Arkham: Reanimated

Arkham: Reanimated is a Cthulhu Mythos novel by American author Brandon Berntson, the second in his Lovecraft Mysteries series. Running to a total of 168 pages, it was independently published in February 2020; both paperback and digital editions were released.
==Synopsis==
Millie Von Clydesburgh and Devlin Macky decide to take a day trip to the countryside, but become stranded in the near-derelict tumbledown that is Arkham. There, they encounter hostile locals, reanimated corpses, abominable experiments, and even an Outer God in their efforts to find out what secrets haunt the mysterious town.
==Plot==
===Chapter 1===
Private investigator Devlin Macky and his secretary/romantic interest Millie Von Clydesburgh decide to take a romantic day trip into the nearby countryside. Unfortunately for them, a storm moves in, and as the rural backroads become waterlogged, their gets bogged down near the mysterious and dilapidated town of Arkham.
=== Chapter 2===
As Macky and Millie try to make the best of their situation, they begin to realise that they are not alone in the countryside. A strange creature apparently made from stitched-together body parts attempts to gain access to their vehicle, but Macky is able to kill it using a gun which Millie keeps in her purse for protection.
===Chapter 3===
Millie and Macky are rescued from their predicament by a friendly Arkham resident and local hotelier Theodore "Tiki" Bannister, who put the two up for the night.
===Chapter 4===
The following morning, one-armed local mechanic Joseph Douglas "Duckie" Abercrombie drives Millie and Macky out to retrieve their stricken coupe. While there, Macky checks for the body of the creature he shot the previous night, but instead of the expected corpse, all he finds is a vile residue. As Duckie begins to work on their car, the two take a trip to Miskatonic University's near-derelict library on a fact-finding mission. There, the cranky Dr. Henry Armitage begins to fill them in on the activities of one Dr. Herbert West and the curse that hangs over Arkham.
===Chapter 5===
After a tour of Christ's Church Cemetery during which they discover a number of opened graves missing their occupants, Macky and Millie discover that Duckie has his malevolent, reanimated arm hidden away in a box in his office.
===Chapter 6===
When Duckie informs them that their car will take at least another day to repair, Millie and Macky do a little more investigating, and come to the realisation that there are other reanimated creatures in Arkham, including a former occupant of the Christ's Church Cemetery who has been dead for decades.
===Chapter 7===
Back at the Bannister Inn, Tiki and his wife let Millie and Macky in on the secret experiments performed by Dr. West on his return from the war, explaining how West had attempted to set things right with the locals by bringing their loved ones back to life, but eventually falling to obsession with his reanimation serum. He also mentions the small signs dotted around town, explaining his belief that they are the mark of Shub-Niggurath, an ancient entity which has claimed Arkham as its own, before taking Macky to see the remains of West's burned out laboratory, beneath which something begins to stir.
===Chapter 8===
The following morning, Macky and Millie decide to visit the local church, and end up meeting sheriff Walter Kingsley who attends the scene of a roadside fatality. Kingsley admits that he has known about the strange goings-on in Arkham, and is working on a solution, then drives the two to Duckie's garage to check on their car. However, Duckie is dead, killed by his reanimated arm when it tried to rejoin with the poor man. Macky and Kingsley then destroy the evil limb.
===Chapter 9 ===
Kingsley takes Macky and Millie to see Dr. Armitage at Miskatonic University again, who now reveals that he has been working on a counter-serum to nullify the effects of Dr. West's original concoction, which he believes has been weeping into the ground, contaminating and reanimating everything it comes into contact with. While they are discussing the situation, a horde of monstrous, virtually indestructible beings attack, killing Kingsley and dragging off Millie and Armitage, but curiously leaving Macky alone.
===Chapter 10===
Macky recruits Tiki to help him in rescuing Millie, and the pair venture down into the catacombs which sprawl beneath Arkham, fighting their way through the various biological experiments and reanimated corpses which have accumulated there through the years.
===Chapter 11===
Macky and Tiki witness the Outer God Shub-Niggurath bathing in an enormous pool of the reanimation serum and come to the conclusion that it is using its power to enhance the properties of the serum; shortly afterwards, they are ambushed by a colossal earthworm which kills and eats Tiki.
===Chapter 12===
Macky flees the scene of Tiki's death and finds his way to the abandoned asylum where he meets Robert Blackwood, the unnamed narrator of "Herbert West--Reanimator". Blackwood tells the story of how Eric Moorland took over from Herbert West after the tomb-legions killed him, trying to find a body for his decapitated wife so that the two could be together once again. Macky kills Blackwood in an act of mercy as he leaves. 
=== Chapter 13 ===
In a climactic encounter with Moorland, Macky manages to mix an experimental concoction of Dr. Armitage's with the original serum, causing a catastrophic reaction which destroys the catacombs and, presumably, everything within.
=== Chapter 14 ===
Macky and Millie are able to make good their escape and return to Adelaide Bannister to pass on the bad news, before returning to Innsport, using the deceased Duckie's tow truck to pull their own car.
=== Epilogue ===
Macky and Millie decide to have a night on the town to celebrate their survival.
==Trivia== 
*In Arkham: Reanimated, Lovecraft's elder sign is stated to in fact be a sigil representing the Outer God Shub-Niggurath, and is found scrawled in places the deity has claimed as its own.
==Gallery==
Arkham Reanimated back.jpeg|Back cover
Category:Brandon Berntson works
Category:Ebooks
Category:Expanded Mythos Works
Category:Novels