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The Horror at Red Hook
Circles and pentagrams loomed on every hand, and told indubitably of the strange beliefs and aspirations of those who dwelt so squalidly here. In the cellar, however, the strangest thing was found--a pile of genuine gold ingots covered carelessly with a piece of burlap, and bearing upon their shining surfaces the same weird hieroglyphics which also adorned the walls.
48 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1927
About the author
H.P. Lovecraft
4,568 books18k followersHoward Phillips Lovecraft, of Providence, Rhode Island, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction.
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.
Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
— Wikipedia
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.
Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
— Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 471 reviews
November 18, 2019
This long short story—written in August of 1925 and first published in Weird Tales in 1927—is the worst Lovecraft tale that every Lovecraft fan must read. Not only is it morally suspect, suffused with nativism and darkened by racial panic, but it is also indifferently constructed, and poorly written too. Yet the fears and prejudices first unleashed and expressed most explicitly here would become the source of the cosmic terror that distinguishes his best work.
“The Horror at Red Hook”—the story of Irish police detective Malone and his investigation of aged eccentric Robert Suydam’s connection to a series of abductions and disappearances—was written at what was perhaps the lowest point in H.P. Lovecraft’s life. H.P. left Providence in 1924, but he never enjoyed Manhattan, and was particularly unnerved by the dark foreign faces which seemed to surround him. And things soon got worse: wife Sonia left town for better business opportunities in Ohio, and H.P.--living on a small allowance from Sonia—was forced to settle for a single room in Brooklyn Heights, not far from the rowdy waterfront of Red Hook, where the sea of foreign faces Lovecraft had come to fear grew even deeper and darker. As if this weren’t enough, his little room was broken into; all that remained of his possessions were the clothes he had upon his back.
In “Red Hook,” Lovecraft gave passionate expression to his fears, loneliness, and his suspicion and hatred of “the other.” and the result was a lengthy, baroque and mediocre story. The climax—what Malone witnesses when he decides to enter Sydam’s basement (always a bad idea in a Lovecraft tale) is particularly ludicrous and inept. H.P. piles horror upon horror—and adjective upon adjective—in an attempt to force the horror, and he does not succeed.
Soon after the burglary, Lovecraft returned to Rhode Island, alone, for the remainder of his life. His last decade--one of extraordinary creative effort—began the summer after Red Hook with “The Call of Cthulhu”, and soon bore fruit in a frightful series of cosmic yet personal stories. After “Red Hook,” Lovecraft learned to sublimate his racist fears into a terror of “the other” beyond the stars, and the literature of horror is richer because of what he learned.
July 12, 2017
In a trial in the nameless and eldritch hereafter:
Prosecutor: Did you write the Horror at Red Hook?
Judge: You don't have to answer that question!
Lovecraft: I'll answer the question. You want answers?
Prosecutor: I think I'm entitled!
Lovecraft: You want answers?!
Prosecutor: I want the truth!
Lovecraft: You can't handle the truth!
Son, we live in a world that needs horror, and that horror has to be written by men with guts. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lord Dunsany? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for fantasy and you curse the pulps. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know, that pulp magazines, while tawdry, produces horror. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, produces horror! You don't want the truth, because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me writing horror. You need me writing horror. We use words like "unspoken", "occult", "eldritch". We use these words as the backbone of a life spent describing the unknowable. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very horror that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I would rather you just said "thank you", and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a pen, and write some copy. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to!
Prosecutor: Did you write Horror at Red Hook?
Lovecraft: I did the job that—-
Prosecutor: Did you write Horror at Red Hook?!!
Lovecraft: YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DID!!
Prosecutor: Did you write the Horror at Red Hook?
Judge: You don't have to answer that question!
Lovecraft: I'll answer the question. You want answers?
Prosecutor: I think I'm entitled!
Lovecraft: You want answers?!
Prosecutor: I want the truth!
Lovecraft: You can't handle the truth!
