Title: Monster
Author: Keith Ferrario
Genre: Horror, Dark Fiction
Age Group: Adult (18+)
Rating: 2 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
They’re the only humans. But they’re not alone.
Adam Hayes pilots a small team to a remote Antarctic research station. Their mission: to investigate the loss of communications. Once there, the group of five find the station deserted, the radio smashed, and several strange piles of empty clothing. Forced to stay the night by a blinding snowstorm, they set out to solve the mystery of the missing crew. Eventually they will learn the horrifying truth—the station is not empty after all, and something unimaginable, dug up from the deep ice, roams the complex. Now they must fight for their lives against a cunning, thinking monster—and those who would unleash this terror on the rest of the world.
Monster is a disjointed collection of two stories with a faint connection between them. While the first part of the book holds high hopes, the second doesn’t deliver at all.
When they lose contact with an Antarctic research station, Adam Hayes pilots a small team to the station, to check out what happened, and why communication with the station was lost. But the five find something horrifying instead, with the station deserted and the radio smashed. A snowstorm forces them to spend the night, and while searching through the compound, they start finding what remains of the researchers that once inhabited the station. They learn that something terrible roams the complex, and now the monster is out to get them.
The book is long, probably too long. The first half of it focuses on the research station and on Adam trying to survive. The POV switches often from one character to another, leaving little time to actually get to know them, or care for them. Then halfway through, we make a twelve year time jump and are introduced to a whole new set of characters. It’s annoying, and it drags on the plot, while I wouldn’t have minded if it ended after the first part. It means a lot of build up, having to meet a new cast of characters two times, and in general, it doesn’t work too well. If the book had stopped after the first part, I would’ve given it a higher rating. The second part was too dull, and too much of a struggle to get through. The story do overlap eventually, but it’s not enough to warrant the latter half. It feels like two books sloppily glued together.
As for the first part, it is good and definitely has some merits. The writing is enjoyable for the most part, and we do get a suspenseful build up. I liked the monster – it was original, and rather scary. While I didn’t feel much of a connection to the characters, I did enjoy the plot.
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