Books: Death and Transfiguration

HANNIBAL HOOKER—William Harlan Hale—Random House ($2.50).

The subtitle of William Harlan Hale's novel about Hannibal Hooker puts the tumbril before the horse: His Death and Adventures. This inversion is no accident.

Hannibal Hooker sets out from his Hoosier Quaker home to become a minister and to mend the world singlehanded. Before long he finds himself extolling Mammon in the pulpit of a brand-new stone temple and wishing he loved a brand-new, stone-cold wife for something besides her money. His mind cracks, and he disappears.

After this spiritual death, his adventures are carnal enough. He turns...