Son, we live in a world that needs horror, and that horror has to be written by men with guts. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lord Dunsany? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for fantasy and you curse the pulps. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know, that pulp magazines, while tawdry, produces horror. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, produces horror! You don't want the truth, because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me writing horror. You need me writing horror. We use words like "unspoken", "occult", "eldritch". We use these words as the backbone of a life spent describing the unknowable. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very horror that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I would rather you just said "thank you", and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a pen, and write some copy. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to!
Prosecutor: Did you write Horror at Red Hook?
Lovecraft: I did the job that—-
Prosecutor: Did you write Horror at Red Hook?!!
Lovecraft: YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DID!!
June 28, 2019
This is a very eerie and sinister story. Malone, a police officer tries to investigate on illegal aliens flooding the Red Hood melting pot area and concentrates on a mysterious Dutch recluse named Suydam. An old church involved, used for dance and much darker activities. Sometimes at night the sound of an organ is heard. When police raids the place they find terrible legacy of the man-smugglers. But Lovecraft goes a step further. He says all those illegal aliens worship darker forgotten cults and bring back evil entities (there are some xenophobic comments in this story that are inappropriate to the 21st century). What was the role of Suydam and why did he quit the status of a recluse to marry a young woman? Well plotted, twisty with an absolute uncanny untertone of demon worship I really enjoyed this story. Absolutely recommended!
October 27, 2018
This looks to me like something Trump's parents would read to him on a regular basis as a bedtime story. Be it true, it would explain a lot.
This was weak, weak and terrible in so many ways and not scary at all. Unless you're 7 y.o. (the age of little Donald when he heard this story for the first time). Throwing immigrants, devil worshiping, tribal magic and New York architecture into one melting pot gave an effect that makes the reader cringe. Not to mention other absurd ideas the reader is supposed to accept and clap along. An embarrassing pile of racist xenophobic bullshit.
P.S. Is Lilith = Sonia?
This was weak, weak and terrible in so many ways and not scary at all. Unless you're 7 y.o. (the age of little Donald when he heard this story for the first time). Throwing immigrants, devil worshiping, tribal magic and New York architecture into one melting pot gave an effect that makes the reader cringe. Not to mention other absurd ideas the reader is supposed to accept and clap along. An embarrassing pile of racist xenophobic bullshit.
P.S. Is Lilith = Sonia?
July 19, 2017
The Horror at Red Hook by H.P. Lovecraft is an audio book I requested and the review is voluntary. I did like the story, not as much as I did when I was a teen. I am sure this was terrifying in the late 1920's when it was first published. It was creepy now, I can't imagine then when they weren't shown realistic horror movies and shows daily like we are. I thought the narration was very good and added to the story. I forgot to add that in to my initial rating so I will add that now since this is a rating for the overall book. It is funny how the tastes change as you grown older. As a teen I craved all things Lovecraft, maybe that is why I am so warped! LOL
June 12, 2016
Love it! I love the showing that goes on in this one!
I also love that the setting, Red Hook, is a place where Lovecraft lived for a time and hated. He regretted ever moving there and it seems like he put his emotions into crafting this horror story.
For those who haven't read The Horror at Red Hook before, I won't bother summarizing as you can read the synopsis yourself, but I wouldn't suggest it. Just dive into this one. It's not that long and it's really good. Lovecraft's use of language is esoteric at times and that might ward off some readers. Understandable. You read enough words you don't understand and you lose the thread of the story. Work through it. The pay off is worth it!
I also love that the setting, Red Hook, is a place where Lovecraft lived for a time and hated. He regretted ever moving there and it seems like he put his emotions into crafting this horror story.
For those who haven't read The Horror at Red Hook before, I won't bother summarizing as you can read the synopsis yourself, but I wouldn't suggest it. Just dive into this one. It's not that long and it's really good. Lovecraft's use of language is esoteric at times and that might ward off some readers. Understandable. You read enough words you don't understand and you lose the thread of the story. Work through it. The pay off is worth it!
