Reanimators

Taking off from H.P. Lovecraft's lurid tale of reviving the dead, "Herbert West%E2%80%94Reanimator," Rawlik's first novel may amuse Lovecraft fans, but they should be prepared for a supernatural adventure story lacking in the cosmic horror that distinguishes Lovecraft's better fiction. (The master of weird tales regarded "Herbert West" as "hackwork written down to the herd level.") The action spans more than 20 years of the life of Dr. Stuart Hartwell, beginning in 1905 with the brutal murder of his parents by a beast he identifies as the late Dr. Allan Halsey, the dean of medicine at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Mass. In the wake of this tragedy, Hartwell seeks revenge on Herbert West, the Miskatonic medical student who reanimated Halsey in the course of his infernal experiments. While Hartwell has some interesting encounters with such other Lovecraft characters as Nathaniel Peaslee ("The Shadow out of Time") and Wilbur Whateley ("The Dunwich Horror"), readers won't much care whether Hartwell succeeds in his quest or not. (Sept.)