The Call of Cthulhu – H.P. Lovecraft
Here we have a book split into three sections, with the links between them presented via someone who is searching for the truth behind the mystery of the death of his great uncle (or it may have been great great uncle – I intend to go back and skim all my books again when I have finally caught up to real time reviewing 🙂 ) when returning from the docks.
The narrator pieces together informaiton from the three sets of notes he discovers, and figures out that there were once beings on this planet, pre-human, whose power is almost un-imaginable, and whats more, these god like characters have followings in isolated areas around the planet, starting from when inter-continental travel was almost an impossibility.
If you find Stephen King’s books over the top or too direct when it comes to horror & suspense, I think you will find this author, and this book in particular, more your cup of tea.
Many people cite Lovecraft as a major early influence in the genres of horror, fantasy and science fiction. If you read this book, you’ll see why that is so. It will also help if you want to read other H.P. Lovecraft books – Great Cthulhu appears, at least as a plot device in quite a few other stories.