Master of Chaos (The Harry Stubbs Adventures Book 4)

It’s madness, modernism, Egyptian secrets, and racial hygiene in the latest Harry Stubbs adventure.It’s 1925 and ex-boxer and bill collector Harry Stubbs, our narrator, is now an agent for the sinister Estelle de Vere, “Our Lady of the Holocaust” as another of her coerced agents calls her. Stubbs accepts her service in exchange for her not harming his family. De Vere, as he says, has a quite literal scorched-earth policy when dealing with humans suspected of alien contamination. Her TDS supposedly stands for Theral Development Service, but he thinks it has other names like Tribus Dies Syndicate.Lovecraftian heroes frequently end up in insane asylums. But this story starts in one, an asylum in London’s Norwood section, the site of most of Hambling’s Lovecraftian fiction, and most of the action takes place in the asylum.Stubbs is sent undercover into that asylum to keep his eyes open for something. And that something happens pretty quickly when inmates begin dying in strange, unexplained ways. Another TDS agent tells him he has been sent to look for traces of a “tiger”, a person or force that leaves madness and death behind.But there’s oddness outside the asylum too with a local showing of The Phantom of the Cinema, a short bit of film that produces some unpleasantness in its audience.With that, and mention of a Dr. Nye, Lovecraft fans will correctly suspect who we’re dealing with. Of all his uses of Lovecraft’s concepts and characters, this one is the most congruent with the original, and I think the Gentleman from Providence would have been quite pleased.Stubbs has to go deep into his mental and physical resources to get out of this story alive and that includes his boxing skills.I’ll admit that, when finishing this novel, I was a bit disappointed it didn’t have as many elements of fringe science, forteana, and alchemy that early novels in the series had.Then I realized the book was full of them with all the early 20th century notions of madness and cures for it. And the big question here is what is madness? And what is it good for?Devoted followers of Hambling’s fiction will find ever tightening connections between this and the stories in The Dulwich Horror and Others including at least one significant character from those stories showing up for the first time in Stubbs circle.It’s the most philosophical of the Stubbs books, and the theme of madness and perception is reflected and refracted and reversed better than any theme in his previous Stubbs books.Don’t let that put you off, though. This story grabs you as effectively as the early Stubbs novels and has several memorable set pieces.Hambling has mastered quite well the chaos of creating compelling and modern Lovecraftian fiction.

Masters of Chaos by David Hambling is the fourth book in the Harry Stubbs series and it goes without saying that I am a huge fan of the series.David's Mr. Stubbs is a man of simple means, striving to better understand the world. This is more than the world as normal men and women know it, although he is constantly reading and taking correspondence courses to increase that knowledge, but also the darker and more sinister works first described by H. P. Lovecraft. To that point, Harry had found himself in the "employ" of an American named Ms. DeVere. She had recruited Harry to investigate the of happenings of Norwood. Harry is only barely qualified for this role through his past run-ins with Lovecraft's mythos and his history as a former successful boxer.Master of Chaos did something I didn't expect a Stubbs novel to do, although I should have, and thrust our hero into an undercover role as an orderly at an asylum. While I hadn't expected it, it fit well with the evolution of Harry's investigations and made for some amazing scenes and great literary art as the reader who, four books in and well versed in Stubbs' adventures, questions along with our hero whether or not he's lost his mind.My favorite thing about this novel and each of the Stubbs' adventures, is how Hambling introduces entirely new elements of the mythos into Harry's life and makes it seem like part of the everyday world we live in. It makes me wonder if some day Harry will lose all sense of reason as anything can be explained away by the police or the doctors...My favorite part of this delightful tale was easily the part regarding the time Harry received in the first book. When you read it, you will know what I'm referencing. It's difficult to say this was my favorite part, because I had so many and always enjoy a good yarn of my favorite boxer, but I'm a simple man.5/5 stars for the Norwood Titan!

Reading novels about adventure which are shrouded in mystery is always an exciting time for me, I always find myself wanting more and more of the story and this book wasn't different. It was pulsating right from the start, filled with fun, adventure, mystery and so on.About the book -Ex-boxer Harry Stubbs goes undercover, working in a mental institution to investigate an epidemic of madness. Bizarre deaths occur at the asylum, seemingly linked to an occult power. As he starts to unravel the mystery, Harry’s grip on his own sanity becomes increasingly precarious.Who is behind the killings? What are the strange new treatments doing to the patients? Why can Harry not get any reply from his handlers? To get answers, Harry must to venture into the borderland between magic and science, sanity and madness, and face the Master of Chaos...A thrilling 1920s adventure drawing on HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.Whenever I read a good book there is nothing I love more than passing it on to others to read and enjoy, I'm not stingy lol. If you're contemplating getting this book, go ahead it's a really good book.The author did a fantastic job on this book, the writing was of a high literary quality and the characters can be related with, he made it so realistic which is one of the reasons I really enjoyed reading this book, right from the first page the pace of the book was steadily built and the pace and tempo increased as it went on, it got to a point I was so hooked I couldn't stop till I finished reading it. An all round complete and interesting book which I strongly recommend and I'll proudly give four out of five stars.

Structurally and thematically, this is undoubtedly the most ambitious of Stubbs' adventures yet, and it sees him facing off against his most dangerous adversary so far. MoC introduces a large cast of characters, each sketched deftly and memorably, and with something to contribute to the story. The writing, as always, has a punchy immediacy to it, and there are a few in-jokes and 'Easter eggs' in and amongst, for readers well-versed in the genre. However, it is in Harry's more introspective and vulnerable moments that this story transcends pulp and becomes something altogether more thought-provoking. Madness and loss of self have been recurring themes in Mythos / Lovecraftian fiction since its earliest days, but seldom have they been treated with the kind of subjectivity and humanity we see in this book.Well worth your time to read, and wholeheartedly recommended.

I've really enjoyed the Harry Stubbs books. Their Lovecraft references are always clever while doing something different with the material. Master of Chaos is probably my favourite since Elder Ice.

Another superb entry in the series, why would you expect anything else? The author has mastered how to tell the tale of a perfectly ordinary man caught up in the extraordinary world of the mythos. Harry even gets to do a bit of boxing in this adventure. The nature of this book concerns mental illness and chaos so at some points we begin to doubt if Harry is still a reliable narrator and I did not particularly like that. Otherwise the book is the usual mix of humour, pathos and pulp style action.

A really excellent exploration of the Cthulhu mythos with a brilliant character and powerful evocation of South East London. Please carry on with the series!

Good 4th instalment the Stubbs chronicles. Hope there are more to come