In April, my pal Stormi was participating in a readathon, Old School April, and had pulled some retro reads. I decided to join her and read a backlist horror novel we had been interested in for a while. So read on for my thoughts and then hop over to Storm Reads for hers.
TITLE: Bats
AUTHOR: William W. Johnstone
PUBLISHER: Kensington/Lyrical PRess
PUBLISHING DATE: January 1, 1993
PAGES: 316
SOURCE: Own Library
FROM GOODREADS: Wings of Death They’d flown north from Central and South America, appearing one day in the southern wetlands of the U.S. like ominous ink stains in the twilight sky. With each sunset, more appeared, first hundreds then thousands. Massing into a great black cloud of terror, the vampire bats were beating their wings in time with the panicked heartbeats in the towns below. No one knew how to stop them as they fell onto their prey like dark, deadly shadows. But someone had to find a way. Because somewhere in the night, they had become a threat to more than wild animals and livestock. Somewhere in the night madness took hold as these vampire bats developed a taste for human blood. And the feasting had only just begun.
Johnny is ex-military living a quiet, but secure life in Louisiana. Johnny had some pretty high clearance and was involved in some pretty secretive miliary activities, so he has a lot of knowledge and even more common sense. Late one night his two dogs start acting strangely and he hears some strange noises. The next day some farm animals are found massacred, and Johhny starts to become suspicious. He soon learns that for some reason, the area is being overrun by giant bats.
Soon scientists and local law enforcement gather and try to figure out what is going on and what can be done to stop them because these bats are out to kill everything and everyone in their path. Also, Johnny, soon realizes the government may have more to do with this than nature actually does so throw in some bureaucratic shenanigans as well. Johnny also starts working closely with a local veterinarian Blair, who is using her expertise to help battle the bats and save lives and they hit it off well so you can guess where that heads.
First, I have to point out how much I love Johnny mainly because the first thing he does is assure his dogs safety. He bat-proofs his entire residence and surrounding land, including encasing a run for his dogs when they are outside, so they don't get hurt. Next, Johnny and some of the law enforcement officers are on the same page and are presenting a united front rather than butting heads which was nice as sometimes in books like these, that is where the adversarial relationships start popping up.
As I mentioned, overall, this was a really enjoyable read. I have already researched some of the authors other backlist horror titles (he primarily writes old school westerns I believe) and hope to read another one soon. If you like creature books, this is one I would definitely recommend.
MY RATING: 4 PAWS