November 25, 2019
Review of Kindle edition
Publication date: June 1, 2014
Publisher: Wilder Publications
Language: English
ASIN: B00KUMRGLE
45 pages
You can buy this for 99¢ or you can buy the COMPLETE COLLECTION OF HP LOVECRAFT, which contains this story, for 99¢. A couple of reviewers complained about bigotry and racism in this story. They obviously don't understand this Lovecraft story. The people are horrible not because of their race or ethnicity but because of their immersion in evil. In other stories and novels he describes Anglo-Saxon New Englanders immersed in the evil in a similar fashion. Low, loathsome, depraved deformed, etc.
Publication date: June 1, 2014
Publisher: Wilder Publications
Language: English
ASIN: B00KUMRGLE
45 pages
You can buy this for 99¢ or you can buy the COMPLETE COLLECTION OF HP LOVECRAFT, which contains this story, for 99¢. A couple of reviewers complained about bigotry and racism in this story. They obviously don't understand this Lovecraft story. The people are horrible not because of their race or ethnicity but because of their immersion in evil. In other stories and novels he describes Anglo-Saxon New Englanders immersed in the evil in a similar fashion. Low, loathsome, depraved deformed, etc.
![Profile Image for [Name Redacted].](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1347082397i/287915._UY200_CR0,0,200,200_.jpg)
July 6, 2013
This is arguably one of Lovecraft's most racist stories, born out of his increasing sense of isolation and negative impressions of immigrants while living in Brooklyn. It was this antipathy towards others that gave birth to one of my favorite songs by The Mountain Goats (cf: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrHgZR... also: http://www.thejeffreylewissite.com/Mt... ).
Lovecraft's racism appears to be a manifestation of modern post-Enlightenment racial theory, but I think that's giving modernity entirely too much credit. Everything he says is perfectly in keeping with the ancient xenophobic writings of the Greeks & Romans; they curse the same races, they implicate the same religions, they use the same descriptive language...Lovecraft's version is simply slathered in a veneer of early-20th century Scientism. When I finish my dissertation, I could probably write a book about the ancient authors who inspired Lovecraft's racial antipathies -- using almost all the same sources.
Aside from all that, this is one of the most effective urban-horror stories H.P.L. ever wrote. The sense that dark things lurk beneath the surface of the urban landscape, that the countless strangers surrounding the urbanite could be -- and likely ARE -- planning something nefarious, that the old world and the new world are alike in venerating things which most humans on their own would shun... Well, it all works extremely well here.
Lovecraft's racism appears to be a manifestation of modern post-Enlightenment racial theory, but I think that's giving modernity entirely too much credit. Everything he says is perfectly in keeping with the ancient xenophobic writings of the Greeks & Romans; they curse the same races, they implicate the same religions, they use the same descriptive language...Lovecraft's version is simply slathered in a veneer of early-20th century Scientism. When I finish my dissertation, I could probably write a book about the ancient authors who inspired Lovecraft's racial antipathies -- using almost all the same sources.
Aside from all that, this is one of the most effective urban-horror stories H.P.L. ever wrote. The sense that dark things lurk beneath the surface of the urban landscape, that the countless strangers surrounding the urbanite could be -- and likely ARE -- planning something nefarious, that the old world and the new world are alike in venerating things which most humans on their own would shun... Well, it all works extremely well here.
February 4, 2017
H.P. Lovecraft's influence on horror/weird fiction is undeniable. He had an amazing imagination. Too bad, because he was an absolutely awful writer and and an even worse human being. I would call this story racist shit, but that seems somewhat unfair to feces.
September 1, 2020
This is going to be short. This story was terrible and it has Lovecraft's racism and xenophobia on full display. I think if he could have torched New York and wiped it clean of those he saw as inferior he would have.
The Horror at Red Hook tells a story taking place in the 1920s with a New York police detective named Thomas Malone. Malone is left disturbed by an incident that left several people dead.
Lovecraft then works backwards telling how a rich and eccentric old man named Robert Suydam. Suydam ends up buying property in Red Hook and people are disappearing. The police believe something nefarious is happening, but can't prove it. And then suddenly Suydam seems to be slowly reverse aging and marries a young 20 year old distant relative of his.
