"The Horror At Red Hook"

by H.P. Lovecraft
originally published Weird Tales January 1927

Poor New York Detective Thomas F. Malone.  He's convalescing in rural Rhode Island from a terrible experience during a raid in NYC, that's left him phobic about cramped urban areas with large buildings.

It seems Malone was investigating occult activities in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a place full of crime, violence, gangs and (gasp) foreigners.

A series of kidnappings leads Malone to the trail of Robert Suydam, a fat old recluse who suddenly gets thinner, younger, and socially active.  Suydam and his new bride are murdered on their wedding night, aboard an outbound ship, and Suydam's body and apparently large quantities of his wife's blood are stolen by some mysterious men.

Malone is investigating Suydam's flat, and finds a door in the basement that leads to a secret chamber, where he encounters a weird, never-fully-described thing that crawls out of an underground lake, an altar, and witnesses a ritual involving human sacrifice and the reanimation of Suydam's corpse. Somewhat inexplicably, the building collapses and the chamber caves in, and the revelers are either killed or drowned.  Malone survives, a shattered man.

"The Horror At Red Hook" is one of HPL's most controversial stories, in part because of its inherent racism, in part because it isn't that great a story.  S.T. Joshi hates it - which, frankly, only makes me like it more.  Actually, I do like the buildup - the whole thing coming together like a particularly sinister Law and Order SVU episode.

The bigger problem is the climax.  While the ritual, especially the weird, ambiguous creature that emerges from the lake and oversees the whole thing, is pretty effective, the whole story then collapses as thoroughly as the building.  What exactly is supposed to have happened? And why?

As to the stories infamous racism; well, there's no denying that HPL had repulsive racial views, and no amount of whitewashing from Derleth can erase that - HPL made them very clear in letters and essays, and his ex-wife gives vivid testimony to it.  However, I have always believed in trusting the art not the artist, and HPL's despicable racial pronouncements have never diminished my enjoyment of his fiction.  As to the racism of "Horror At Red Hook" in particular: well, it's certainly true that Lovecraft paints an unflattering picture of Red Hook, and that the non-white inhabitants and their inherent ignorance, lawlessness and corruption are big part of Lovecraft's hang-up.  I personally don't find it as overbearing as some readers have.  Maybe I'm just inured to it, knowing already how awful the old guy's opinions were.  In any case, I find "Horror At Red Hook" a good but not great HPL story.