Mall of Cthulhu – Seamus Cooper
Night Shade Books, 2009
235 pages
RRP: US$13.95
ISBN: 978-1-59780-127-0

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

I picked up Mall of Cthulhu because it looked like a laugh. Ted, A hapless coffee-emporium slave who is still recovering from slaying vampires at a sorority party ten years ago and his best friend Laura, an FBI agent who spends most of her time on paperwork, stumble across a Cthulhu cult trying to open a portal to R’lyeh in a suburban shopping mall. Hilarity ensues.

What Cooper delivers is similar to this prediction, but it also has pathos and suspense. Ted is a likeable, bumbling character who wants nothing more than to forget what happened ten years ago, and possibly find a girl who likes him. Laura finds her job a bore, spends a lot of her time cheering Ted up, and she also wants to move forward from what happened in the past and find a girl who likes her. When Ted’s coffee shop is shot up by a guy who wants revenge for Ted taking too long making his coffee, the two of them are thrown back into the paranormal world they’d been trying to leave behind. They discover a conspiracy to find Lovecraft’s Necronomicon in order to open a doorway between the worlds so Cthulhu can take over Earth.

Those who like their suspense stories with tongue set firmly in cheek, or fans of Lovecraft will certainly enjoy Mall of Cthulhu.