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danielv64's review against another edition
4.0
Nice new entry into the Lovecraft Universe, worth a read for true HPL fans.
zraitor's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
lattes_lipstick_literature's review against another edition
3.0
*Thanks to Netgalley for letting me read the book in exchange for a honest review*
So folks, I really, really, really wanted to love this book, especially since I am a big fan of Lovecraft and his universe. At the risk of sounding like a total dweeb (although I may have already failed because who says dweeb nowadays?) I even played the Call of Cthulhu table top game because I love Lovecraft horror so much. The beginning of the book shows two teenage boys breaking into a construction site, H.G. Wells old home to find some treasure. My mind played it out like a movie and I loved that, Probert has such an amazing way with words and horror writing in general that when those creepy parts came up I actually cringed at it as if I was seeing it in real life. While this book did not give me nightmares (that would take a lot to do), anyone who was not used to horror genre may have trouble.
The beginning of the book had such great pacing, it seemed as if things would settle down, then it would come back, settle down again and take you for another ride. The story itself was great, the setup, the backstory, the creepiness of the church. I loved that he used characters I knew of to set the history. I even recommended that my husband read it and I don't ever do that. The newspaper articles, the scribbled notes, the transcripts from news shows added major depth to a already great written book.
While I loved the story, and Probert's writing, his characters just didn't do it for me. When the story would turn it's focus to a character I hated it. I didn't like anyone of them. Honestly if they all died I think it would have made the story for me. Karen and Chambers the two main characters annoyed the hell out of me, their emerging romance, their dialogue, Their actions just made me scoff as well as want to just skip pages. I couldn't connect to them in anyway that made me root for them. I really wanted to like Chambers considering he is a forensic pathologist a field I want to get into, but I just still couldn't like him.
Anything thing that bothered me was even though this book is the first in it's series I felt as if I was missing a book, as if this was not the first but the second in a ongoing series. The characters would mention a person or a event that had occurred and I wondered if I have accidentally skipped something, I even made a search just to double check that this was the first book. It didn't give me the setup or backstory I needed, maybe that's why I couldn't connect to the characters because I felt like I was missing something.
So folks, I really, really, really wanted to love this book, especially since I am a big fan of Lovecraft and his universe. At the risk of sounding like a total dweeb (although I may have already failed because who says dweeb nowadays?) I even played the Call of Cthulhu table top game because I love Lovecraft horror so much. The beginning of the book shows two teenage boys breaking into a construction site, H.G. Wells old home to find some treasure. My mind played it out like a movie and I loved that, Probert has such an amazing way with words and horror writing in general that when those creepy parts came up I actually cringed at it as if I was seeing it in real life. While this book did not give me nightmares (that would take a lot to do), anyone who was not used to horror genre may have trouble.
The beginning of the book had such great pacing, it seemed as if things would settle down, then it would come back, settle down again and take you for another ride. The story itself was great, the setup, the backstory, the creepiness of the church. I loved that he used characters I knew of to set the history. I even recommended that my husband read it and I don't ever do that. The newspaper articles, the scribbled notes, the transcripts from news shows added major depth to a already great written book.
While I loved the story, and Probert's writing, his characters just didn't do it for me. When the story would turn it's focus to a character I hated it. I didn't like anyone of them. Honestly if they all died I think it would have made the story for me. Karen and Chambers the two main characters annoyed the hell out of me, their emerging romance, their dialogue, Their actions just made me scoff as well as want to just skip pages. I couldn't connect to them in anyway that made me root for them. I really wanted to like Chambers considering he is a forensic pathologist a field I want to get into, but I just still couldn't like him.
Anything thing that bothered me was even though this book is the first in it's series I felt as if I was missing a book, as if this was not the first but the second in a ongoing series. The characters would mention a person or a event that had occurred and I wondered if I have accidentally skipped something, I even made a search just to double check that this was the first book. It didn't give me the setup or backstory I needed, maybe that's why I couldn't connect to the characters because I felt like I was missing something.
otterno11's review
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
As an ancient evil stirs under England, tying the literary works of Geoffrey Chaucer with those of Dante, an agent of the Human Protection League (or “Lovecraft Squad”) shows up to deal with the mess. A cursed church, a cheesy media stunt, and zombies based around the seven sins round out this bloated but not very scary horror novel. Nothing novel is brought to any of these established horror tropes. The campiness is played all too straight, the characters are completely wooden, alternating between skepticism and credulity as demanded by the plot, and it all drags on at least a hundred pages too long
Altogether, the novel reads like something Garth Marenghi might write, minus any sense of humor. As the first of a series of works featuring the HPL, a secretive international anti-supernatural task force affiliated with the American FBI in a world in which Lovecraft was writing nonfiction, All Hallows Horror definitely does not begin things on the best foot. Oddly, the HPL barely plays a role here, with the proceedings much more connected to another horror fiction anthology series involving the zombie apocalypse, a genre I could not be less interested in. In the end, this is one I wish I had skipped.
I write about other works that use Lovecraft as a fictional character in my article Lovecraft Reanimated at Fandom Fanatics.
