Mr. X was published by Random House in 1999. Ned Dunstan returns to his hometown of Edgerton, Illinois, after his mother’s death to discover the identity of his father — a man his mother never named. The search leads him into a Lovecraftian world of hidden families, cosmic entities, and a figure called Mr. X (or Edward Rinehart) who may be his father and who practiced a form of sorcery derived from his obsessive reading of H.P. Lovecraft.
The novel is Straub’s most direct engagement with the Lovecraft tradition: the cosmic horror, the forbidden knowledge, the entities from outside that threaten to break through into our world. But Straub filters Lovecraft through his own sensibility — the prose is far more accomplished, the characterization deeper, and the emotional stakes (a son searching for his father, a man trying to understand his own nature) more human than Lovecraft’s typically affect-less narrators.
The structure is characteristically complex: Ned’s first-person narrative alternates with sections narrated by his unknown twin brother (whose existence Ned does not initially suspect), creating a doubling effect that mirrors the novel’s themes of identity, reflection, and the divided self. The noir detective elements (Ned’s investigation of his origins) combine with supernatural horror (the entities his father summoned) to produce a hybrid that is distinctively Straubian.
Collecting Mr. X
First edition (Random House, New York, 1999): Cloth with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $20–$50
- Signed: $40–$80
Projected values (2026–2036): Modest appreciation.
Lovecraftian Straub
Mr. X (1999) won the Bram Stoker Award and represents Straub’s most direct engagement with H.P. Lovecraft’s cosmic horror tradition. Ned Dunstan returns to the fictional city of Edgerton, Illinois, for his mother’s funeral and discovers that he has a malevolent double — a shadow self connected to dark family secrets and Lovecraftian entities. The novel’s dual narrative (alternating between Ned and his sinister counterpart) creates an unsettling mirror effect. Straub’s prose lifts the Lovecraftian material far above pastiche, investing it with genuine psychological depth and literary craft.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this a Lovecraft homage? Yes, explicitly — Straub engages with Lovecraft’s themes (forbidden knowledge, cosmic indifference, hereditary taint) while transforming them through his own literary sensibility. The result is Lovecraft for readers who find the original prose unreadable.