountered Thomas Marvel during this escape, only to force Marvel into becoming his lab assistant by scaring Marvel with his invisibility. Marvel fled to an inn located at the seaside. When Griffin tries to break in to the inn, a man with a black beard shoots him. Griffin then escaped the scene to a house, that happened to belong to Dr. Kemp, an old friend of his, in order to tend to his wound. He recognized Dr. Kemp right away and revealed his identity to not only Kemp, but the reader (he was previously known as a mysterious stranger). And from that point on, I feel the reader should find out about by himself or herself.
I recommend this book to fans of sci-fi novels, because this is classical sci-fi! Not to mention, the "Father of Sci-Fi" wrote this story. Wells filled this story with chaos, suspense, insanity, and curiousity pickers, making the book quite a page turner. With the old English terms in this story, it can be a bit difficult to understand, so I recommend The Invisible Man for readers of a higher level.
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