A Cosmology of Monsters – Shaun Hamill
For the first third of "A Cosmology of Monsters," I was having a great time. Then somebody started having sex with the monster, and things deteriorated from there.
Shaun Hamill's debut follows the Turner family across several decades, beginning in 1968 when Margaret, an English major at a Christian college in Arkansas, falls for Harry, a Lovecraft-obsessed townie who courts her with "Rosemary's Baby" and an amateur haunted house.
Years later, they're married with children when Harry begins behaving erratically, including becoming obsessed with building an elaborate haunted house in their backyard. What Margaret initially fears is mental illness turns out to be an inoperable brain tumor. The haunted house eventually becomes The Wandering Dark, an immersive horror attraction that outlives Harry and becomes the family's livelihood.
This was easily my favorite section of the book. It's essentially a sad family drama with something sinister lurking around the edges. The lingering question of whether the monsters haunting this family are literal, metaphorical or both reminded me somewhat of "The Saturday Night Ghost Club," another spooky story that's ultimately more interested in the monsters within us than the ones that might actually hurt us.
Then Noah, Margaret and Harry's son and the novel's narrator, starts receiving nighttime visits from an actual monster. As the story jumps forward through the years, their relationship becomes romantic and, eventually, sexual.
The monster sex is the easiest place to pinpoint where the book started losing me, but it wasn't really the only problem. Around the same time, the thoughtful, emotionally grounded family drama I'd been enjoying became an increasingly ridiculous and hackneyed novel.
Instead of doubling down on the relationships that buoyed the first third, Hamill keeps piling on plot. Noah solves a murder, discovers more monsters, there's a cultish punk-rock church, a support group for people who've experienced unexplained phenomena and problematic storyline involving gay shame. Even the mythology surrounding the monsters remains vague despite becoming increasingly important.
The final chapters prove there's still a better book hiding in here. We get a fuller understanding of the monsters' existence and learn what happened to several members of the Turner family. Some of that early intrigue and humanity returns, along with genuinely interesting world-building that I wish had been threaded throughout the novel instead of largely saved for the end.
I've never read H.P. Lovecraft, so I'm sure some references were lost on me, but by the latter half this felt like a "Stranger Things" rip-off, but with someone sleeping with the Demogorgon.
The audiobook also started strong before falling apart. It incorporates music during some of the creepier scenes, which added atmosphere, but the pulsating beat accompanying the monster fight was laughably distracting. Sean Patrick Hopkins fares better, giving the characters distinct voices and doing a solid job with some pretty wild material.
What began as exactly the kind of strange, melancholy family horror story I love, ended as conventional mishmash of horror tropes. I don’t understand why Stephen King agreed to blurb this.
Rating (story): 2.5/5 stars
Rating (narration): 3/5 stars
Format: Audiobook (personal library)
Dates read: September 6 – September 11, 2026
Multi-tasking: Good to go. After the first chapter you’ll understand the characters and the broad situation, but the annoying audio cues also help pull your attention to important moments.
