I also have read the story, and I found it to have that same feel of nameless evil terror that Tolkien was so good at depicting. The old man who was the protagonist was interesting, probably a little bit of Tolkien in him, and the plot looked like it was going to go somewhere interesting. But it would have been as Tolkien himself lamented, a mere thriller - a darn good one, I'd bet, but it would have pulled him away from the myths he loved. Still, I wish he would have written it. So put me down as having really enjoyed it.
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