The Fear Institute

The plot is like a Lovecraft-inspired video game. There's NPC's giving Cabal information, tasks that have to be performed, and boss battles. Even his traveling companions could be looked at as extra lives/cannon fodder. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I see that the author wrote for video games so that may have put it in my mind.

There was an unexpected twist at the end that was nicely done. Like the first two Cabal books, it's very witty and entertaining. Never a dull moment.