The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (Mass Market Paperback)

by H.P. Lovecraft (Author) "FROM a private hospital for the insane near Providence, Rhode Island there recently disappeared an exceedingly singular person..." (more)
Key Phrases: attic laboratory, frantic note, frantic letter, Joseph Curwen, Charles Ward, Olney Court (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Incantations of black magic unearthed unspeakable horrors in a quiet town near Providence, Rhode Island. Evil spirits are being resurrected from beyond the grave, a supernatural force so twisted that it kills without offering the mercy of death!


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Incantations of black magic unearthed unspeakable horrors in a quiet town near Providence, Rhode Island. Evil spirits are being resurrected from beyond the grave, a supernatural force so twisted that it kills without offering the mercy of death!

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (November 12, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345354907
• ISBN-13: 978-0345354907
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,101,228 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovecraft at his best, January 14, 2005

By	ZombiKitty "zombikitty" (Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA) - See all my reviews

Charles Dexter Ward is a young man in Providence, RI who is fascinated by antiquities --- too fascinated, perhaps. He becomes obsessed with an ancestor, an alleged warlock named Joseph Curwen who escaped persecution in Salem over 200 years before and fled to Providence. A unusually long-lived ancestor, I might add.

If you aren't used to reading Lovecraft, or other writers of the same time period, the language and writing style might be a little tough at first, but it is well worth getting into. Lovecraft leaves a lot to the imagination of the reader --- a device that works quite well in this story.

This is one of my favorite novellas --- actually, one of my favorite stories, even. I first read when I was in high school, and I have re-read it every few years ever since. I re-read it again a couple of days ago and I still love it. This is Lovecraft at his best.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovecraft's most accessible horror tale, March 17, 2002

By	Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward has long been one of my favorite books. Charles Ward is an intellectual young recluse steeped in antiquarianism (much as Lovecraft himself was) who discovers horrible secrets about a distant ancestor, one consciously expunged from public records and histories at the end of his ill-begotten life. Ward engulfs himself in a genealogical and historical pursuit of knowledge of this man, a passion all the more emblazoned by each mysterious discovery he makes. This ancestor, Joseph Curwen, was reputably a dabbler in the black arts who fled from Salem in advance of the remarkable witchcraft trials in that town. Finding refuge in Providence, he lived a reclusive, mysterious life, made even more mysterious by his eternally youthful appearance. A recluse by nature, he spent most nights at a farmhouse in Pawtuxet. A continuing series of terrible cries and noises detected from that farmhouse, in conjunction with a number of missing locals and rumors of brutality against Negro slaves surreptitiously brought to that abode culminated in a raid by local citizens determined to put an end to whatever monstrous acts the strange man was committing. No member of that raiding party ever dared discuss what he saw or heard during that awful night. Ward's knowledge of Curwen is greatly advanced when he discovers an old painting of him (revealing a face virtually identical to his own) and a set of personal papers hidden behind that painting. He then launches into terrible studies of the occult at home and abroad, then returns home to put to use the arcane secrets he has learned. His doctor and father eventually grasp the nature of Ward's actions and unite themselves in a determination to block Joseph Curwen's ancient ambitions and plans to once more walk the earth with the aid of his great-great-great grandson. The horrors they encounter in the pursuit of this objective are richly described and deliciously gruesome.

This story is pretty much straight horror with no deeply mythological overtones beyond those of necromancy. Lovecraft does an excellent job of always pushing the action along while providing a rich, deep, historical background of both Curwen and young Charles Ward. The ending chapter contains some of Lovecraft's most terror-inducing, menacingly evil scenes and is not to be missed by those with a gratuitous admiration for the macabre. For those readers who find the Cthulhu Mythos stories too strangely remote and otherworldly, this novella provides a more practical, more individualistic vision of horror sure to affect the reader more viscerally than do mysterious references to the Ancient Ones. Anyone considering reading Lovecraft for the first time would do well to make this book his introduction to the master of horror. This is everything a horror story should be.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good old fashioned horror story!, October 11, 2001

By A Customer

Although The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward is one of the few old-fashioned horror books I have read, I found it quite interesting. The plot isn't as far-fetched as so many plots of modern-day horror stories are, but it's still fiction. The horror/action doesn't unfold too early in the story, but when it does you won't stop reading. The descriptions, in the book, of different regions are so clear and imaginable you will be able to draw pictures and design maps. The ending is unique, almost predictable, that's what makes you want to hurry-up and finish the book. Another thing I like about the book is the use of language. I think it goes perfect with the setting even though I had to read some lines over in order to understand them. To write this book in modern-day language would set it apart from other horror stories in that it wouldn't be as good.