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Fade is a kind of science fiction book (Robert Cormier calls it the most autobiographical novel he has ever written). It explores the old question "What if you could make yourself invisible?". The novel starts with an almost autobiographical part about one Paul Moreaux's childhood in the Frenchtown section of Monument in the late 1930s. When he is thirteen, the boy is puzzled about an old family picture in which his Uncle Adelard is missing, even though he should have been there. In the course of one summer, Paul is troubled by his awakening sexuality, encounters the Ku Klux Klan, is involved in many childhood pranks with his best friend Pete and finally learns about the secret of the "Fade", when his uncle comes to town. The "Fade", the ability to become invisible, is always passed on from uncle to nephew and Paul inherited it from Adelard. He experiments with the "Fade" and learns that it is a curse rather than a blessing. He witnesses the local merchant sexual abusing a teenage girl, incest between one of his best friends and his twin sister, beats up the local bully Omer LaBatt and finally even commits murder. When his brother dies of an illness he blames the "Fade" for it and decides not to "Fade" again.
The second part of the book is told from the point of view of Susan Roget, who in 1988 works for Meredith, the agent of her distant relative Paul Roget (Moreaux), who was a famous novelist and died in 1967. She discovers a manuscript - the first part of Fade - which Meredith has hidden. The two women are deeply troubled and wonder if the story is fact or fiction. They interview Paul's cousin, and finally Susan is allowed by Meredith to read the second part of the manuscript, told by Paul as an adult. He gives an account of his search for the new "Fader". He finally finds the boy, his sister's illegitimate child, in a small town in Maine. Ozzie is deeply disturbed, has been abused and neglected by his stepfather and follows the commands of "a voice inside his head" (Schizophrenia) that tells him to commit crimes and murder, when he discovers the "Fade". It comes to dramatic showdown between the two "Faders", and Paul finally has to kill his nephew because the schizophrenic voice is stronger than Ozzie himself. Susan is left totally disturbed and wondering if there might be another "Fader" somewhere out there.
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