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The Hour Before Dark
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Plot Summary of The Hour Before Dark
"When they were children, they played the Dark Game. It was a mental exercise that their Father, Gordie Raglan had taught them. A way of going outside of yourself in a sense and something that he had found very useful while being a POW. The rule is that you cannot play the Dark Game when it is night or the game will become real. The best time to play is the hour before dark. After playing the game in the smokehouse, the three children experienced a week of lost time that could not be accounted for.

Many years have passed and Gordie Raglan goes into the smokehouse. His daughter Brooke finds his lifeless body to be hacked and dismembered. Now, Nemo Raglan and his brother Bruno must come back home to comfort Brooke and find their Father's murderer. Brooke becomes extremely paranoid and sees an apparition of a hideous woman. Bruno obsessively begins picking apart the mansion and discovers various secrets about his Mother and Father. Nemo begins to recall abuse in the smokehouse by the hand of his Father and other things that he had blocked out. To find out the ultimate truth about Gordie and their estranged Mother, the three have to play the Dark Game once more.......but this time it may be "game over" for all of them."

Alicia, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of The Hour Before Dark
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30%




Tone of story - scarey (primal ax-wielding fear)
Time/era of story: - present (2000-2010)
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Horror Story? Yes
Horror plotlets - Why do they stay in the haunted house/boat?

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - writer
Age: - 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use? - just the right amount
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor

Main Adversary
Identity: - natural phenomena
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
Monster of some sort? Yes
Kind of monster: - general monster

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Misc setting - fancy mansion

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths? - 3-4
Sex Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing
Unusual forms of death - fright - decapitated - perforation--swords/knives
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - mostly dialog
Most similar books to The Hour Before Dark
Nazareth Hill by Ramsey Campbell
Black Creek Crossing by John Saul
University by Bentley Little
Midnight Is A Lonely Place by Barbara Erskine
Black House by Stephen King


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