Psychological Spooks

CHALK FACE--Waldo Frank--Boni & Liveright ($2.00). John Mark was a doctor and a genius, albeit a young one. He loved "Mildred, chaste as thought, Mildred, deep as discovery, Mildred, remote and imminent as truth!" Two things stood between him and Mildred--his parents' opposition to the match and a rival whom he had never seen. The rival was murdered under circumstances of which he was mysteriously conscious. Shortly thereafter, his parents were also assassinated. In both crimes, a strange figure with a white head was curiously implicated. John Mark began to feel that he himself was in some occult way guilty. He came to grips with the white-headed man, strove with him, conquered him--conquered his own embodied will. This is no ordinary mystery story. It is a strange, bold plunge into the heart of man. The struggle of John Mark is the struggle of every man with his own will. The story is a weird allegory of the soul battles of man, a daring objectification of the subconscious. It is also an insidious pitfall for the unwary reader of detective stories who may stumble unsuspectingly on its tortuous analyses of the human intelligence. As an experiment, its courage and interest cannot be denied.