The Return by David A. Riley

Not a book published by Parallel Universe Publications - actually by Blood Bound Books in the States - this was written by PUP owner David A. Riley.


The Return is a combination of Lovecraftian horror and crime noir, set in a terminally sick north of England town, torn by cults, crime and the darker denizens of the Cthulhu Mythos.

One reviewer wrote: "For me, this is David A Riley's best book to date. A tight, pulse-pounding thriller, mixing hard-boiled crime with horror - a new angle for the Mythos of Lovecraft - with pace, character and enough action to keep the pages turning. Well constructed, with a credible landscape and a bagful of grotesqueness."

Douglas Draa, editor of Weirdbook, wrote: "You don't even have to be a "Mythos" fan to receive maximum enjoyment! David A. Riley's "The Return" is an amazing read. Do you like gritty noir? Brit Horror? Masculine (but not macho) protagonists? Eldritch Horror in bleak industrial slums? "The Long Good Friday" meets "the Mythos"? The writing is dense and sleek. Never boring enthralling page turners. Do you like to read just a few more pages even though you need to sleep? Then this is THE BOOK!"

A further reviewer had this to say: ""The genres of crime and horror have always skipped hand in hand like a deranged Jack and Jill (see "Falling Angel" and "The Damnation Game") and with "The Return" David A Riley continues this tradition. If you like your cosmic horror to be tinged with the darkness of the human condition that can be seen in noir-ish crime then this is the book for you.
Riley evokes a wonderful sense of place in the rundown Grudge End, a place that is dying but the creatures that dwell within will tear the world apart as they try to enact their own return just as our protagonist does returning to the place where he is from now that he has nothing left.
I would recommend this book to both fans of Lovecraftian fiction and those who like their horror tales to be fused with the gritty reality of the old ones - a kind of "Cthulhu tries to Get Carter""

You can buy copies of this book on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com. Or direct from the publisher, Blood Bound Books.

Kindle versions of the novel are also available.

The cover is by the brilliant Croatian artist Andrej Bartulovic.