The Thing on the Doorstep by H.P. Lovecraft

3 of 5 stars  ***

Evil possession drives people to go mad and kill. This is a story about that realization as a man shoots his friend but swears who he shoots is not his friend but something else. In an attempt to kill the evil, a woman is beaten with a candlestick and buried in a basement. Incarceration of the murderer in an asylum reveals a juxtaposition with that corpse; the evil, once again, loose.

H. P. Lovecraft writes a chilling story that inspires others who write and produce spin-offs of his theme of evil among us. He takes the reader inside the psyche of a killer who rationalizes his actions and experiences insanity as a result. The Thing on the Doorstep is a short, macabre tale worthy of Edgar Allen Poe mention.