In the story "Herbert West–Reanimator," we delve into the chilling and macabre world created by H.P. Lovecraft. The story follows the narrator's twisted history with Herbert West, a man who firmly believes that the human body is nothing more than a complex machine that can be restarted. This belief leads them both down a dark and disturbing path as they begin experimenting on human subjects.

At first, West and the narrator pay others to rob graves for them, hoping to find suitable subjects for their experiments. However, none of these early experiments are successful. Frustrated and desperate, they decide to take matters into their own hands and start robbing graves themselves. It is during one of these grave-robbing escapades that they come across the recently deceased body of a construction worker. Injecting the body with West's serum, they hope for a breakthrough. Instead, they are met with an unearthly scream and a hasty escape as the farmhouse catches fire. The following day, a gruesome discovery is made in potter's field, further reinforcing the eerie nature of their experiments.

West's research takes a new turn when a typhoid epidemic breaks out, providing him with a steady stream of human subjects. Injecting his patients with a new serum, West's experiments have little effect, except for some flickering signs of life. However, when Dr. Allen Halsey, the dean of the medical school, dies from typhoid, West seizes the opportunity to reanimate his body as a final act of twisted respect. Unfortunately, their experiment goes awry, and Halsey becomes a violent killer, leading to his apprehension and subsequent confinement in a mental institution.

Undeterred by their failures, West and the narrator continue their experiments, now working as licensed doctors in a small New England town. They purchase a house near a cemetery, providing them easy access to fresh cadavers. Despite experimenting on several corpses, they still do not achieve the breakthrough they seek. Their chance comes with the body of a boxing champion, whom they acquire to fulfill a favor for some gamblers. Injecting the body with another new serum yields no tangible results, but what follows is a series of horrifying events. A child goes missing, and the father's grief turns into rage, blaming West for his wife's death. Soon, they come face to face with the reanimated corpse of the boxer, clutching the arm of the missing child, a horrifying sight that spells the end for the boxer.

In an unexpected turn of events, West perfects a type of embalming fluid that preserves corpses at the moment of death. As the narrator returns from vacation, he is greeted by a perfectly preserved dead man in their home. West reveals that the man died from a heart attack during a physical examination, and he successfully preserved the body. Injecting it with his latest serum, signs of life begin to appear, but the reanimated man meets a gruesome demise, revealing that he was actually murdered by West.

The horrors continue as West and the narrator find themselves caught up in World War I, using it as an opportunity to procure more bodies for their experiments. West's methodology evolves, with him attempting to reanimate separate body parts. When Major Sir Eric Moreland Clapham-Lee, their commanding officer, dies, West takes it upon himself to reanimate his body. This experiment goes horribly wrong, culminating in the destruction of the building they were in, and not a trace of Clapham-Lee's reanimated head and body can be found.

After the war, West moves to a house connected to an ancient system of catacombs. One night, while reading the newspaper, he comes across a peculiar article about a riot at an insane asylum. This bizarre event involves a group of unsettling individuals demanding the release of a notorious killer. The events described send West into a near-catatonic state. Soon after, a group of men deliver a large box to the narrator, which he passes on to West. Sensing danger, West insists they incinerate the box, but it is too late. The zombies break through the walls and attack, leading to West's gruesome death, orchestrated by Clapham-Lee. The narrator, haunted by the events and considered mad, holds onto the terrifying knowledge of what transpired.

In this intricately woven tale, Lovecraft explores the boundaries of life and death, immersing us in a disconcerting world where the line between the two is blurred. Through Herbert West's relentless pursuit of reanimating the dead, Lovecraft delves into the darkest corners of science and obsession. As readers, we are compelled to question the ethical implications of such experiments and the consequences that await those who dare to defy the natural order of life and death.