The story jumps around too much to really get a handle on the story. Lovecraft doesn't include the Chulthu mythos at all. Instead it seems to be about human sacrifice and Lilith. I don't get what caused Suydam to be turned against unless that was the plan all along. And the ending with Malone being buried after falling into another portal and witnessing what Suydam was up to was pretty lame. The story honestly put me to sleep for a few minutes and I was not happy when I woke up and realized I still wasn’t done right this story. It is short though and I finished in it about 25 minutes (nap included).
The Horror at Red Hook tells a story taking place in the 1920s with a New York police detective named Thomas Malone. Malone is left disturbed by an incident that left several people dead.
Lovecraft then works backwards telling how a rich and eccentric old man named Robert Suydam. Suydam ends up buying property in Red Hook and people are disappearing. The police believe something nefarious is happening, but can't prove it. And then suddenly Suydam seems to be slowly reverse aging and marries a young 20 year old distant relative of his.
The story jumps around too much to really get a handle on the story. Lovecraft doesn't include the Chulthu mythos at all. Instead it seems to be about human sacrifice and Lilith. I don't get what caused Suydam to be turned against unless that was the plan all along. And the ending with Malone being buried after falling into another portal and witnessing what Suydam was up to was pretty lame. The story honestly put me to sleep for a few minutes and I was not happy when I woke up and realized I still wasn’t done right this story. It is short though and I finished in it about 25 minutes (nap included).
Read
June 3, 2016I read this novelette because I'm interested in reading "The Ballad of Black Tom," Victor LaValle's new novella that subverts it.
I read most of my Lovecraft in Communist and immediately post-Communist Hungary, at an age when one probably shouldn't be reading Lovecraft. This one hadn't been translated back then (I just checked and it was first published in Hungary in 1998) - you have one guess why.
Lovecraft on diversity:
"From this tangle of material and spiritual putrescence the blasphemies of an hundred dialects assail the sky."
.....oookay.
Yes, this story is as racist as people claim. (It's also really ableist.) Many different races, cultures, ethnicities, religions get a brief mention; Hungarians might be especially interested in reading about the "hellish vestiges of old Turanian-Asiatic magic and fertility-cults". The antagonists are basically a combination of everything around the globe that Lovecraft found repellent. He put a lot of effort into it, and his intent really comes across. It's some powerful reading.
I think he would've found me repellent on at least four different counts explicitly mentioned in the story, and yet I felt an inordinate amount of fascinatorepulsed glee while reading. I mean sure, people hate all sorts of minorities and I get that in my daily life. But as a kind of mild-mannered and not very confrontational person, I seldom get to be described as an incredible menace of cosmic proportions. Now excuse me, I must be off to hatch my nefarious schemes...
I read most of my Lovecraft in Communist and immediately post-Communist Hungary, at an age when one probably shouldn't be reading Lovecraft. This one hadn't been translated back then (I just checked and it was first published in Hungary in 1998) - you have one guess why.
Lovecraft on diversity:
"From this tangle of material and spiritual putrescence the blasphemies of an hundred dialects assail the sky."
.....oookay.
Yes, this story is as racist as people claim. (It's also really ableist.) Many different races, cultures, ethnicities, religions get a brief mention; Hungarians might be especially interested in reading about the "hellish vestiges of old Turanian-Asiatic magic and fertility-cults". The antagonists are basically a combination of everything around the globe that Lovecraft found repellent. He put a lot of effort into it, and his intent really comes across. It's some powerful reading.
I think he would've found me repellent on at least four different counts explicitly mentioned in the story, and yet I felt an inordinate amount of fascinatorepulsed glee while reading. I mean sure, people hate all sorts of minorities and I get that in my daily life. But as a kind of mild-mannered and not very confrontational person, I seldom get to be described as an incredible menace of cosmic proportions. Now excuse me, I must be off to hatch my nefarious schemes...
