Paul Halter’s The Fourth Doorconstructs a haunted mansion where "supernatural" events—ghostly lights in locked attics, footprints vanishing in snow—mirror modern cognitive traps. The core irony lies in how the séance-performing couple exploits grief: by promising communication with the dead, they manipulate the bereaved into financial exploitation

. This resonates eerily with today’s digital landscape, where algorithms feed on emotional vulnerability, turning fear into clickbait and isolation into profit.

Halter’s mastery shines in "impossible crime" designs. For instance, a corpse materializes in a wax-sealed room without breaking the seal—a metaphor for modern systems that prioritize seamless appearances (e.g., "flawless" social media personas) while obscuring psychological cracks

. The detective’s breakthrough comes from noticing a "tiny pinhole" on the doorframe, underscoring that truth often hides in neglected details, not grand illusions.

Ultimately, the novel dismantles the myth of external monsters. As one character realizes, "Human cunning is more terrifying than ghosts"

. In an age of AI deepfakes and existential anxiety, The Fourth Doorurges us to confront the real phantom: the human mind’s capacity for self-deception and exploitation.