Shrouded Loyalties

This lesser-known gem was my favorite book of 2019. You take a World War II-style submarine war but throw in horrifying new supernatural powers, and then pitch it against Cthulu-style interdimensional monsters and you start to have an idea of the gloriously-insane trajectory of this book. That may sound over-the-top at a glance, but I promise this is a grounded read that’s flush with complex interweaving relationships, and an unrelenting pace that constantly throws new, bigger dangers at the characters before they’ve had a chance to catch their breath. This book is far better than it has any right to… show more.

Shrouded Loyalties combines post-war intrigue with submarine warfare and Lovecraftian terrors. Everything in this book is awesome, but the two aspects I love the most sit at opposite ends of the realism spectrum. In the realm of the fantastic, Hogan’s creatures are terrifyingly other-worldly, and the prose masterfully switches between revelation and shadow, underlining just how deeply frightening these beings are. But the book also shines in its very down-to-earth depiction of relationships fraught with trust issues, as characters find themselves wrapped in layers of wishful thinking, old grudges, and external propaganda.

Hogan is a master of showing how conflicts… show more.