2 Bloggers 1 Book - Swamp Monster Massacre

 

This month Stormi and I decided to venture into one of Hunter Shea's backlist books for our buddy reads.  We have always enjoyed this author, and she received this book as a birthday gift from a friend, and I was able to access it on Kindle Unlimited, add in Summer of Horror and it made perfect sense. So read on for my thoughts and then hop over to Stormi's to see hers. 

TITLE: Swamp Monster Massacre

AUTHOR: Hunter Shea

PUBLISHER: Severed Press

PUBLISHING DATE: October 2, 2012

PAGES: 149   

SOURCE: KU

FROM GOODREADS: The swamp belongs to them. Humans are only prey. 

Deep in the overgrown swamps of Florida, where humans rarely dare to enter, lives a race of creatures long thought to be only the stuff of legend. They walk upright but are stronger, taller and more brutal than any man. And when a small boat of tourists, held captive by a fleeing criminal, accidentally kills one of the swamp dwellers’ young, the creatures are filled with a terrifyingly human emotion—a merciless lust for vengeance that will paint the trees red with blood.

MY THOUGHTS: Was this a great book?  No.  It doesn't even land on my favorite books by this author.  However, it was entertaining, action-packed and a quick read and sometimes that is all you need.  

Rooster is a career criminal.  At the beginning, he gets a little greedy and ends up killing the son of a gang member and stealing a bunch of guns and money.  He then has some drinks, does some drugs and passes out.  When he awakens, the father's goons are pounding in his door, so he ends up running off, with them close behind, and hopping on a tour boat headed for the Everglades. 

Rooster soon demands control of the boat and ends up driving the motley crew taking the tour deep into the Everglades.  Several people end up hurt when a storm brews up and the boat is run ashore and smack dab into the tree.  But in its path is a hairy monkey which is brutally splattered all about by the boat and everyone starts to wonder, why is there a monkey in the middle of the Everglades?

Soon the crew is being chased by Swamp Apes (aka Bigfeet? Bigfoots? what is the plural here?). The death of their big little one has angered the momma and before you know it, the group is fighting for their lives in the middle of a swamp.  

Like I mentioned, this book was okay.  There was A LOT of dismemberment and horrific deaths and I actually started liking Rooster as the end so I guess you could say there was some character development.  However, there was also a lot of stereotypical good-looking girl talk and some perversion but again, kind of expected for the type of book this is.  I do have to say that there is a scene thrown into the end that the book definitely didn't need and actually brought the rating down a bit for me.  

I don't regret reading this one and I will still pick up future Shea creature-feature books.  Unless you have a real reason to seek this one out, there are many other books by this author I would recommend first.

MY RATING: 3 PAWS