Department Zero

Middle-aged and divorced, Harry Priest’s life consists of two constants: cleaning up crime scenes and calling his daughter Susan every night to read her a bedtime story. But when he meets Havelock Graves, consistency goes out the window. And when Graves offers him a job as a crime scene cleaner for alternate realities, normalcy follows suit. But when they uncover a plot to awaken the god-monster Cthulhu, all bets are off. Now the race is on to stop Nyarlathotep from waking Cthulhu and destroying all life across every universe in the blink of a sleep-encrusted eye. But how does one man stop a god? And can he still get home in time to call his daughter?

Crilley’s premise is cool and endlessly intriguing, and the spectacle of average-man Harry Priest taking on the pinnacle of mythological godhood is something of a treat. Yet at the same time, there are definitely loose threads flapping. Dialogue between Priest and Graves tries to be sharp and witty but ends up forced. A couple of female characters make an entrance and then fall off the map with no explanation. And the literal deus ex machina at the end practically implodes from the force of its own convenience.