Virtually everybody knows the story of how the great consulting detective Sherlock Holmes first encountered his eponymous sidekick, Dr. John H. Watson. Arthur Conan Doyle told the story brilliantly in his 1887 masterpiece “A Study in Scarlet.” What ultimately sprang from that novel was one of the greatest, most enduring partnerships in literature, and a saga that continues to be added to today.
James Lovegrove, who has penned a number of Holmes & Watson books in the past, now gives us a remarkable twist on the old tales with the first or four (and hopefully more) Cthulhu Casebooks, in which he mashes up the Conan Doyle-verse with the that of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythology. The novel begins much as “A Study in Scarlet” does; Watson, a military doctor, has returned from service in Afghanistan with the British Army. He bears wounds both physical and psychological, though as we’ll learn in due course, there are much darker forces at work than Afghan bullets.
The novel hits the ground running and kicks off at a breakneck pace and rarely lets up. It’s an absolute page turner, atmospheric as hell and practically dripping with eldritch horror as the narrative progresses to a satisfactorily epic conclusion. Along the way, there are some of the old favorites — Lestrade, Mycroft, and others I won’t spoil — and checks most of the boxes that are necessary for a fan of both sandboxes he’s playing in.
To call this a pastiche or fanfic would be to do it a grave injustice. Lovegrove is one hell of a writer. He nails Conan Doyle’s writing style (Watson still “ejaculates” his responses in excitement!) and the writing never feels awkward or clumsy. It’s suitably stylish without affectation, and I found it easy to immerse myself in the story without the prose being an obstacle.
This is by no means a complaint, but some elements of the Lovecraft-verse are simply name-checked rather than written about in any depth. It’s my hope that Lovegrove is setting these up as fodder for future books in the series, which I suspect will turn out to be the case.
Perhaps most importantly of all, this book is *fun* — a dark, god-like evil from beyond the stars, Great Old Ones returning, tentacle slithering fun…an absolute blast. I don’t know how much those who are unfamiliar with Conan Doyle and Lovecraft’s work would enjoy it, but if you’re fond of one or both of those canons, I cannot recommend Lovegrove’s rollercoaster ride enough. Perhaps the highest praise I can give it is to tell you that, after turning the final page and setting the book aside, I immediately ordered the remaining three books in the series *and* a stack of his “vanilla” Sherlockian books. Here’s hoping that Titan Books will commission more of them.
These books are most definitely for me, and I hope they’re for you too.
-re
