4 h 56 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 4 h 56 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the greatest threat to love is a force you cannot see?
In The New Terror, Gaston Leroux brings love under the shadow of psychic obsession and unseen forces. This Gothic tale draws its fear from hidden things and strong feelings. Affection is at risk, and suspense grows from the sense that ordinary life holds something darker beneath its surface.
Leroux writes in a French tradition of serial suspense, crime puzzles and tales of the strange. Here, mood matters as much as plot. Obsession, stolen hearts and threatened love give the story its unsettling pull, inviting you to watch for what remains concealed and feel the danger in what you cannot explain.
What you’ll discover
- Love under threat Discover a Gothic tale where affection offers no shelter from fear or obsession.
- The dread beneath Sense the darkness beneath ordinary life, where hidden things make safety feel uncertain.
- Forces beyond sight Explore the fear of unseen powers that threaten the bonds between people.
- Strong feelings turn dangerous Follow the uneasy meeting of love and obsession at the heart of this tale.
- Mood as much as mystery Read for the gathering unease as well as the pull of suspense.
Who will love it
Readers who love ghostly mysteries, jealous lovers and uncanny science from the age of séances and hypnotism will enjoy this book.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A sportsman loves a girl who paints souls
- An empty house, a stranger, and a gift
- The portrait grows cold and a bride turns to stone
- Cordélia's double meets Patrick in the golden chamber
- A tour of Europe cannot outrun the polygon
- A dinner for two ends in a challenge
- A one-armed captain tells his one story
- A mourning lady throws a gift into the lake
Who’s who
- HectorA sturdy, sport-loving young man who trusts common sense and wants only to marry his cousin and ride off on a honeymoon.
- CordéliaHector's cousin and bride, a gifted painter and musician, drawn to the unseen world and pulled between two loves.
- PatrickA gifted English painter with burning eyes, who claims a bond of minds with Cordélia that no wall or distance can break.
- Dr. ThurelA pale old doctor from Rouen who explains the strange events through hypnotism, the aura and the polygon of the mind.
- SurdonThe loyal old servant who tells little, watches closely and follows Patrick's trail through Venice for his master.
- Captain MichelA one-armed old sailor in Toulon who has one story to tell and wants to be believed.
- ElizabethA widow in deep mourning who plays Schumann beautifully and sets out to learn why her kind husband seems so haunted.
- Herbert GutmannElizabeth's gentle husband from Todtnau, who keeps a locked study and a secret he cannot bring himself to speak.
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The New Terror
On her wedding night, Cordélia goes cold and rigid, while her mind walks a moonlit park with a painter.
Medium level2–5 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
What would you do if your bride went cold in your arms on the wedding night, her lips like stone, while her mind walked somewhere else? That is the problem facing Hector, a broad-shouldered sportsman who trusts muscles, fresh air and common sense.
The New Terror at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 45 min2 h 10 min fast, 3 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 38,900 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A sportsman loves a girl who paints souls
Hector is twelve and his cousin Cordélia eight when friends call them a charming couple. She once asks him to dream with her, and he stands silent beside her, pretending. She laughs at him.
When the two ask to marry at once, the elders put it off for five years and send Hector to America, then to military service, then to America again. While he is away, both his parents die in an influenza epidemic. He keeps account books, and beside the day's spending he writes short notes about Cordélia.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 3 h 10 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Leroux, Gaston. The New Terror. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-new-terror.
Leroux, G. (2026). The new terror. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-new-terror
Leroux, Gaston. The New Terror. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-new-terror.
@book{leroux2026new,
author = {Leroux, Gaston},
title = {The New Terror},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-new-terror}
}
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What is The New Terror about?
It is a gothic novella in which a sportsman named Hector marries his cousin Cordélia, only to find that her mind is bound to an English painter. The book adds two short horror tales, A Terrible Tale and The Gold Axe.
Who is Patrick in The New Terror?
Patrick is an English painter with burning, catlike eyes. He teaches Cordélia, sends her a glowing portrait of herself, and claims a bond of minds that lets him draw her sensibility across any distance.
What do the O and the polygon mean in the story?
Dr. Thurel takes them from Dr. Grasset. The O stands for willed, conscious thought. The polygon stands for the lower nerve centers that act almost automatically and can be steered when the O is distracted or controlled by another.
The author
Gaston Leroux
1868–1927 · French mystery novelist
Gaston Leroux was a French author and journalist born in Paris in 1868. He wrote mystery novels, including The Mystery of the Yellow Room, published in 1907, and The Phantom of the Opera, serialized in 1909–1910. He later lived in Nice, where he died in 1927.
More by Gaston Leroux
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