The Invisible Man

H. G. Wells · Sci-Fi · 27 chapters · 4h 23m · 8 voices

A brilliant, arrogant physicist arrives in an English village swathed in bandages — because he has made himself invisible and cannot reverse the process. His discovery of invisibility unlocks not freedom but paranoia and madness.

A scientific romance that turns into a chase, and one of the few Wells books that is genuinely funny for its first third. Griffin arrives in a Sussex village wrapped in bandages and the villagers treat him as a curiosity — Mrs Hall fussing about the rent, Cuss trying to get a look at his notes — before the comedy stops abruptly. The village chorus gives this recording more speaking parts than the other Wells novels, and the shift in tone is easier to feel when the people being frightened are people you have been listening to.

The voices that carry it

Griffin is cast irritable rather than mad, which makes the descent work. Kemp, the only person in the book who understands what Griffin is proposing, is deliberately ordinary.

Chapter one plays without an account. Start listening to The Invisible Man.

Voice cast

7 characters plus the narrator, each with their own voice. All the voices of The Invisible Man.

Griffin — The Invisible Man himself — a brilliant, arrogant, and ultimately paranoid physicist whose discovery of invisibility drives him to megalomania. Cold, precise, increasingly unhinged.
Dr. Kemp — Griffin's former university colleague, a rational scientist who ultimately betrays Griffin to the authorities. Calm, methodical, morally clear.
Marvel — The hapless tramp Griffin coerces into becoming his assistant. Terrified, bumbling, and eventually cunning enough to escape with Griffin's notebooks.
Mrs. Hall — The sharp, businesslike innkeeper of the Coach and Horses who tolerates Griffin until his eccentricities become impossible.
Mr. Hall — Mrs. Hall's steady, slow-thinking husband.
Colonel Adye — The local police chief who leads the final chase of Griffin. Competent, direct, ultimately killed in the pursuit.
Dr. Cuss — The local doctor who has the first unsettling encounter with Griffin and provides comic relief.

Chapters

Chapter I: The Strange Man’s Arrival 11m
Chapter II: Mr. Teddy Henfrey’s First Impressions 9m
Chapter III: The Thousand and One Bottles 10m
Chapter IV: Mr. Cuss Interviews the Stranger 10m
Chapter V: The Burglary at the Vicarage 4m
Chapter VI: The Furniture That Went Mad 7m
Chapter VII: The Unveiling of the Stranger 16m
Chapter IX: Mr. Thomas Marvel 11m
Chapter X: Mr. Marvel’s Visit to Iping 4m
Chapter XI 7m
Chapter XII: The Invisible Man Loses His Temper 9m
Chapter XIII: Mr. Marvel Discusses His Resignation 4m
Chapter XIV: At Port Stowe 10m
Chapter XV: The Man Who Was Running 3m
Chapter XVI 7m
Chapter XVII: Dr. Kemp’s Visitor 14m
Chapter XVIII: The Invisible Man Sleeps 6m
Chapter XIX: Certain First Principles 11m
Chapter XX: At the House in Great Portland Street 20m
Chapter XXI: In Oxford Street 11m
Chapter XXII: In the Emporium 13m
Chapter XXIII: In Drury Lane 19m
Chapter XXIV: The Plan That Failed 7m
Chapter XXV: The Hunting of the Invisible Man 4m
Chapter XXVI: The Wicksteed Murder 8m
Chapter XXVII: The Siege of Kemp’s House 16m
Chapter XXVIII: The Hunter Hunted 14m

About this recording

Is The Invisible Man a horror story?

It is filed as science fiction and starts as comedy, but the last third is a manhunt with several deaths. The frightening part is Griffin's reasoning rather than anything supernatural.

How long is it?

About four and a half hours over twenty-seven short chapters, with eight character voices.