Jane Studdock, a housewife in post-World War II England, is bored. She is also annoyed with her husband Mark, who spends too much of his time at his work. He is often involved in meetings that go on late, not letting her know until the last minute.
They have only been married six months, so she doesn't think he's having an affair; rather, he's wedded to his job. More worryingly, Jane has been having regular nightmares which seem far more realistic than any dreams she's had before.
One day she bumps into an old and comfortable friend, Mrs Dimble, and in conversation learns that her dreams may be more important than she realises. However she doesn't want to be psycho-analysed, nor does she want to get drawn into Mrs Dimble's overtly Christian circle. Jane and Mark are secular humanists, and proud of it. But Jane has more bad dreams, and becomes scared...
Meanwhile Mark has been accepted into the 'inner circle' of his college, and is half offered the chance of moving to a new institute which is being set up nearby. It's an experimental place which will supposedly improve society by weeding out undesirable elements, and which will have the authority to experiment on criminals and those with mental disabilities, as well as animals. A frightening thought today, this probably seemed quite believable in a post-Hitler environment.
The novel switches viewpoint between Mark and Jane as they grow further apart: Mark taken up with being important, Jane gradually learning to trust people who care for her. However this isn't a story of marriage break-down, because there are far more important issues at stake. The experimental centre is driven partly by idealistic sociologists, but partly by non-human forces of evil.
This book should probably be classified as a thriller, It has elements of science-fiction too, at least from the perspective of 1945 when it was written, but not much that would be classed as fantasy. It's a very thought-provoking book. It's chilling in places, too: to the experimental centre, other humans are disposable commodities. When the evil powers start to become stronger, violence - even murder - happens without any hesitation. There is enormous tension as Jane dreams more and more vividly of events which are soon to happen, but neither she nor we, the readers, know what their significance will be.
There's mythology involved in the book too. CS Lewis cleverly mixes ancient traditions in with modern thought, believing that there's a great deal more to the Greek and Roman myths - and more modern legends, such as the stories of King Arthur - than historians would have us believe. So a slight knowledge of the classics would be helpful for anyone reading this book, although not essential.
Inevitably with CS Lewis there's a Christian theme running underneath, but it's intelligently done with no preaching and no arrogance. There are priests (albeit lapsed ones) on the side of evil; there are good, honest atheists on the side of good. Jane finds herself amongst Christians, and Mark amongst evil-doers, but neither has any faith; both find themselves starting to wonder whether there might be more to life than what they've been taught, but there's no evangelistic conversation, no turning-point where either of them commits their life to God. Nothing, as far as I can tell, which would cause anybody of any belief system - or none - to cringe.
I first read this book when I was about fourteen, I suppose. I loved the first two books in the series ('Out of the silent Planet' and 'Perelandra') but found this one frightening and much too tense. When I re-read the others every few years I didn't always re-read this book too, as I found it so disturbing. But this time I decided to read the books as a trilogy, and although there were some tense moments in this book, and some undeniably gory sections (although they would probably seem tame to those used to reading horror stories) I remembered enough of the plot that they didn't disturb me. It was still difficult to put down, though!
As with all CS Lewis's works, this is very well-written, moving forward at a good speed, with little rambling or lengthy descriptions. There are even some moments of light humour to temper the action. My taste generally runs to character-driven novels, and while this one has a great deal of plot, I found myself relating strongly to both Mark and Jane. They are both realistic people, victims of circumstances. While it would be easy for an author to side with Jane and condemn Mark, this doesn't happen. Instead we see how easy it can be to get drawn into wrongdoing by the fear of being left out.
It's suitable for teenagers or adults, and I would recommend this to almost anybody. My husband - who mainly likes thrillers - and my teenage sons - whose tastes run mostly to fantasy or historical works - have enjoyed this as much as I did. It's not necessary to have read the first two books in the trilogy, although if you enjoy allegorical fantasy/sci-fi then they're well-worth reading too. But this one is by far the most thought-provoking and perhaps also the least dated since it deals primarily with human nature.
Mark Studdock is ambitious and somewhat amoral; he's a don at a small university, who has managed to penetrate the 'inner circle' and is then half-offered a post at a new experimental centre. His wife Jane has been having such realistic and frightening dreams that she takes professional advice.
One on each 'side' - or being pulled that way - the book is a battle of good vs evil. Christians are on the good side, but not exclusively. The evil has grown out of a twisted humanitarianism.
Often chilling, couched in wisdom, 'That Hideous Strength' makes a terrific ending to CS Lewis's sci-fi/cosmic series.
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