November 20, 2019
Review of Kindle edition
Publication date: June 1, 2014
Publisher: Wilder Publications
Language: English
ASIN: B00KUMRGLE
45 pages
You can buy this for 99¢ or you can buy the COMPLETE COLLECTION OF HP LOVECRAFT, which contains this story, for 99¢. A couple of reviewers complained about bigotry and racism in this story. They obviously don't understand Lovecraft. The people are horrible not because of their race or ethnicity but because of their immersion in evil. In other stories and novels he describes Anglo-Saxon New Englanders immersed in the evil in a similar fashion. Low, loathsome, depraved deformed, etc.
Publication date: June 1, 2014
Publisher: Wilder Publications
Language: English
ASIN: B00KUMRGLE
45 pages
You can buy this for 99¢ or you can buy the COMPLETE COLLECTION OF HP LOVECRAFT, which contains this story, for 99¢. A couple of reviewers complained about bigotry and racism in this story. They obviously don't understand Lovecraft. The people are horrible not because of their race or ethnicity but because of their immersion in evil. In other stories and novels he describes Anglo-Saxon New Englanders immersed in the evil in a similar fashion. Low, loathsome, depraved deformed, etc.
November 27, 2018
Oh, now I see why people are always accusing Lovecraft of being racist! And also why Victor LaValle chose this as the basis for his novella The Ballad of Black Tom because adding insult to injury none of the swarthy foreigners who so freak Lovecraft out even get names and there is like one minor speaking part. (Although I did think these were supposed to be mostly immigrants from "pagan" countries, not African-Americans? Maybe HPL doesn't have any African-American characters to rewrite.)
Even the different groups of white folks here are all stereotypes, with the "Celt" being mystical and hysterical (kind of unusual for a police officer, maybe Lovecraft didn't ever talk to a cop just like he probably never talked to a non-white person).
Anyway, the story. It isn't very good. Even leaving aside all the racist crap as probably mostly due to Lovecraft freaking out about his move to Brooklyn and being scared of the big city and its unfamiliar things. First of all, like many of HPL's stories it is framed as being told after the fact, which really decreases any tension. Also, it is essentially free of characters, so there is no one to be concerned about, and the impending destructive return of cthonic elder beings (the threat in many of HPL's stories and well-positioned on Lavalle's retelling) is barely a hint here, so basically the reader is left to disapprove of cultists sacrificing babies off-page, which, sure, gotta crack down on that.
Probably my least-liked Lovecraft so far.
Next up, keep your eyes peeled for my review of The Shadow Out of Time, which so far seems interesting as science fiction and mythos-building.
Even the different groups of white folks here are all stereotypes, with the "Celt" being mystical and hysterical (kind of unusual for a police officer, maybe Lovecraft didn't ever talk to a cop just like he probably never talked to a non-white person).
Anyway, the story. It isn't very good. Even leaving aside all the racist crap as probably mostly due to Lovecraft freaking out about his move to Brooklyn and being scared of the big city and its unfamiliar things. First of all, like many of HPL's stories it is framed as being told after the fact, which really decreases any tension. Also, it is essentially free of characters, so there is no one to be concerned about, and the impending destructive return of cthonic elder beings (the threat in many of HPL's stories and well-positioned on Lavalle's retelling) is barely a hint here, so basically the reader is left to disapprove of cultists sacrificing babies off-page, which, sure, gotta crack down on that.
Probably my least-liked Lovecraft so far.
Next up, keep your eyes peeled for my review of The Shadow Out of Time, which so far seems interesting as science fiction and mythos-building.
April 25, 2019
Verbal diarrhea, laden with uber racist commentaries. Can't wait to read LaValle's novella that revisits this story.
August 4, 2016
NOPE. NOPE.
If you don't want to be simultaneously bored & offended, then I suggest you avoid The Horror at Red Hook.
If you don't want to be simultaneously bored & offended, then I suggest you avoid The Horror at Red Hook.
July 16, 2020
I read this in preparation to read "The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle". Not sure if I had to but I did anyway. There was almost nothing I liked about this, and it's filled with racism. I've heard nothing but good things about "The Ballad of Black Tom" though, which is by a black author, so I look forward to that.
July 24, 2018
Narrated by Wayne June on Deadnest1 on YouTube.
