The Moon Pool (book review)

A. Merritt ★★★☆☆ I don’t remember why I downloaded The Moon Pool when I first discovered Standard Ebooks and set about grabbing a bunch of books to read later (as one does). I finally got around to reading it. The opening chapters are moody, creepy horror, set on and around an archaeological site at an isolated Pacific island. The locals refuse to stay during the nights of the full moon, and of course the white archaeologists want to know why, and find the secret door, and the hidden pool, and the horrific monster that comes forth in the moonlight and devours people’s souls. Side note: the megalithic ruins of Nan Madol are real, though of course they were built by ordinary humans of the South Pacific a few centuries ago. Once that tale is done, it shifts gears and becomes a hollow-earth adventure fantasy. (Apparently the book is a fix-up between a short story and its sequel, which explains the shift.) First with some party accretion on the high seas. Like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea…