Fear by L. Ron Hubbard

Professor James Lowry doesn't believe in ghosts, the supernatural, the surreal, or any type of dark fantasy. Not until a gentle spring evening when his hat disappeared, and suddenly he couldn't remember the last four hours of his life. Now, the quiet university town of Atworthy is changing - slightly at first, then faster and more frighteningly each time he tries to remember.

Lowry is pursued by a dark, secret evil that is turning his whole world against him while it whispers a his forgotten scary story from the shadows: If you find your hat you'll find your four hours. If you find your four hours then you will die…Fear turns to terror...

“A true scare!” —Ray Bradbury

“What I’m writing is really psychological fantasies, on the order of L. Ron Hubbard’s Fear. Without Fear, I would never have come up with what I do.” —Philip K. Dick