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Mr. Lawrence Jayson, if that is his real name, writes an autobiographical tale which falls easily into the category of horror and mystery novels which can be read in an hour of vicarious excitement and then closed with a yawn of forgetfulness. His style is a facile and colloquial one. He utilizes dramatically alleged episodes in his experience from the moment when a commanding inner voice told him to attempt suicide by drowning until his final discharge from the mental hospital, 'Druryville', where he was rehabilitated. His adventures, as little by little he found the panic fears that characterized his illness to be unjustified, and the life he lived at the institution constitute the material of the story. The real mystery in the case remains unsolved. Mr. Jayson ostensibly recovered from a psychosis diagnosed dementia præcox more rapidly and completely than could have been anticipated and no medical explanation is given.
The author's account of the social life and activities and the general handling of the inmates of 'Druryville' should be informative for the lay reader. He makes a moderately successful effort to show to the public that mental patients are still human beings, therefore not to be stigmatized; that life in a modern mental hospital is not without its pleasurable side and for many may even be a comfortable refuge.