The hooded man door Jay Bennett

The author: Jay Bennett
Title of the book: The Hooded Man
The publicer: Wolters Noordhoff

Summary:

Cory, Fred, Frank and Miles are four friends. They were going to college together. After they were accepted as pledges in a fraternity they had to do something to celebrate this. That was traditional. It had to be something bizarre but safe. So the four friends began to think of something. Then Cory thinks of something. They can get the bell on the roof of the Old Meeting House and haul it over to the frat house, and then they can ring it on different occasions. Everybody liked the idea except Fred. He had a bad feeling about it.
The other three friends decided to go on with the plan. They met each other at the Meeting House. Fred came along although he didn’t like the idea. They found out it was for the best if they would carry the bell to the ledge and then let it drop to the ground below. Cory persuaded Fred to be a part of the whole thing. Fred and Cory lifted the bell and walked to the ledge. But Cory’s sneaker caught on a nail and he dropped to his knees. Fred couldn’t keep his balance and fell of the roof. He was dead.
Cory blamed himself for the death of Fred.
One night when Cory was standing for his window, he saw a hooded man standing in front of his house. The man was looking to his window. As suddenly as the man was standing there he was gone.
On a day Frank called Cory, because he wanted to meet him. So they met after Cory was done at school and Frank finished his job. Frank told Cory that a person had called him and blamed him of being a murderer. He had to come with Miles and Cory to the Old Meeting House. But Frank couldn’t reach Miles, so he and Cory went to the House. Then suddenly they see the Hooded Man on the roof. He was pushing the bell again and again. They got scared and went away.
Later that evening Cory was home alone. Frank called him and asked him to come over. So Cory did. When he got there he walked into the house. Frank would be sitting by the pool. Cory walked to the pool area. Then he saw Frank lying head down in the middle of the pool. He was floating gently in the water. He was dead.
Cory had to go to the police station. There he was questioned. He told them about the Hooded Man, but they didn’t believed him. They suspected that Cory was the killer. Everybody suspected that. Nobody believed the story of the Hooded Man. They thought that Cory was going mad. Even Miles thought it.
After a while, Miles calls Cory and asks him to come to the Old Meeting House. He said he felt bad about everything and he wanted to talk about it. So Cory drove to the Old Meeting House. When he got there he didn’t saw Miles anywhere. He stood there for a while and then he saw the Hooded Man on the roof, pushing the bell again. The Hooded Man pointed his hand down to a spot and disappeared. Cory looks at the spot and saw Miles lying there with his face head down in the rippling grass. He was dead.
Once again Cory had to go to the police station and answer the questions. Again Cory told them about the Hooded Man. The district attorney asked Cory who he thought could be the Hooded Man. Cory answered he thought it could be Professor Khan or Ed Cobb. They both blamed the three friends for the death of Fred and they lost a lot because of Fred’s death. The police would question both of the suspects.
The same evening Professor Khan called Cory. He wanted to talk to him about the questioning of the police. So Cory went to Professor Khan’s house. There he went into the house and suddenly Professor Khan began to cry out. Cory ran to the door of the house and slammed it shut behind him.
While he was sitting in the car he saw Mrs. Harris, the mother of Fred, standing under the lamplight. She said that her car wouldn’t work and that she had to make an important call. So Cory took her with him in his car and brought her to her house. He went with her in the house and Mrs. Harris asked him if he would go to the trophy room of Fred. Cory did and when he opened the door he only saw a picture of Fred with three tall flickering white candles. There was a chair and that was it. All of the pictures and newspaper clippings were gone. Then he heard a voice. It was the voice of Mrs. Harris. She was the Hooded Man. She pointed a gun on Cory’s head. She wanted to kill him too. But then there was a voice shouting. It shouted: ”Put down the gun. Put it down.” Cory was saved.
It had been Professor Khan who had called the police. Mrs. Harris either had to go to a psychiatric ward or a prison for many years.

The main characters are:

Cory Brenner , Fred Harris, Frank Shea, Miles Kenton, Professor Khan and Mrs. Harris/the Hooded Man.

Cory Brenner was one of the four friends. He blamed himself for the death of his friend Fred.
Fred Harris also was one of the four friends. He fell of the roof with his face head down on the ground.
Frank Shea, also one of the four friends, was killed by the Hooded Man.
Miles Kenton, also one of the four friends, was also killed by the Hooded Man.
Professor Khan, he was the one that saved Cory from being killed by the Hooded Man.
Mrs. Harris/the Hooded Man is the mother of Fred. She blames the other three friends for the death of her son. She takes revenge by killing them. Only Cory Brenner is saved by Professor Khan.