I normally love Lovecraft and his whole mythos, and most of the time I can overlook the xenophobic elements of his work....but this was not so much a horror story as a racist rant by a white middle-class man against, honestly, anyone who is not a "wholesome looking" white middle-class man. Underneath all the "spiritual putrescence", "blasphemies of a hundred dialects", "swarthy sin-pitted faces" and "dark religions antedating the Aryan world" ( I could fill a page with his descriptions but I might vomit), there's probably some sort of story there, but fucked if I could find it among the right-wing, arrogant, narcissistic clap-trap he spat out about pretty much every non-white race on the planet!
What a fuck-tard!
Stick to sea-monsters H.P., everyone loves a sea monster.
I normally love Lovecraft and his whole mythos, and most of the time I can overlook the xenophobic elements of his work....but this was not so much a horror story as a racist rant by a white middle-class man against, honestly, anyone who is not a "wholesome looking" white middle-class man. Underneath all the "spiritual putrescence", "blasphemies of a hundred dialects", "swarthy sin-pitted faces" and "dark religions antedating the Aryan world" ( I could fill a page with his descriptions but I might vomit), there's probably some sort of story there, but fucked if I could find it among the right-wing, arrogant, narcissistic clap-trap he spat out about pretty much every non-white race on the planet!
What a fuck-tard!
Stick to sea-monsters H.P., everyone loves a sea monster.
December 26, 2019
This is Lovecraft at his best!!!
Dense, gloomy and sinister..
All the ingredients you need for a horror short story:
Secret devil worship, children vanished without leaving a trace..
A conspiracy of dark and evil powers..
And a police detective trying to unveil a mystery hidden in an enigma!!
Wonderful eerie descriptions of houses, streets and people!!
Lovecraft makes you think, and cunningly leads your mind to form and create your own pictures..
The very best a good writer is able to achieve!!
I love it!!
Dean;)
Dense, gloomy and sinister..
All the ingredients you need for a horror short story:
Secret devil worship, children vanished without leaving a trace..
A conspiracy of dark and evil powers..
And a police detective trying to unveil a mystery hidden in an enigma!!
Wonderful eerie descriptions of houses, streets and people!!
Lovecraft makes you think, and cunningly leads your mind to form and create your own pictures..
The very best a good writer is able to achieve!!
I love it!!
Dean;)
November 20, 2019
Review of Kindle edition
Publication date: June 1, 2014
Publisher: Wilder Publications
Language: English
ASIN: B00KUMRGLE
45 pages
You can buy this for 99¢ or you can buy the COMPLETE COLLECTION OF HP LOVECRAFT, which contains this story, for 99¢. A couple of reviewers complained about bigotry and racism in this story. They obviously don't understand Lovecraft. The people are horrible not because of their race or ethnicity but because of their immersion in evil. In other stories and novels he describes Anglo-Saxon New Englanders immersed in the evil in a similar fashion. Low, loathsome, depraved deformed, etc.
Publication date: June 1, 2014
Publisher: Wilder Publications
Language: English
ASIN: B00KUMRGLE
45 pages
You can buy this for 99¢ or you can buy the COMPLETE COLLECTION OF HP LOVECRAFT, which contains this story, for 99¢. A couple of reviewers complained about bigotry and racism in this story. They obviously don't understand Lovecraft. The people are horrible not because of their race or ethnicity but because of their immersion in evil. In other stories and novels he describes Anglo-Saxon New Englanders immersed in the evil in a similar fashion. Low, loathsome, depraved deformed, etc.
July 8, 2020
I needed to refresh my memory, as I had read this story a long time ago ... Now on my way to Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom
April 23, 2015
I read this mostly out of curiosity, because I had learned that some of Lovecraft's most unsavoury tendences were on full display here.
The straight supernatural horror part is not exactly bad, even though it reads more as a vignette, or a description of a tableau, than a story. Funnily enough, Thomas Malone feels less of a cipher than the usual Lovecraftian protagonist, even though his characterisation stops at the facts that he's Irish and a policeman and he's interested in the Occult. The fact that this is not a first person narrative might contribute to that feeling.
