The Night Ocean

I've never read H.P. Lovecraft, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this book, which involves a quest to discover the truth about a book called The Erotonomicon, purportedly written by Lovecraft himself. The Night Ocean is stories within stories, searches for truth in dark places, impersonations (or is it transmigration of souls?), disappearances, and and coming back from the dead.

The story about Lovecraft and his teenage friend Robert Barlow is framed by a present day story about a psychologist, Marina, and her missing husband, presumed dead by suicide. Charlie, Marina's husband, had gone into a deep depression after his intensively researched book about The Erotonomicon was attacked and exposed as a hoax by Lovecraft experts. After Charlie's presumed suicide, Marina re traces her husband's research to try to understand what happened to him. This frame feels essential to the story because it reinforces the themes of the Lovecraft story, but it's also the flimsiest part of the book.

For science fiction fans, this would be a fun book to read because of the history of early “weird fiction” and the cameo appearances by classic authors (Ursula LeGuin was my favorite). I'm still not tempted to read any H.P. Lovecraft on the strength of this book, but I do recommend The Night Ocean as a creepy story that goes deep.