Playing Possum

Folks who know me know that I love Nature Strikes Back movies and books, but they also know I hate books and movies that show violence against animals, which might seem like a contradiction. And sometimes it is; I've been known to stop reading books because animals have been killed, but there are other books that I've devoured. The difference? I guess it has to do with the reason the animal was killed. If you kill a dog for the sake of killing a dog (for shock value?), I'm done. But if the animal is killed in an act of self-defense, that's a different story altogether. Or so my brain tells me.

When I first stumbled on Alan Baxter's The Roo and heard the backstory about how it came about, I knew I had to read it. Likewise with Stephanie Rabig's Playing Possum. I was curious to see what she could do with opossums that would make them scary. I mean, other than just have them bare their teeth, because when they do that, they're freaking terrifying.

Rabig wastes no time throwing the reader into the thick of it when a young woman, after fighting with her boyfriend, is attacked and presumably killed by a bunch of opossums. Then we slow things down a bit when we're introduced to the main character, Vanessa, her family (aunt, uncle, and cousin), and her girlfriend. Things start to ramp up again when Vanessa's girlfriend is attacked. She's taken to the hospital, given the all clear, and is sent home. But all isn't clear, and she starts to feel sick. Vanessa wants her to go back to the hospital, but finances prevent her from doing that. So she stays home...and gets worse. Meanwhile, the opossums are launching attacks all over town, and things go from bad to worse when Vanessa's young cousin is attacked and disappears. Figuring there's safety in numbers, a number of townsfolk head to the clinic. They're scared and confused, and they want to know why the opossums are attacking. They aren't normally pack animals, and the don't usually attack unless threatened, so what's changed. One woman thinks she knows; in fact, she's certain she knows who's behind the attacks and why. And then it's a race against time. Can one old woman and Vanessa's family put a stop to the attacks before the entire town falls victim to the rampaging marsupials.

In Playing Possum, Rabig has created a thrilling take of jealousy and revenge. It moves along at a brisk pace, and rarely lets the reader come up for air before launching them into more mayhem. With Vanessa, she has created a strong, independent woman who is not without flaws. She's fully fleshed out and believable, but alas, she's the only one who is. The other central characters are fleshed out enough so that the reader comes to care about what happens to them, but they don't reach the full three-dimensional nature that Rabig reached with Vanessa. This might have been intentional, in that they feel more like cannon fodder, which means we're guessing all throughout who's going to live and who's going to die. That and the suspense of waiting for the next attack makes for a nail-biting thrill ride that will keep you gripping the roll bar until the ride comes to a complete stop. Be forwarned, Rabig does set things up for a possible sequel, and we can only pray that she follows through and delivers. Final rating, 5 out of 5 stars.

 

Bigfoot Takes a Holiday

Folks who've read my reviews know I'm Cryptid Crazy, so when I first stumbled across Kristopher Rufty's Bigfoot Beach, I had to add it to my TBR list. But because of a previous experience with one of Rufty's books, I was hesitant to start it. But after watching Primal Rage again, I knew it was time for another killer Bigfoot book. But let me start off by saying, when I first saw this cover, I thought it was going to be a horror comedy. Boy, was I wrong. Well, kind of. The only thing funny was Gunner's ogling of every woman he came across, but I'll get to that later.

Like any slasher-style book, we start off Bigfoot Beach with an attack on an amorous young couple. The young man is savagely butchered and the young woman is carried off. Based on the title of the book, it's no secret what the attacker is. Then it jumps to the arrival of Paul Thompson, his hunky teenage son, Gunner, who apparently doesn't know how attractive he is, and his eight-year-old daughter, Natalie.

Their arrival in Seashell Cove is supposed to be a new start for them. We learn that Paul is a hunky hero cop and is in town to take on the role of deputy to his big brother's sheriff. We also learn that Paul's wife has suffered a breakdown and attempted to kill him, so she's out of the picture for good. He's soon to learn of the town's local celebrity, a legendary Bigfoot that appeared a little over a year ago and is the scapegoat for many of the town's disappearances and killings. Why Bigfoot and not a bear or some other wild animal? The footprints left behind. As the story progresses, we are introduced to the other key players: Howie Thompson, the equally hunky sheriff and Paul's big brother; Trish Thompson,the sheriff's wife who has movie star looks; Mayor Caine, a pompous ass who sees the Bigfoot as a way to spur the town's economy, provided they can keep the murders under wraps; Becky Aniston, the local reporter (who also happens to be drop-dead gorgeous -- maybe the new Mrs. Thompson?) who dreams of breaking that one big story that will land her a job with the big boys; Megan Caine, the mayor's daughter, also drop-dead gorgeous and often runs around in a bikini top -- yeah, I'll come back to this; Striker, the rugged bounty hunter who has been on the trail of the Bigfoot for some time; and a host of assorted cannon fodder.

As the body count rises, the sheriff and Paul, along with Becky, Mayor Caine, and Striker, lead a search for the creature, which leaves them through a labyrinth of caverns not too far from the Mayor's mansion. Meanwhile Gunner is making goo-goo eyes at the Mayor's daughter and ogling his aunt's tits. Yeah, of all the characters, I like Gunner the least and hope he turns into Bigfoot chow before the end of the book. It all leads up to a thrilling chase across the beach and to an abandoned miniature golf course. Like all slashers, there are some unintentionally funny scenes, as well as several eye-roll moments, but all in all, Bigfoot Beach was a solid story. There were only a couple of things I took issue with.

First of all, I read an e-book version of Bigfoot Beach, and the formatting was awful. Like this post, there were blank lines between every paragraph, which, in the case of this post, is unavoidable as they don't allow for paragraph indents (or if they do, I haven't figured it out yet). But in the book, it was distracting enough to pull you out of the story, especially when there's a series of short lines of dialogue. Second was the adolescent way Gunner's fawning over women was handled. I mean, Gunner is supposed to be 17 years old, so why does it feel like he's 13 and has never seen a woman before, especially one in a bikini, let alone naked? And his ogling of his aunt comes across as sleazy/pervy. It's almost like there was a blatant attempt here to emulate Richard Laymon, which, to me, is not a good thing. These scenes could have been lifted directly from Laymon's Island, with only the character names changed. Practically every Gunner scene had me praying Bigfoot would break in and rip his head off to save me from any more eye-roll moments. Paul is almost as bad with Becky and Trish. Almost. But not nearly as bad as Gunner, so he was allowed to live in my mind.

Those issues aside, I enjoyed Bigfoot Beach, but taking these issues into account, I feel the need to subtract a point, so a solid 4 star read becomes 3 stars. Given how I feel about these issues, would I recommend the book. Definitely. Especially if you're a fan of killer Bigfoot stories. It's the perfect summer beach read.