Rejoice, for the Earth is His.

Detective Hunter will do anything to prove Dean Tyler’s innocence. The question is, is he willing to sacrifice his family to Cthulhu to do it?

All it takes is a single glance at a screen for the voices to take control. For idle hands to make things the human mind wasn’t meant to see. And for it to spread like wildfire.

Will he succumb to the virus plaguing the San Bernardino Valley and beyond?

Or can he find the will to stop it?

A unique blend of detective noir and cosmic horror, OEI Archives Book II is perfect for fans of The Magnus Archives, Archive 81, and Old Gods of Appalachia.

A horror novel that ticked all the boxes for me. The story moves fast, does justice to Lovecraft’s lore, and the author’s writing captures the harrowing existential dread of cosmic horror beautifully.

The idea of art that entraps you and draws you into a maddening world beyond reality is age-old, but the presentation here is refreshing. I loved the AI angle. It was only a matter of time before someone combined Lovecraftian mythos with artificial intelligence, and I am glad it was Eric Malikyte who took it up because the end-result is heart-pounding and mesmerizing.

The dual-protagonist approach worked brilliantly. Both the primary characters are interesting, distinctive, and likable. Detective Hunter is a Black police officer dedicated to his job to the point of obsession. River, on the other hand, is a college student who has just gone through a gender transition and is coming to terms with the realization that his art career is not quite headed in a direction as promising as he originally hoped.

Their paths are brought together when students start dying in strange circumstances and all clues lead towards mysterious works of art drawn in the style of H. R. Giger.

Through their eyes we simultaneously explore multiple realities. One is our modern world, where racial prejudices, religious extremities, and transphobia abound. Then we have the ancient beings beyond the veil whose mere knowledge is enough to fracture frail minds. We also have other parallel realities that are like ours but have since succumbed to the folly of those who dared to seek out the Old Ones.

“You saved my life. I owe you.”

“Protecting the innocent is my job.”

“Even if the world’s ending?”

“Especially.”

For readers familiar with Lovecraft’s works, this book builds upon the lore of Shoggoth rebellion and The Call of Cthulhu, and everything you would expect from that premise, the author delivers.

And the newborn shall cry unto the seething heavens of the lost city of R’lyeh

The depiction of dread is where his writing style truly excels. It is common for cosmic horror stories to have something unknowable, unfathomable suddenly pop up, throwing a wrench in the otherwise perfect lives of the actors. This book isn’t like that.

The slow buildup of tension, the subtle ways in which people around you begin to change, and the deteriorating time loss and out-of-body experience all add up to a thrilling and heartrending experience.

By contrasting real-world trauma with the horror inflicted by ancient evil that seeps into you, slowly transforming you into something else, the author has conjured a presentation that is grounded while simultaneously offering a larger-than-life experience.

A lightning bolt flashes in the distance, and for a brief moment, he sees the city as it will be.

I’d be looking forward to his other works featuring the OEI Archives. I am thoroughly convinced now that there is quite a bit of potential in bringing together detective noir and cosmic horror.

No organism wants to cease being what it is. But evolution has a mind of its own. Who are we to question the will of the cosmos?