Altogether, the novel reads like something Garth Marenghi might write, minus any sense of humor. As the first of a series of works featuring the HPL, a secretive international anti-supernatural task force affiliated with the American FBI in a world in which Lovecraft was writing nonfiction, All Hallows Horror definitely does not begin things on the best foot. Oddly, the HPL barely plays a role here, with the proceedings much more connected to another horror fiction anthology series involving the zombie apocalypse, a genre I could not be less interested in. In the end, this is one I wish I had skipped.
I write about other works that use Lovecraft as a fictional character in my article Lovecraft Reanimated at Fandom Fanatics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, and Gore
jameseckman's review
2.0
I made it about halfway through this pedestrian haunted house story that was lightly decorated with Lovecraftian touches. Neither the story or the characters were holding my attention and I gave up.
lilyn_g's review
5.0
This was a fantastic read that just kept getting better. It managed to creep me out, which (given the sheer amount I read) is surprisingly hard to do. The Lovecraft Squad managed to get me to the point where I had to stop reading one night. I was pretty sure one of the creatures was behind me, staring at me while I read it. And there was definitely too much eerie light in the room. (Regardless of the fact that I knew it was just my Kindle Paperwhite‘s illumination). It kicked my overactive imagination firmly into high gear. Finally, I had to start thinking about something else, or I wasn’t going to sleep. Period.
When The Lovecraft Squad first starts out, you have no inkling that it’s going to turn out the way it does. It opens with a bit of Poltergeist-esque action, and you think the mood is set. But then as you read on, you think maybe light mystery with a tinge of the supernatural. Mildly creepy, but nothing special. And then…then there’s a scene involving a swirling ‘snowstorm’ of maggots. You start to realize you’re in for something special at that point. John Llewellyn Probert has a talent for disturbing descriptions that rivals some of Stephen King’s best works. This is a book to sink into when you’re in the mood for a good bit of soul-dampening unease and paranoia.
(Speaking of paranoia, just as I wrote the above line, I noticed my cat was on the back of the couch, staring at me like she’d really like to add human female to her dietary requirements.)
The characters aren’t particularly fleshed out, but then again they don’t particularly need to be. The Lovecraft Squad is a horror/mystery that’s set in a world where the Lovecraft mythos is a (mostly) unacknowledged reality. Probert thrusts you directly into the action, and you don’t have time to think much about character development. I will say by the end of it I definitely liked Chambers, the main male protagonist, though. He had a level head that I couldn’t help but appreciate. Speaking of characters, there was only one point where I had a quibble with the book. It was more of a twinge of disappointment, really. One of the characters had an unexpected twist that saw me drawing a jagged line through my notes on “How nice it was to have…” Ah well, nothing’s perfect.
Probert’s imagery sucks you in, and the action propels you along. This is not a book to read if you’re easily disturbed by vivid descriptions of gross, terrible, and/or unusual things. The Lovecraft Squad is, thankfully, also a book that can be read as a stand-alone. We need more books like that on bookseller’s shelves again, please. It’s a slower read, but a good one. I found myself going back and re-reading sections just to let it sink into my mind at times. Overall, this is a book that I highly recommend for horror readers in general. Well worth the read. Every word of it.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from Netgalley for review consideration.
When The Lovecraft Squad first starts out, you have no inkling that it’s going to turn out the way it does. It opens with a bit of Poltergeist-esque action, and you think the mood is set. But then as you read on, you think maybe light mystery with a tinge of the supernatural. Mildly creepy, but nothing special. And then…then there’s a scene involving a swirling ‘snowstorm’ of maggots. You start to realize you’re in for something special at that point. John Llewellyn Probert has a talent for disturbing descriptions that rivals some of Stephen King’s best works. This is a book to sink into when you’re in the mood for a good bit of soul-dampening unease and paranoia.
(Speaking of paranoia, just as I wrote the above line, I noticed my cat was on the back of the couch, staring at me like she’d really like to add human female to her dietary requirements.)
The characters aren’t particularly fleshed out, but then again they don’t particularly need to be. The Lovecraft Squad is a horror/mystery that’s set in a world where the Lovecraft mythos is a (mostly) unacknowledged reality. Probert thrusts you directly into the action, and you don’t have time to think much about character development. I will say by the end of it I definitely liked Chambers, the main male protagonist, though. He had a level head that I couldn’t help but appreciate. Speaking of characters, there was only one point where I had a quibble with the book. It was more of a twinge of disappointment, really. One of the characters had an unexpected twist that saw me drawing a jagged line through my notes on “How nice it was to have…” Ah well, nothing’s perfect.
Probert’s imagery sucks you in, and the action propels you along. This is not a book to read if you’re easily disturbed by vivid descriptions of gross, terrible, and/or unusual things. The Lovecraft Squad is, thankfully, also a book that can be read as a stand-alone. We need more books like that on bookseller’s shelves again, please. It’s a slower read, but a good one. I found myself going back and re-reading sections just to let it sink into my mind at times. Overall, this is a book that I highly recommend for horror readers in general. Well worth the read. Every word of it.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from Netgalley for review consideration.
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