The Trail of Cthulhu

The Trail of Cthulhu is a horror novel by August Derleth, long-time friend and correspondent of H.P. Lovecraft. Although published in 1962, the book is actually a collection of interconnected short stories that were originally published in the 40s and 50s.

As the title suggests, the book is set within the Cthulhu Mythos. It tells the story of Laban Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury, a professor at Miskatonik University, vanished one night, only to return to campus 10 years later. Upon his return, his research has turned to the arcane. Specifically, he began looking for a common link among all ancient folklores and cults, a trail as one of his colleagues puts it.

As the book unfolds, it becomes clear that the ultimate goal of this trail is to

Of course, as this is based on Lovecraft's work, Shrewsbury's meddling doesn't go unnoticed and he and his friends find themselves on the run from some very pissed-off cultists.

Like many of Derleth's Lovecraftian stories, this work is rather controversial due to his reimagining of Lovecraft's Ancient Ones as actually being evil as opposed to being beyond good and evil. Still, it—much like Derleth himself—is certainly not without fans.

Not to be confused with the RPG of the same name.

This Book Contains Examples of

 * All Myths Are True: All ancient myths are directly inspired by mankind's encouters with the Ancient Ones. Also, all of Lovecraft's stories are true.
 * Badass Bookworm: Shrewsbury, Arthur, and Claiborne
 * Big Damn Villains:
 * Big Screwed-Up Family:
 * Continuity Nod
 * Cosmic Horror Story: Starts out as this, but quickly turns into more of Lovecraft Lite.
 * Cthulhu Mythos
 * Dead Man Writing
 * Decoy Protagonist: In the first chapter, Andrew Phelan is obviously the main character, then it turns out that
 * Demoted to Extra:
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Shrewsbury's goal.
 * Eldritch Abomination
 * Enemy Mine:
 * Glasses Pull: which leads to a pretty freaky reveal
 * Grand Finale: The Black Island. Remember, this was originally a series of short stories, so the final showdown was really the end of a series spanning at least 10 years rather than the end of a single book.
 * He Knows Too Much
 * The Library of Babel
 * Lovecraft Country
 * Lovecraft Lite:.
 * Occult Detective
 * Opaque Lenses
 * Ragtag Bunch of Misfits:
 * The Reveal:
 * Save the World
 * Start of Darkness: seems to be going in this direction by the end of the final chapter.
 * The Stoic:
 * Shrewsbury
 * Phelan from the second chapter onwards.
 * Supporting Protagonist:
 * Token Evil Teammate:
 * Town with a Dark Secret: Innsmouth
 * Up to Eleven: The climax of The Black Island, when compared to the climax of The Call of Cthulhu
 * Just to specify,
 * Where Are They Now? Epilogue
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: Abel Keane
 * Town with a Dark Secret: Innsmouth
 * Up to Eleven: The climax of The Black Island, when compared to the climax of The Call of Cthulhu
 * Just to specify,
 * Where Are They Now? Epilogue
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: Abel Keane