BOOK REVIEW: Creature, by Hunter Shea

I normally just post my book reviews at sites like Goodreads and Amazon and BookBub, but it's April and I need to commit to posting an actual something to the blog -- so why not reviews? It makes no sense to not post the reviews to the blog, and I need to make that monthly blog entry that I promised myself I'd get to every month this year.

So, in the spirit of cheating, here's my book review that's also the monthly blog post. I consider it fortunate that I happened to be reading Creature, by Hunter Shea.

This isn't the first Hunter Shea book I've reviewed. The first was Slash, which was a solid piece of creature feature horror writing. But Creature is different. It's more personal for Shea, it doesn't get to the traditional horror elements right away and, in my personal opinion, it's the better read. There, I've already written more than the original quick review itself. And since I'm longing to get back to my own writing, here's the review posted at all the other places mentioned above:

I’ll get straight to what I liked about this book, the time and energy Shea put into building character. Or as some writing gurus will tell you, write what you know. And in Shea's own words, elements of this story are very personal.

It's a slow development of character for a good two thirds of the story. The creature in question doesn’t rear its ugly head until the bitter end, but that's okay. The story isn’t really about the creature itself, but of the creature as a manifestation brought on by the every day horrors of living with a brutal and uncompromising disease. Literally.

Kate is the one who lives in pain every day of her life. Her husband Andrew loves her and just wants her to be well, but her ever constant need for care wears on him as well. So they take a trip to the wilds of Maine hoping to enjoy nature and some alone time for healing.

But the disease isn’t forgiving, and the creature in question is eventually drawn to it.

I’m not going to give away any more spoilers than that. The slow development of the plot to get to the final moments of horror is essential to this story (in my opinion), so stick with it.

I’m glad I did.

 You can find Creature at most of your favorite online book outlets. Or, if you're feeling like supporting the indiebook community, purchase it here, direct from Flame Tree Press.