The Lurker at the Threshold – H. P. Lovecraft & August Derleth
Horror season is upon Ottawa! Which means two things:
I'm thinking about Pumpkin Spice Lattes (sue me, alright!).
I can lean into my love of horror without seeming quite so strange to my co-workers.
The upside is that my reading speeds up, and I can start making a dent in my ever-growing backlog. I've been pretty lucky this season and managed to find a good number of H. P. Lovecraft tales at the thrift store. That means taking a step back from the world of Warhammer and Judge Dredd and plunging headfirst into the eldritch horrors of New England.
First up, The Lurker at the Threshold.
Book Details
Title: The Lurker at the Threshold
Authors: H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth
Format: Paperback
Page count: 186
The fluff:
Ambrose Dewart inherits the family estate in the Massachusetts countryside and decides it's time to settle down. He begins restoring the old house, clearing away the cobwebs and bringing some life back to its dark rooms. But while exploring his family's history, he discovers an old document left behind by an ancestor with a rather sinister reputation.
The warning is simple: Never invite him that lurks at the threshold!
Naturally, this does little to discourage Dewart's curiosity. And as he digs deeper into the family's past, he discovers that some very strange and dangerous powers may be waiting for their chance to return to Earth.
The Review
First things first: The Lurker at the Threshold isn't really a Lovecraft story in the way you might expect. Although it's credited to both H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth, the book was written almost entirely by Derleth using fragments and notes left behind by Lovecraft. So we're talking about a handful of Lovecraft's words rather than a full story written by the man himself.
With that in mind, I think it's worth approaching this as an attempt to expand the Mythos rather than a lost Lovecraft masterpiece. And, unfortunately, that comes with a few problems. The story takes us to Massachusetts, to an old, abandoned house near Arkham and Dunwich. We have the familiar ingredients: a long-lost family estate, an occult family history, and a cast of shadowy characters who aren't exactly forthcoming with useful information.
Things begin to go wrong as Dewart explores the grounds and uncovers more about his ancestors and their dealings with the locals. Strange dreams and unexplained noises start to plague him, and there's that wonderfully suspicious window in the study. You know the sort of thing. The more he investigates and reads about his family's past, the deeper he plunges into madness.
On paper, this should be right up my street. Old houses, forbidden knowledge, strange goings-on and the possibility of ancient powers returning to the world? Yes, please!
The trouble is that the execution never quite comes together. The story follows a fairly straightforward A-to-B structure, with names of Elder Gods dropped into the narrative to remind us that we're firmly in Lovecraft territory. But name-dropping the Mythos isn't the same as recreating the atmosphere that makes Lovecraft's best stories so unsettling.
For me, the book struggles to capture that feeling of creeping dread and psychological distress. Parts of the story feel rushed, and the shifts between three different character narratives interrupt the tension. Just when I wanted to stay with the main character and experience his growing fear, the story moved elsewhere. That made it harder for me to get properly invested in what was happening. The ingredients are there, but the atmosphere doesn't always stick around long enough to let the horror sink its teeth in.
Final Thoughts
A for effort, but a D- for execution. I wanted to enjoy this one more than I did. There's plenty here that should appeal to anyone who enjoys the Cthulhu Mythos: an isolated ancestral home, disturbing family secrets, forbidden knowledge and the threat of something ancient stirring beyond the limits of human understanding.
Unfortunately, I never felt that the book quite captured the Lovecraftian vibe I was looking for. The pacing feels uneven, the changes in perspective interrupt the tension, and the horror doesn't build into the experience I was hoping for. Is it worth reading if you're exploring the wider world of Lovecraft-inspired fiction? Perhaps. But if you're looking for the atmosphere and creeping dread of Lovecraft himself, I'd suggest starting elsewhere.
For now, I'm heading back into my thrift-store haul to see what other horrors New England has waiting for me.
Cheers for reading, and I'll see you on the next adventure!
