Book Review - 'Book of the Elder Wisdom' by R. Walter Dutton

The author of this independently published book got in touch to ask if I’d review it after reading my review of H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales’. As it evokes a Lovecraftian feel, I agreed. He kindly supplied me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

‘It is 1984… Orwell’s year. Yet, it seems, not his alone, for it marks the coming of the Elder Wisdom: the legacy of another long-dead author, which threatens to become a reality of eldritch horror, conjured by monstrous forces from beyond our world. An unwitting heir to his legacy stumbles onto its dark mysteries, and sets out to solve them – on a quest that ranges from an ancient tower of the Anasazi in the American Southwest, to the streets of Skid Row Los Angeles, and finally into the farthest reaches of time and space. The Book of Elder Wisdom renders a faithful account of these strange events and all that ultimately transpired, as told to R. Walter Dutton.’

This, Dutton’s first novel, is told in first person.

Each chapter title tells us the geographical location and the date, which I found helpful.

Our unnamed narrator comes across as a quiet person, an eccentric recluse. There’s frequent mention of a long-dead distant relative to whom he bears a close resemblance:
“… we weren’t closely related, but I’ve been told there’s an amazing physical resemblance… And… I’ve since found out, a similarity of personality. The same preoccupation with the past, and a strange fascination – combined with revulsion – for the alien. The weird.”

This relative is not mentioned by name anywhere in the novel, but it’s obvious who he is. Personally, I liked that touch.

Without any unnecessary introduction, the story gets straight to the point.

While exploring some Anasazi ruins, the narrator had discovered something which unsettled him, including an abandoned backpack, possibly bloodstained. He asks his good friend, Phil, a private investigator, to help him find the owner, but Phil believes its more of a police matter.

He replies that he found some writing in the ruins that, although they weren’t in any recognisable language, still struck “a familiar chord.”

After much pondering, his thoughts took him to the stories of his writer relative and he found some similarities, which led to further investigation…
“It seems to be a kind of invocation, a call for the intervention of entities of great power, who are inactive or ‘sleeping’ now, as the writing puts it, but will soon make their presence known.”

What perplexes him the most is the apparent connection to his relative’s stories.

In the end, Phil agrees to help him on the proviso that, if his investigation doesn’t turn up anything, they will turn things over to the police.

Thanks to an employee identity card that had still been in the backpack, Phil successfully traces the owner’s address and workplace.

But attempts to find the missing man only lead to more confusion and yet another connection to the literature of the narrator’s relative.

They decide to anonymously tip off the police about the missing man while they follow the trail of the mysterious writing in the Anasazi ruins and its apparent connection to the narrator’s relative.

They come in contact with an organisation calling itself the Church of the Elder Wisdom, which has already left strange flyers for our man – “You Are Under Observation – Powerful Forces See All – You Too Can Stand Among the Elect – You Too Can Know the Secret Power – In the Church of the Elder Wisdom.”

Although he dismisses them at first, for “strange religious sects were hardly a novelty in Southern California”, he soon realises that the flyers are only ever left on the windshield of his car… “I looked about at other vehicles in the vicinity, but on none of them could a flyer be seen.”

Although the church seems harmless enough, it isn’t long before the niggling feeling that things aren’t what they seem starts to grow, fed by seemingly inexplicable events.

As I like to keep my reviews as spoiler-free as possible, I won’t say much more or I’ll be straying into spoiler territory.

The story takes us from locations in California to Skid Row, Los Angeles, to New Mexico, then Washington and other, unexpected places.

The narrator has a Lovecraftian ‘voice’, which, strangely, doesn’t seem out of place in modern America; it suits his character.
“… how can one frame the indescribable? It could only be said that to this place had come abominations, violations of any rational conception of life, or even existence itself, of a scale so huge that their enormous masses blotted out the sun.”

Dutton keeps the action moving forward at a steady pace and doesn’t drag things out. There were times it read almost like a detective novel, which I liked.

One of the things I found refreshing was how the characters do not take unnecessary, daft risks, putting themselves in harm’s way for no other reason than to add tension. For the most part, they acted sensibly, given the levels of threat they, especially our narrator, faced.

The middle of the book did make me pause as I wondered where Dutton was going with the story. But, as I read on, I found myself enjoying the plot turn/device. It fit the story, made sense and, again, felt Lovecraftian to me.

Most of the story is told by our narrator. But there are a couple of other narrators whose voices fit well in the few chapters in which they feature; I didn’t find their inclusion jarring. I’d love to say more about them, but I want to keep the review spoiler-free.

As with some of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos tales, there’s an underlying current of unease as the narrator starts to question who he can trust, who’s involved, how far the threat extends…

Despite being an understated horror there are some sci-fi elements, which, in my opinion are done in a fresh way. Having said that, bear in mind I don’t read that much sci-fi.

Dutton also smoothly weaves in actual events and people without naming names.

A couple of cons – there are a handful of typos and a tendency to overegg the research-description pudding, especially in the opening chapters.

I am quite the fussy reader and whereas I would normally find that sort of thing annoying, there was enough going on in the story to make me want to read on. And I’m glad I did.

I look forward to the next book this author plans to release, especially if it’s along similar lines.