Driscoll blends learning and esoterica with complex characters, creating a story that evokes classic tales of occult scholarship without any of the dryness that can creep in.

This novel is the sequel to She Who Comes Forth and describes events in Driscoll’s Herbert West series. Possible spoilers for both ahead.

France Leighton has built a satisfying life reading Egyptology at Miskatonic University and working as a shelver in the library. However, the arrival of two half-brothers she never knew she had not only puts degree and job at risk but also threatens to drag her into her grandfather’s experimentations with reanimation and the occult.

With references to Nephren-Ka and Herbert West that are integrated into the story rather than veneered on, this novel is very much an homage to Lovecraft. The amount of Egyptology that appears and the academic protagonist similarly echo the sense of scholarliness that fills many of…