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Review and Synopsis of “The Horror in the Gallery”
Again, despite the length here, Carter tells more than shows.
In this story, narrator Arthur Hodgkins, the new Curator for the Museum, takes up the Prof. Copeland bequest and is chasing the Blaine and Copeland notes. He delves deeply into the Ponape Figurine that the other two considered, and after meeting with Blaine at the Sanitarium, begins to try to find a way to destroy it. This quest takes him to Miskatonic University in Arkham where he meets with Dr. Henry Armitage who shows him the Necronomicon and they discus ways to destroy the statue. They give him a star rock with the Elder Sign. He heads back to CA after hearing that the statue is about to be displayed, where he stops a Deep One discussed as a fisherman from stealing it and uses the Star rock to destroy the statue. He is suspected for the murder of the guardsman who was killed by the Deep One, but is deemed mentally in component and sent to the sanitarium
This story is about twice as long as the first one, but again, it’s so classic Carter that’s not even funny. For example, he has our main character take Prof. Copeland’s copy of the Nameless Cults and reads it on they way to east coast, and for page after page you get the entire Mythos from the rebellion of the Great Old Ones to whom everyone is, and it’s just putting it all out there for you. Carter wants to answer this stuff for you. What did Nameless Cults include? Now you know! He also has his main character meet with the hero of the Dunwich Horror. He’ll spend pages giving you quotes from the Necronomicon rather than just summing it up, or the key points. And the Necronomicon has never been seen as a tool to fight the Great Old Ones, yet it is here. Again Carter wants to tell you everything. If you think that Derleth erred in pulling back the curtain then you will just flip out reading Carter.
Carter is just too enmeshed in the mythos when he’s writing it. As a result, I’m not a big fan. I give the work 2.0 stars as well. I’ll be leaving Carter behind. If he is to your taste, then great!
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