Other than that, "The Horror at Red Hook" reminds me somewhat of the blood libel, with orgies of devil worship and child sacrifice, except the Medieval Jews have been substituted with immigrants. Lovecraft is neither shy nor subtle to let us know about his dislike for the mixed neighbourhood of Red Hook, which he calls "a maze of hybrid squalor" populated by "a hopeless tangle [of] Syrian, Spanish, Italian, and negro elements impinging upon one another, and fragments of Scandinavian and American belts lying not far distant," a "babel of sound and filth" where "the blasphemies of an hundred dialects assail the sky." It is, in some way, an extension of Lovecraftian ethos: that which is different is bad and must be avoided.
I have noticed that most present-day tributes to Lovecraft recreate his esthetics rather than his ethics. After reading stories like this, that doesn't seem to be such a bad thing.
The straight supernatural horror part is not exactly bad, even though it reads more as a vignette, or a description of a tableau, than a story. Funnily enough, Thomas Malone feels less of a cipher than the usual Lovecraftian protagonist, even though his characterisation stops at the facts that he's Irish and a policeman and he's interested in the Occult. The fact that this is not a first person narrative might contribute to that feeling.
Other than that, "The Horror at Red Hook" reminds me somewhat of the blood libel, with orgies of devil worship and child sacrifice, except the Medieval Jews have been substituted with immigrants. Lovecraft is neither shy nor subtle to let us know about his dislike for the mixed neighbourhood of Red Hook, which he calls "a maze of hybrid squalor" populated by "a hopeless tangle [of] Syrian, Spanish, Italian, and negro elements impinging upon one another, and fragments of Scandinavian and American belts lying not far distant," a "babel of sound and filth" where "the blasphemies of an hundred dialects assail the sky." It is, in some way, an extension of Lovecraftian ethos: that which is different is bad and must be avoided.
I have noticed that most present-day tributes to Lovecraft recreate his esthetics rather than his ethics. After reading stories like this, that doesn't seem to be such a bad thing.
March 29, 2015
What a New York police detective Thomas F. Malone experienced, saw (or dreamed) while working on a case in Red Hook made him retire and avoid big buildings.
During one of the raids in Red Hook, some of the buildings collapsed killing many policemen, smugglers. It all connects back to an educated recluse and a folklore researcher Robert Suydam. 'Just at the time when a wave of kidnappings and disappearances spread its excitement over New York, the unkempt scholar embarked upon a metamorphosis as startling as it was absurd.' It was the case of Robert Suydam which brought Malone to Red Hook.
As weird as it may be, I am rating this story for what it could have been.
During one of the raids in Red Hook, some of the buildings collapsed killing many policemen, smugglers. It all connects back to an educated recluse and a folklore researcher Robert Suydam. 'Just at the time when a wave of kidnappings and disappearances spread its excitement over New York, the unkempt scholar embarked upon a metamorphosis as startling as it was absurd.' It was the case of Robert Suydam which brought Malone to Red Hook.
As weird as it may be, I am rating this story for what it could have been.
April 5, 2018
I liked how Lovecraft included the incubus and succubus monsters. Ive never read a story that actually included them!
August 3, 2014
Catch-up review #4!
I listened to this one on Friday night as I was driving back from Philly after my business trip. It was dark, and I was alone in the car, so of course I'm like "Let's listen to some Lovecraft! :D"
I have this weird thing about Lovecraft, though. I love the IDEA of Lovecraft's horror more than I like the reality of it. I just find the writing tedious at times. It's true. I said it. He was wordy. He'd use 4 words when one would do, and for me, that just bogs things down and distracts me and takes me out of the story. I want the meat and bones. I want to be terrified by the story, not bored by the overabundance of words used to convey it.
But I will say that it's better on audio. I can just sit back and listen and not get aggravated by the wordiness. And this audiobook, read by Jim Donaldson and (I think) put out by Trout Lake Media, was a pretty good one to listen to because it used sound effects to set the tone and build the tension. Maybe the sound effects were a little distracting at times when they are louder than the reader, or in between sections where there's a loud building screech noise (typical in horror movies), but they do serve the purpose they were intended for. The creaking was particularly effective, and I liked it quite a lot.
