Clip Their Wings

When the other half is watching a movie you have no interest in watching, what do you do? Why, scroll through the horror novel selections on Amazon, of course. And that's how I stumbled across Jack Morse's Giant Killer Bats of Alamogordo. Being a big fan of the eco-horror of the 40s and 50s, movies like THEM!, The Deadly Mantis, Tarantula, etc., I was so excited for this one and I went into it with high expectations. Sadly, those expectations to a swan dive off a cliff to crash on the rocks below.

Anyone familiar with those movies I listed above will know the premise of this book -- big, bad government is performing nuclear experiments in the New Mexico desert, and the result is giant killer bats. And that's where the problems with this particular work begin. The prologue tells us that the experiment occurred on August 5th, 1957, and from the sounds of it, this is the first of such tests. However, a little research will reveal the first nuclear testing in New Mexico occurred in 1945, and if the author had used that as a starting point, the initial problem could have been avoided. Chapter 1, you see, is dated September 8, 1957. So we're expected to believe all these bats grew to mammoth size over the course of a month. Insert eye roll. I should have bailed here, but remember...High expectations. Sigh.

The second problem encountered in the book are the characters. They're just not believable. As a result, you're praying for the bats to eat them so the reader can be put out of their misery. The central character is Ray Riggs, a newly married insurance salesman from Florida, who is traveling to California with his new bride, Sally. Their car overheats in the middle of the desert, and they're just fortunate enough to make it to a service station just in the nick of time. They're forced to spend the night in a local hotel. That night, they hear a strange noise coming from the desert and they go to investigate. They find nothing, but as they prepare to return to the hotel, a partially eaten carcass falls from the sky to land right in front of them. They call the sheriff, who has no business being in law enforcement. The sheriff arrives and accompanies Ray out to the desert, where they find...nothing. There's not even any blood soaked into the sand to indicate that a bloody half of a bull had ever been there. Not bloody likely. So the sheriff leaves, and that's when Ray finds a little morsel of bloody meat. How does he even know it's from the same animal?

The following day, Ray takes his evidence into town to show the sheriff. While Ray plays with the sheriff, Sally goes off on her own. The mayor shows up to complain about a missing bull and suggests the sheriff talk to Denis Avery, a man who is probably being attacked by a giant bat as they speak. (And yes, he is, because we're a witness to it -- a bat attack in broad daylight.) So the sheriff goes off to question Denis, and allows Ray to come along for the ride. Not very professional, running the risk of putting a civilian's life in jeopardy. And Ray runs off without telling his new bride where he's going? Not bloody likely. While Ray is off playing junior deputy, enter the Big, Bad Government agent, who really needs to have a handlebar moustache to twirl, who proceeds to kidnap Sally, tie her up, and then question her all because he saw her and her husband take a walk into the desert. He knows something is going on, but he's totally clueless as to what. He has no idea that the nuclear testing he was responsible for overseeing gave birth to giant killer bats. In a month's time. And while he's questioning her, the bats attack. In broad daylight. So why is it no one else has seen these giant bats if they keep attacking during daylight hours? We learn that people and animals are missing, but nobody has seen a thing.

Later on, when the sheriff goes to investigate a cave, with trust Deputy Ray in tow, he pulls out a handy dandy Geiger counter because... well, just because. How does he know there's been some Top Secret nuclear testing going on in his own backyard? Is this standard equipment for sheriffs back in the 50s? And they just so happen to discover the bats in question. On their first try. Makes it sounds like this is the only cave in the area. And being a cave, you know what they have to do. Seal it. But nobody has admitted to having explored the cave in depth, so they really don't know if there's another entrance, but they seem certain there aren't any, and they just know blowing the entrance is going to take care of all their problems. Hell, they don't even need any poisonous gas to pump into the cave before they blow it. And Mr. Government agent, who gets "kidnapped" by a bat, falls hundreds of feet from a bat that can't manage to gain any height because of the weight it's carrying and only screws up his knee and MAYBE busted a couple ribs, manages to make it through the desert and into town, hurt, bleeding, and with no water. And he must be part bat, because nobody sees him. No. Sorry. Just... no.

As promising as the story idea is, it just fails on all levels. I could go on and on, but I'm gonna stop here. No character development. Plot holes big enough to swallow a semi. And totally unrealistic characters. As much as I would love to be able to recommend this one, I can't. If you need a giant creature feature to feed your addiction, you're be better off reading The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth by H.G. Wells.