'The city of Arkham falls prey to ghoulish dread in this chilling anthology of action-packed adventure, from the bestselling world of Arkham Horror
'Something monstrous has come to Arkham, Massachusetts. There have always been shadows here, but now a new hunger has risen from the depths and threatens those who dwell here. But there are heroes too – people who stand up and fight to stem the tide, even when it costs them everything. Explore eight shocking new tales of occult horror, captivating mystery, and existential fear – from a zealous new heroine to conniving cultists, bootleg whiskey to night terrors, and fiends that crawl from open graves. A nightmare has fallen across Arkham, and it will devour all.'
The Devourer Below is the first anthology book in the ever popular Arkham Horror book series, and takes readers on a host of adventures around the titular city as ordinary folk, private investigators, and monster hunters come face to face wit enigmatic cults, twisted monstrosities, and the ancient evil that connects them all; Umôrdhoth, the Devourere Below.
The first story in this collection, 'Running the Night Whiskey' by Evan Dicken is a great way to kick things off, and introduces us to several ideas that will make repeat appearances across the book. The story follows Leo, a former soldier in the Great War turned into a bit of a rogue, who upon finding himself in some trouble with local bootleggers and gangsters, agrees to help an old friend from the army smuggle some illegal booze into Arkham.
Over the course of this story we get to know Leo, and learn about his history both as a criminal and his time in the war. Dicken gives several curve balls across the narrative, letting you think one particular thing is going to happen before subtly subverting your expectations, before the final horrific revelations. The story introduces the entity of Umôrdhoth, the cults that worship him, the ghouls that serve him, as well as the idea that there are people in the world who oppose these forces, and are willing to fight against them.
'Shadows Dawning' by Georgina Kamsika tells the story of Lita Chandler, a recently widowed woman whose husband was targeted and killed by a cult. Not knowing who in Arkham she can trust anymore, but knowing that the cult is still out there, Lita enters a desperate mission to find answers as to why her husband was killed, as well as taking revenge against those who took him from her.
There's a sense of desperation to this story, as Lita struggles to find answers and to stay alive in the face of these evil people that really transports you into her shoes. Even as a reader you never know what's going to come next, you're always on guard waiting for a sudden attack to come, and you're never sure who Lita should be trusting. It really sells the insidiousness of the cults in Arkham, how they seem to be everywhere and everyone, yet also impossible to find when you want to.
'The Hounds Below' by Josh Reynolds is one of the more chilling stories in the collection, and revisits one of the ideas first suggested in 'Running the Night Whiskey'; that the battlefields of World War One played host to ghouls and monsters. The story sees an investigative journalist visiting an asylum in Arkham, hoping to talk to a man who has been locked away for cannibalism.
Over the course of watching this reporter talk to the cannibal we get to discover that he was set on this path of killing and eating people thanks to the war and the horrors that he saw there, both human horror, and those much older. It gives us a disturbing insight into how a regular person can begin to find themselves serving the darker forces of the universe, and how close we all are to pure evil under the right circumstances.
Thomas Parrott makes two contributions to this collection, in a story that gets spread out over the course of the book. The first, 'Labyrinth' sees private investigator Joe Diamond getting wind of a possible case connected to the occult. A woman named Nadia Leandros has the same strange birth mark as a man recently found murdered, and the young woman has begun to complain about strange dreams, and people following her. Joe sets out to try and dig up some background information on the case, and with the help of a fried discovers that it might be connected to the secret of what really inspired the myth of the Labyrinth of Knossos.
This story lays the seeds for the rest of the tale, which comes at the end of the collection, but manages to craft it's own satisfying and engaging narrative as Joe is told the 'real' story of what happened to the hero Theseus. With every other story in this collection, and most stories involving the Lovecraft mythology, set within the last hundred years or so it makes for a wonderful and striking change to see this mythology meeting the myths of Ancient Greece.
Davide Mana's 'All My Friends Are Monsters' tells the story of Ruth Turner, a woman who works in the local morgue by day, but spends her nights dressed as a man drinking in the local speak-easy's. With Ruth visiting the illegal drinking establishments, wearing 'mens' clothing, and being in a relationship with a woman she's worried one day when she's approached by a couple of people who ask her to turn a blind eye to them claiming a few bodies in exchange for them staying quite about her own activities.
This story shows us how easy it is to dragged into something that is out of your control, where you can see something awful taking place, yet are powerless to do anything about it. Not only that, but over the course of the story we get to see Ruth going from appalled by what she sees happening, to strangely indifferent. The way Mana looks at how people can become desensitised by the things around them, to the point where the monstrous can become the mundane is deeply chilling.
'The Darkling Woods' by Cath Lauria tells the tale of two young orphans living on the streets of Arkham who decide to try and and get off the streets for a night. Geting away from the gangs and dangers of the docks, the two of them head into the city where they convince the owner of a small boarding house to let them rent a room for the night. But they soon discover that perhaps the streets are a little safer when the owner takes an unusual interest in them.
This is the only story in the collection that doesn't focus on adults, and frames children as the lead characters, which definitely makes it stand out a lot. So often with the Arkham Horror franchise we see adults having to deal with these issues, discovering the existence of existential horrors and cults that I never actually considered how a child would fare with doing the same. It frames the whole thing a new way, one that I'd love to see done again in the future.
'Professor Warren's Investiture' by Davidd Annandale tells the story of Professor Peter Warren, a somewhat looked down upon member of the Miskatonic University. Warren has spent years gathering information and notes on what he believes to be the greater mysteries of the universe, things that see his colleague mocking him and his life's endeavour. However, when he's approached by a woman who shares his interest, and offers him new evidence that will help his work it takes him in a dangerous new direction.
I found this story to be incredibly interesting, as it really went into Warren's obsession, and how it transforms him and consumes him to a point where it pushes him towards the very evil that he's trying to learn about. So often in these stories we discover people who are already involved in the cults, who're zealots and believers, so getting to see how someone gets twisted into that, how they come to accept these evils and enjoy it makes for an insightful story.
The final story in the collection, 'Sins in the Blood' by Thomas Parrott, continues the story of private investigator Joe Diamond as he and an ally of his, a magic practising waitress named Agnes, set out to help Nadia Leandros, and break the curse upon her family bloodline that will soon lead to her death. Unfortunately, this means that the three of them will have to not only deal with the deadly cultists that are closing in on them, but will have to perform a dangerous ritual that could destroy them all.
Whilst very different from the first part of this story, 'Sins in the Blood' works well as a conclusion to this tale, and shifts it's focus from investigating into the past to fighting for survival in the present. It's one of the more action packed entries in this collection, and is a great not to end things on. The story also makes me want to read more about Joe and his fight against the evils in Arkham; so I'm hoping this could be a character that Reynolds comes to again some day.
I've really enjoyed the Arkham Horror novels I've read, and have found them to be some incredibly creepy and compelling horror mystery stories, so I'm absolutely over the moon to see these tales work so well in short story form too, and I'm excited to see more anthology books like this. Whether you're a long time fan of the series, or looking for some shorter fiction to try out before making the big plunge, The Devourer Below is the ideal read.
Make sure to check back on the blog tomorrow as I chat with Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells, the editor of The Devourer Below, and find out how the book came to life.
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