The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Whisperer in Darkness

by H.P. Lovecraft, William Roberts (Reading)

The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Whisperer in Darkness are counted amongst H.P. Lovecraft's most popular stories. In the first we are transported to the decrepit coastal town of Innsmouth, whose amphibian-like citizens betray a dark and sinister secret... The second takes us to Vermont, where a university professor becomes embroiled in a mind-bending, celestial mystery after strange things are seen floating in the rivers... Dark, brooding and suspenseful, this is Lovecraft at his very best.

Genres: Horror, Classics, Audiobook

1 pages, Audio CD

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Howard Phillips Lovecraft, of Providence, Rhode Island, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction.

Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.

Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

— Wikipedia

Reviews

[Deborah Good · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to read more of Lovecraft. What a great horror writer!

[Grab · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of those times when I wish the monsters and general plot were handed to another writer. Lovecraft spends at least the first 1/3-1/2 of both stories in uncompelling narration—lots of telling and very little showing (a failing throughout). Then when things do happen, his narrators are fumbling fools who still somehow Mary Sue their way out of sure death. The only thing he really gets right is the insularity and condemning judgment of small New England towns. It’s a shame. His plots and monsters have such promise.

[TJ Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are both classic, unsettling horror. I love the sense of place, unease, and tension that Lovecraft builds for the reader and these two stories have it in spades. A must read.