The Fear Institute

The plot is like a Lovecraft-inspired video game. There's NPC's giving Cabal information, tasks that have to be performed, and boss battles. Even his traveling companions could be looked at as extra lives/cannon fodder. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I see that the author wrote for video games so that may have put it in my mind.

There was an unexpected twist at the end that was nicely done. Like the first two Cabal books, it's very witty and entertaining. Never a dull moment.

The necromancer Johannes Cabal is approached by three gentlemen from The Fear Institute for help in retrieving something called the Phobic Animus (the source of all fears) from the Dreamlands. Cabal accepts but only because he can then get his hands on the Silver Key which gains one entry to the Dreamlands. He doesn't really care about the Fear Institute and their goals. As ever, Cabal is looking out for number one and to hell with the consequences. This outing has more of a fantasy feel to it and much less of a gothic old world charm that I really enjoyed in the first two books. This third Johannes Cabal tale is still fun, but I still like the first one best. But as Cabal is such a charming anti-hero, I'll be on board for any subsequent Cabal tales. Still, I found the ending of this one a little bit confusing. Discuss.