“The strangest and maddest of myths are often merely symbols or allegories based upon truth,”- H. P. Lovecraft
Just under the surface of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, unspeakable, blasphemous horrors lie.  No longer does Innsmouth appear on official maps, and the inhabitants shun all outsiders.  An unsuspecting student comes sightseeing, and allows his curiosity to get the better of his common sense.  Once he starts to ask around, he is set on a course that will irrevocably change him, and the state of his mind.

Although the premise for The Shadow Over Innsmouth seems similar to many of H. P. Lovecraft’s works, it’s one of his greatest masterpieces.  The book’s finest feature is undoubtedly its exponentially growing suspense, eventually exploding in an outcome that makes this book an unforgettable classic. Lovecraft’s writing style causes his stories to slip into a reader’s mind, and echo eerily about their head for days.  As usual, Lovecraft uses vague descriptions for his horrors, leaving much of his monstrosities to the reader’s imagination, and allowing for every reader to have their own personal experience with the book.  This novella allows for a rare insight into the beautiful insanity of Lovecraft’s mind that made his books so wonderful. 

It seems as if Lovecraft’s pen had a mind of its own.  As it weaved its way across paper, it created phantasms of beauty the likes of which this world never has, nor shall see again.  To read any of Lovecraft’s works, The Shadow Over Innsmouth in particular, is to experience rapturous, captivating excellence.  There should not be any living creature capable of complex thought, sentient fungi and blasphemous things from the Outer Spheres included, that refrains from reading this pinnacle of literary perfection.