Carter & Lovecraft

By: Jonathan L. Howard

Narrated by: Ari Fliakos

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Daniel Carter used to be a homicide detective, but his last case - the hunt for a serial killer - went wrong in strange ways and soured the job for him. Now he's a private investigator trying to live a quiet life. Strangeness, however, has not finished with him.

First, he inherits a bookstore in Providence from someone he's never heard of, along with an indignant bookseller who doesn't want a new boss. She's Emily Lovecraft, the last known descendant of H. P. Lovecraft, the writer from Providence who told tales of the Great Old Ones and the Elder Gods, creatures and entities beyond the understanding of man. Then people start dying in impossible ways, and while Carter doesn't want to be involved, he's beginning to suspect that someone else wants him to be. As Carter reluctantly investigates, he discovers that H. P. Lovecraft's tales were more than just fiction, and he must accept another unexpected and far more unwanted inheritance.

©2015 Jonathan L. Howard (P)2015 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

" Carter & Lovecraft is a Pandora's box loaded with all the wonderfully twisted stuff I love, including a two-fisted homicide cop turned PI, warped realities, a mysterious bookstore, the Cthulhu mythos, a dash of romance, and creepy fish-men. What's not to love? Jonathan L. Howard knows how to show his readers a wickedly good time." (Christopher Golden, New York Times best-selling author of Dead Ringers)

Awesome Lovecraftian mystery

Smart, intelligent with a witty storyline, Carter & Lovecraft is a very enjoyable adventure. It's a hardboiled mystery coupled with the otherworldly elements and mundane locales from HP Lovecraft's life and stories. Jonathan Howard manages to avoid the story being a pastiche and created an innovative homage instead.

Carter & Lovecraft opens with a child serial killer that's just snatched his latest victim and the NYPD homicide detectives hot on his heels, tracking him down. The tension and urgency is palpable, with the details of the heinous acts inflicted on the children and an honest to God 'psycho wall', but if you were expecting a police procedural type of story going forward you'll be disappointed. Carter & Lovecraft departs from the opening set up as one of the detectives, Dan Carter, submits his resignation several months after this op, because the job's just not the same for him anymore.

Haunted by the events that transpired (and by the psycho wall) Dan puts his shingle out as a PI...in Red Hook, NY. He prefers to introduce himself as 'an investigator', thereby avoiding all the unsavory aspects 'private' adds to the career choice. Dan's not really happy stalking cheating spouses for divorce proceedings, but it pays the bills.

Then one day a lawyer shows up in Dan's office, explaining he's just inherited property in Providence, RI. Dan travels to the city and discovers he's now the owner of an antiquarian book store with an apartment over it, run successfully for the last seven years by the previous owner's niece, Emily Lovecraft, a beautiful black woman that’s also HPL’s last surviving descendent.

This is where the already engaging story really takes off, becoming a can't put it down page turner.

The interactions between Carter and Lovecraft makes the book very enjoyable to listen to. They're effortlessly three dimensional with realistic attitudes, dialog and motivations. Vivid too. (Howard, through Emily, also beautifully lampoon's HPL's bigotry throughout the book.) Soon the weird happenings (missing persons, bizarre people, unusual deaths, suspicious phone calls and surreal visions) has Dan investigating with Emily's knowledge and research assisting him as they're drawn into otherworldly activities, danger, violence and monsters in their midst.

Ari Fliakos's narration is _fantastic_. Every character steps off the page. The accents, the dialog, his emoting skills makes for a very enjoyable listen that immerses you into the story from the first word.

Carter & Lovecraft fits into to my favorite 'weird' genre of hard to list books. They pop up all over the place. They're difficult to pigeon hole, because they can be listed in many categories. Mystery, horror, urban fantasy. When I stumble on them I'm really psyched. For me, anyway, they're categorized as 'serious and grim with fantastic supernatural horror that'll rivet you till the story's done'. I LOVE THESE KIND OF STORIES. Harry Connolly's Twenty Palaces, Laird Barron's Isaiah Coleridge books and Stephen Blackwell's Eric Carter series, to name just a few are go to re-reads. Now I can add Carter & Lovecraft (and its sequel After the End of the World) to the list. Plus Carter & Lovecraft has humor in there too. The dialog exchanges are quick, witty and very amusing at times. And the surreal experiences are fascinating. And there's all the 'historical' references from HP Lovecraft's life and works that are deftly threaded into the narrative, making for many hours of entertainment.

Well worth the credit.

Modern take and twist to Lovecraft

The story starts slow, but stick with it. The story evolves and expands very quickly after the first couple of chapters. The story reminded me of the Fringe TV series. Can't wait for more.

To be continued...?

Not a bad story. Easy to follow and great clear language. Characters likeable and root for them through this journey. Ending felt a little rushed. Not sure if the writer ran out of gas by the end. Or maybe there will be another book to continue the adventure.

Superb Writing!

The syntax, story, word choice, pace, character’s voice were all cohesive. I’m looking forward to the next adventure.

Fantastic, Refreshing and Unexpected

I didn't know what to expect going in, especially since I got this on sale (the "first in a series" sale). Wow am I happy I got this book!

Carter and Lovecraft is an excellent marriage between detective story and Lovecraftian horror, while not really being either. Fans of Lovecraft will enjoy the respect paid to not only his work, but also the concepts in his stories.

One thing I particularly loved was the detail paid to everything. instead of a "gun" or a "pistol," it's a Beretta, and so on. It shows when the author either knows what they are talking about, or at least cares enough to do the research.

the narration itself was fantastic, especially when it came to the main antagonist. As others have said, the way the narrator reads women is a bit weird, but it's worth it for his otherwise flawless narration (spare a throat clear at one point...now you'll be waiting for it!).

I was looking to fill a void after reading The Magicians, and I'm so glad I found this book. Time to dive into the sequal!

a clever meta take on Lovecraft

Both a great Lovecraftian story and a subversive take on it. Excellent voice characterisation by the narrator

SO Good!

I loved this whole journey and I would very much like to read a sequel!

Private dick meets the mythos

Consistently witty prose and the perfect narrator for the writing style. A great hardboiled audiobook.

Lovecraft for Beginners

Decent story. I’ve maybe a little lite on lore. I feel like it needed some more world building. Over it’s a good store and the performance was great. I’m going to start the second one now…

This is freakin' spectacular!

I honestly don't know why I never got on this sooner, as Jonathan L. Howard is one of my favorite authors. Guess it just needed to marinate on my TBR list long enough to be ripe. I loved the new twist on old tropes, and an enthralled. This receives a full five star review and recommendation, and listen to the Audible edition. read by Ari Fliakos. You will thank me later.