Marblehead

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 9 APR 2007

Fans of Lupoff's Lovecraft's Book (1985) will welcome what amounts to the original, uncut version of that novel. This alternative history focuses on the busy year 1927 in the life of Rhode Island horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. As in Lovecraft's Book, G.S. Viereck, who represents a consortium of right-wing extremists, commissions Lovecraft to write a book outlining their projected New World Order. Lovecraft initially attacks the project with gusto, but is disillusioned as he learns of his employers' low morals and motives. His estranged wife, Sonia, and friend Theo Weiss, both Jews, further make him re-examine his own bigotry. The author has done some impressive research, with a keen eye for the detail of New York City and New England of the period. Some readers, though, may wish he had dispensed with the many digressions and a murder subplot that sidetrack the main action. Still, Lupoff succeeds in making Lovecraft a fully human figure, as shown especially in touching scenes between him and Sonia.