The Shadowy Thing

by H.B. Drake, S.T. Joshi (Introduction)

"H. B. Drake's The Shadowy Thing summons up strange and terrible vistas." --H. P. Lovecraft. A weird supernatural thriller in which a character possesses the power of mind-transference, praised by Lovecraft in "Supernatural Horror in Literature" and believed to be influential on his stories "The Thing on the Doorstep" and "The Shadow Out of Time".

The uncanny powers of young Avery Booth alarmed and frightened his friends. After coming under his influence it became clear to others that people were doing things against their wills. He implanted the dark fear of the unknown in the hearts of his acquaintances, weakening their conventional security of thought and troubling their minds with foolish shadows of doubt and dread and fantastic imaginings that worked like a subtle poison. Even his satellites moved in a maze of unpleasant and inexplicable shadows, for the very atmosphere they lived in seemed haunted. But in Dick Bellew, Avery met an antagonist worthy of his skill...

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Classics

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

Henry Burgess Drake

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, the blurb used by Goodreads suffers from a lack of accuracy. This somewhat thrilling and breezily entertaining read is not about "mind-transference." This is a supernatural tale centered on spiritualism, the spirit world and and a free floating demon spirit. The lead character is Dick, a brawny and not particularly brainy young country gentleman whose circle of college acquaintances include one Avery Booth, a strong-willed master of hypnotism and mesmerism who uses his tremendous will power to control men, women and at least one free floating demon spirit. There are gypsies, seances, crypts, insane asylums and harrowing treks into the desolate wilderness of the English countryside, but the true tragic hero is Dick's sister Blanche. While Dick provides the brute force, she is the one who actually has the will-power and intelligence to face Avery in a battle of wills.

The most frustrating thing about this book is that Dick never understands what is going on, refuses to accept what is actually happening, and when he tries to understand by asking Blanche (who always knows what is going on) she shuts him down by telling him "You won't understand." Since this story is told from the point of view of the good-natured moron Dick, you just have let go of any hopes of intellectual insights, and enjoy the moody and moderately haunting ride.

[Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a good premise and beginning, but I started to have a really hard time relating to the characters, and found it more and more difficult to suspend my disbelief as I continued to read. I understand that Avery, the villain, is supposed to have some influence over these people throughout the book, but him and Dick need to move on at some point in their lives over their few encounters during their college years--or, in the case of this book, don't move on, and just have a petty rivalry during and beyond college as well as manage to make someone go insane/get possessed for years and get killed by his only friend. I'll go on..
Blanche, Katrina and Doctor Dale seem incapable of putting together words to explain their actions, behaviors, or beliefs.
There are a lot of incompetent drivers in this book.
Blanche seems to be keeping her and Dick's mother alive, though, their mother doesn't seem to be as invested in staying around.
The events in Part II Chapters II through VI that finally made me stop caring about the book. Katrina is willing to be whisked away with Dick, but only if he shows up at one of the two times they talk about. Right after this conversation, Dick and Blanche's mother dies. Dick sends a letter to Katrina that he won't be able to show up because his mother just died, we don't know if she receives the letter or not. So Dick goes home to his mother's funeral, then goes back to London for Katrina, only to find out Katrina just went off and married Dick's rival from college, Avery. Did I mention that Dick's mother died? During Katrina and Dick's conversation in which she mentions she's married, Dick doesn't mention that his mother died, which is also baffling. I'm not sure what Dick's fascination is with Katrina other than she's young and seems to be flighty; besides that, she's interested in horses and strong men; wow, very deep and intellectual. Unlike Dick, I'll be moving on.

[S.M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Though starting out intriguing enough, this book quickly devolves into pure tiresomeness, complete with dreadful dialogue, eye-rollingly drippy romance, and supremely dull characters. The villian is less a character than the shadow of a cardboard cutout continuously cast against the wall of the plot. Add to that every other dialogue sentence beginning with either "Oh" or "Why," or "Well," followed by the speaker using their interlocutor's name, and you're in for a bad time. You get to read "Oh, Dick" a LOT more than you'll be comfortable with. It doesn't help that said Dick, our witless narrator, spends the majority of the story fawning after an insipid teenage (read: underaged) girl whom he describes using such classic adjectives as "childlike" "innocent" and "small" favored by so many bygone(?) writers when describing a love interest. You don't need to be Freud to parse out why that particular disagreeable choice is made, but I digress.

Badly written overall, and a boring disappointment after what seemed to be a good premise. I do tend to like 1920s occult fiction, but this one completely missed the mark. If you're going into this book because Lovecraft praised it--probably in a fit of fever delerium--then please don't waste your time: it's 90% sentimental romance and 10% horror at best.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though the story wasn’t what I had imagined it to be about, The Shadowy Thing has been a weird, and entertaining read.

[Harvey Dias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written and gripping story.