The City of Unspeakable Fear (French: La Cité de l'indicible peur) is a 1943 horror novel by the Belgian writer Jean Ray.
[2] The book was the basis for the 1964 film The Big Scare [fr], directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky and starring Bourvil.
[1] The story follows a retired Scotland Yard officer, Sidney Terence Trigger ("Triggs"), who moves to the fictional town of Ingersham in Southeast England.
Expecting to settle down into a tranquil rural life, he instead finds that the residents of Ingersham anticipate a "great fear" striking the town.
A series of deaths and apparent supernatural incidents draw Triggs into the role of detective, trying to identify what is real in an environment of paranoia.