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Lovecraft meetsBlade Runner in a stand-alone supernatural horror novel. Gene Wolfe can write in whatever genre he wants--and always with superb style and profound depth. Now following his World Fantasy Award winner,Soldier of Sidon, and his stunningPirate Freedom, Wolfe turns to the tradition of H. P. Lovecraft and the weird science tale of supernatural horror. Set a hundred years in the future,An Evil Guest is the story of an actress who becomes the lover of both a mysterious private detective and an even more mysterious and powerful rich man, a man who has been to the human colony on an alien planet and learned strange things there. Her loyalties are divided--perhaps she loves them both. The detective helps her to release her inner beauty and become a star overnight. The rich man is the angel of a play she stars in. But something is very wrong. Money can be an evil guest, but there are otherevils. As Lovecraft said, "That is not dead which can eternal lie."… (more)
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I just finished An Evil Guest, a book I really really wanted to like. I admit I was seduced by the superb cover art by Scott Fischer. This is an overtly Cthulhu mythos novel but a disjointed and incoherent one. Man was I disappointed. Regarding the elements of direct interest to Lovecraftians, first of all, a good bit of action takes place in Kingsport, MA. One of the main (I think) characters is on the faculty of Miskatonic University. In the climactic scene another main (I think) character is dumping radioactive gold over R'lyeh to draw the attention of the US Navy there, so they can duke it out with the Storm King, also called the Squid God (and I could swear at one point called that darned squid god, a nod to Nick Pollotta and James Clay? The book was too exhausting for me to back track). I think byakhee make an appearance, although they are pretty friendly.
So much for the mythos bits. As far as I can tell the main plots and sub plots fizzled out without resolution or point, and the ending had nothing to do with the beginning or middle. The start and most of the middle was pretty promising, focusing on Cassie Casey, an up and coming talent, whose inner star power is unleashed by the wizard Gideon Chase. Although set in the future and in the context of contact with aliens, this was more like a movie of behind the scenes of broadway in the 1930s and 40s. Unfortunately after a lot of build up the setting switches to the South Pacific, characters and plot are jettisoned for no good reason and then the book dwindles to a dissatisfying close. I wonder if Wolfe is such a big name now that his editor didn't have the guts to send it back to him and say "Get on with the rewrite, and this time consider a cohesive plot."
I enjoyed the beginning and middle of the novel better than the end. Cassie Casey’s character is great (can you think of a better name for an actress?) especially at the start of the novel. She is a like-able woman who is thrust into a confusing situation, kind of like this reviewer trying to read this book. Cassie is worried about her career, her weight, and in love with two very different men. It’s a science fiction novel with only hints of the future; we have visited other planets and have some advanced technology yet the setting has a 1930’s feel. The dialogue is like film noir; everybody speaks quickly and is very evasive. The end turns into a crazy evil-on-an-island-paradise story that I didn’t much like. There are hints at the beginning with Bill Reiss producing Cassie in an over the top musical call “Dating the Volcano God.” Then, all of a sudden, we are whisked away to a small chain of islands where the natives believe in strange and menacing gods. I am told that this is a Cthulhu Mythos story; I guess I haven’t read enough of the mythos to really appreciate it. The end seemed very silly, like a badly written pulp novel. The rest of the novel is terrific.