A review by will_cherico
That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is easily one of the best successors to the spirit that Lovecraft created in his stories a hundred years ago. Talley tells four stories to the main character, Carter Weston, that are compelling horror tales on their own that dip their toes into folk horror, gothic horror, and classic cult terror that we expect from Lovecraft. As a complete unit, they wind up being so effective because of all the little consistencies in them. They don't start to feel truly connected until the very end, and when they do it works so effectively. Talley pulls from real world folklore and the strange consistencies in those stories to make Cthulhu feel like a very real myth. I also greatly admire his restraint in not getting super deep into the mythos stuff until the very last section, and just as it threatens to get too August Derleth-y it ends pretty pessimistically.