Call of Cthulhu®: The Shadow on the Glass

By: Jonathan L. Howard

Narrated by: Samuel Roukin

Victorian charlatans imperil reality when they unwittingly summon a horror from the void

LONDON, 1891. Elizabeth Whittle and William Grant enjoy scalping London’s bourgeoisie, taking on the personas of grand spiritist Cerulia Trent and her agent to connect the living and the dead. When a detective arrives, sniffing out fraud with a scientifically minded spiritualist society, the duo decides to take one last job before escaping to the continent.

However, their final séance ends horrifically … and soon Lizzie isn’t Lizzie anymore. William, desperate to banish whatever monster they summoned, is soon embroiled in an electrifying eldritch mystery where he makes a deal with the devil to save his friend and stop an even greater evil from transforming the known world.

Hear the Call of Cthulhu in the menacing gaslit shadows of Victorian England

©2024 Chaosium (P)2024 Recorded Books

Cthulhu By Gaslight

I’m sold. Narrator absolutely nails it. Lovecraft has been reimagined in many different eras, but Victorian England is second only to New England 1920-1930s 👍

enjoyable chthonic detective story

fun romp through spiritualism in England via criminals and eldritch horrors. Nicely set in it's era without feeling clunky or over done.

Within its Element and Thriving Thrills

Johnathan L. Howard once again captures the elements of a creeping mystery with a sympathetic lense on the encouragable criminal characters and the deep, abyssal depths that they have been caught up in.

it's genuinely hard to find a good book that emulates the style of writing to the age of 'lovecraftian' horror, with better handling and nuance than your average 19th century penny dreadful. (which is to say- not racist or egregiously sexist.)

Cheers to a good listen, the performance is, of course, flawless.

We also inherited a large quantity of stationary…

I’ve been patiently awaiting a new piece from Howard and am not disappointed.

His intimate familiarity with Lovecraftian fiction shines through once again in a new and delightful environment. A wonderful storyteller rewards us for reading his works.

And the title of this review reminds us of the humor we always find in a Howard story.

I’m looking forward to the next installment!!

At last! Another Jonathan L. Howard novel!

Jonathan L. Howard is one of my favorite authors, but he seems to do multiple things besides writing. I’ve read almost everything he’s written and a new book is like New Years.

A Victorian Cthulhu novel that does not fall into the easy tropes. Moves along and leaves you waiting for more!

Great voicing by Samuel Roukin who has a real mastery of accents from Mancusan to the Middle East.

Another great novel! Hope to see more soon!

Not a bad introduction to this author but his other works are much better. Try them.

I went exploring to see if JLH had written any further Carter & Lovecraft books after a re-listen of both books in this series, and discovered this latest release. I was initially put off by the sample, thinking the narration a bit melodramatic - deciding to give it a go eventually and, although not up to the superb narration of the Carter & Lovecrafts and Johanas Cabal series, it proved to be quite listenable.
Overall the storyline was just OK, a little too linear perhaps, but engaging enough for a stand alone story. I felt the character development was lacking, again perhaps as the intention of the book seems to have been as a standalone.
There’s an interesting interview at paulsemel.com about how this book came about, which answers a few questions for me. Worth a look.
I’ll no doubt have a re-listen of this story in a few months but can’t see me adding it to my “regular rotation”
In summary, not his best work, but doesn’t diminish in any way the esteem I hold him in as an author.

Very good

Really enjoyed this story. Loved the cast of characters and the performances was great. I don’t know how I feel about the very end.

Horror&humor by gaslight

Possible ties to Lovecraft & Carter? good read. If you are a fan of Lovecraft & Carter definitely read.

Wow. This is not the Jonathan Howard we know

If you’re expecting anything close to resembling the blinding brilliance and wit of the Cabal Brothers series, DO NOT read this book. If you’re ok with a mediocre, poorly planned and highly disappointing plot, then this book is for you.