I did enjoy the story here too, but think that I would likely have enjoyed it a bit more if it was a little bit more streamlined. But I liked the format, meeting the investigator who is clearly disturbed by the events he's witnessed at Red Hook, and then learning about those events. I thought it was a creepy little story and maybe there's hope yet for Lovecraft and I! ;)
I listened to this one on Friday night as I was driving back from Philly after my business trip. It was dark, and I was alone in the car, so of course I'm like "Let's listen to some Lovecraft! :D"
I have this weird thing about Lovecraft, though. I love the IDEA of Lovecraft's horror more than I like the reality of it. I just find the writing tedious at times. It's true. I said it. He was wordy. He'd use 4 words when one would do, and for me, that just bogs things down and distracts me and takes me out of the story. I want the meat and bones. I want to be terrified by the story, not bored by the overabundance of words used to convey it.
But I will say that it's better on audio. I can just sit back and listen and not get aggravated by the wordiness. And this audiobook, read by Jim Donaldson and (I think) put out by Trout Lake Media, was a pretty good one to listen to because it used sound effects to set the tone and build the tension. Maybe the sound effects were a little distracting at times when they are louder than the reader, or in between sections where there's a loud building screech noise (typical in horror movies), but they do serve the purpose they were intended for. The creaking was particularly effective, and I liked it quite a lot.
I did enjoy the story here too, but think that I would likely have enjoyed it a bit more if it was a little bit more streamlined. But I liked the format, meeting the investigator who is clearly disturbed by the events he's witnessed at Red Hook, and then learning about those events. I thought it was a creepy little story and maybe there's hope yet for Lovecraft and I! ;)
June 26, 2013
A great story, I thought! Lovecraft uses his style of prose quite nicely in my opinion at the end and the storyline and frightful atmosphere are very well presented. Even though the key basis for this story was xenophobia, I honestly don't feel that this marred it, as most do. The racism adds something of vulgar touch to the horror in my opinion and Lovecraft can be excused for being human with faults like the rest of us :) Obviously, I'd rather he wasn't a racist, but there isn't much that I can do; he is dead, after all. This tale is wonderfully frightening.
October 23, 2020
A few pages in: "Well this doesn't seem racist so far."
By the last page: "This is the most racist shit I've ever read."
By the last page: "This is the most racist shit I've ever read."
September 15, 2024
I haven't read any Lovecraft since I attended junior high school in the 1960s. My best friend at the time, Geri, and I were really into his stories. We could have been called nerds although I don't think the nerd word had been invented yet. Written in the 1920s, Lovecraft's stories were gruesome but not x-rated. He was very anti-immigrant in this tale. It indicates the ignorance of the times. He especially didn't like Kurds. His prose is very old-fashioned but appropriate to the tone of his stories. Very spooky!
December 7, 2022
Wow. I don’t think I liked a single thing about this story at all. It takes A LOT for me to give a one star rating on Goodreads, but I honestly can’t go any higher than that. It was xenophobic, meandering, confusing, choppy, had no even remotely interesting characters, and not a single word of dialogue. Moving on, and happily. What a rough read.
August 13, 2018
I will do a full review. I liked this story and understand that it is a an old short horror story. I did enjoy it tho and loved the narrator Jim Donaldson - I think his voice was perfect for this.
September 14, 2017
So, there is something that has been tugging at me about Lovecraft's racism. He so despises what he thinks of as lower races that he can't even let them be the master villains of his stories. He always brings in some educated white dude to really kick off the evil plot. In addition to that, the plot and the ultimate reveal are both train wreck material in this one. I know I've been complaining about the horrors to horrible to actually take place, but this one goes to the other extreme, showing so much that the horrors are almost comical.
The one good thing I can say about this is that Victor LaValle decided to make something of it. Run don't walk over to The Ballad of Black Tom and enjoy a complex and moving horror story instead.
The one good thing I can say about this is that Victor LaValle decided to make something of it. Run don't walk over to The Ballad of Black Tom and enjoy a complex and moving horror story instead.
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