Tortures of the Damned By Hunter Shea

Tortures of the Damned

By Hunter Shea
2015 Pinnacle
Paperback, 439 pages

 

                I like short books; 170 to 180 pages is ideal. I have the attention span of a gnat. But when Hunter Shea is the author, I don’t even balk at a 439-page book. He is one of the few authors who knows how to write an interesting and exciting page-turner. Short chapters, many of which are cliffhangers, and a breezy writing style. As I have said many times… Hunter Shea gets it.

 

                A series of explosions rock the East Coast, releasing poisonous gasses and taking out all of the electricity. It is quickly evident that the world is forever changed, and the story follows the Padillas, another close-knit family in the Shea tradition, and with their neighbors Buck and Alexiana, trying to survive Yonkers in a post-apocalyptic setting. After being forced out of Buck’s well-prepared bomb shelter (by crazed rats!), the motley crew, including the Padilla’s young children, try to make sense of the situation and get to safety… wherever that might be.

 

                For readers familiar with Shea’s crypto-zoological masterpieces… no, there are no Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) or Jersey Devils, but nature does indeed run amok in this one. The poison gasses make many species of critter go bonkers. Besides the crazed rats, we have vicious horses, alley cats, bats, and birds all making it tough for the survivors. Surviving humans are no less of a threat to the family. The body count is massive and the isolation the family feels is palpable to the reader. One touch of horrific realism- human ignorance and hate are still the most dangerous things, even in the post-Apocalypse.

 

                Some reviews have been pissy about the ending because they expected or wanted something different, but I found it perfect and satisfying. Could a sequel be in order? It doesn’t need one, but there’s definitely room for one. I will buy it if it should materialize, but if it doesn’t, I’m perfectly happy with the story as it is.

 

                One. More. Time… Hunter Shea gets it! He knows how to write an exciting and heart-wrenching horror story.

The Jersey Devil By Hunter Shea

 

The Jersey Devil
By Hunter Shea
Pinnacle Books, 2016
Paperback, 378 pages

                If I’m going to tackle a book that is 378 pages long, it has to be written by Hunter Shea. Only he can tell a story that long that will hold my intertest. No fluff, no filler; every word is essential and moves the tale along. And what a tale it is. Shea’s cryptozoological monster books are a treasure. He takes every known fact/ rumor about the mythical beasts and makes it an integral part of the story. I was prompted to research the Jersey Devil after finishing this book and yes… he nailed it. And improved on the legend.

 

                The Willet Family are a close-knit crew, and they have a history with the Devil. Ol’ Boompa, the gran’pa, had encountered it years ago and has had revenge burning in his veins ever since. With a spate of new Devil sightings, the family gets together with a shit-ton of firepower, and they head out to hunt. Naturally, they get a lot more than they bargained for.

 

                Rarely do I root for humans in a book like this, but Shea makes the Willet Family so damn likeable that you have to. The Devils, plural, yes- there are many, are formidable creatures but they aren’t infallible. But there are just so many. Throw in captive humans kept for breeding reasons, a rock concert, and innocent people stuck in a very bad place, and you have a page turner that moves very quickly and delivers the gory goods.

 

                I’ve said it before; Hunter Shea gets it. His name should always be mentioned when speaking of the greats of the genre that I love the most… nature-strikes-back. Guy N. Smith, James Herbert, Hunter Shea… he is among the elite.

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Swamp Monster Massacre By Hunter Shea

 

Swamp Monster Massacre
By Hunter Shea
2017 Severed Press
Paperback, 138 pages

After reading The Montauk Monster, I started looking up Hunter Shea books online to see what else I needed to read by him. A two-sentence review by “Nick” on Goodreads ("The fucking bigfoots were throwing alligators at them!" If that sentence makes you smile, then this book is for you.) had this in my Amazon basket before you could say Gator Bombs!

This book does exactly what is says on the tin; Swamp Apes in the Everglades attack a swamp-tour boat that was hijacked by an arms dealer and happens to run over a young Bigfoot in a crash. The airboat’s passengers are the characters, not much more than fodder, but we don’t ask for much; we just want the bloody massacre, and we get it.

Shea once again writes his own cryptozoological rules and gives a lot more Skunk Ape lore than was previously known. Their smell, their underwater prowess and hunting skills are given a great deal of detail and their hatred of the interlopers is well deserved.  With the short page count, I could barely put the book down, especially with Shea’s propensity for ending chapters like “And what happened next would change everything...” I mean, you just have to go on and keep reading!

Hunter Shea gets it. Nature strikes back in a bloody tornado of body parts. I will keep reading his output. He writes for me.

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Loch Ness Revenge By Hunter Shea

 

Loch Ness Revenge
By Hunter Shea
2016 Severed Press
Paperback, 141 pages
 

            I love Hunter Shea. I love cryptozoology, monsters, animals killing humans and gore. This is the medium in which Shea works and he excels at it. Of course, I just had to read what he does with ol’ Nessie!

In their childhood, twins Natalie and Austin saw their parents eaten by the Loch Ness Monster. Natalie had made it her life’s mission to find the monster and avenge her parents. Two decades after the incident, she is primed and ready and Austin joins her to mount a war against the lake creature.

This one isn’t as brutal and gory as some of Shea’s other books, but the action and emotions are always blazing like a flamethrower. The characters (the twins, Austin’s pal Heinrik, and monster-hunter/ videographer Rob) are all well thought out and loveable, surprising for such a short book. The banter between the twins is believable and funny. Once again, Shea gives us a strong and capable woman in Natalie, a welcome character who was all but absent in the 80s pulp novels he must love. The story is told in first person by Natalie.

I don’t ask for a lot in a book. Entertain me, thrill me, scare me or make me laugh. That’s what will make me feel like my time was well spent. Hunter Shae usually delivers all four. My time was well spent with Loch Ness Revenge.

This review originally appeared in Midnight Magazine #9, March, 2022.

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The Montauk Monster By Hunter Shea

 

The Montauk Monster
By Hunter Shea
2014 Pinnacle Books
Paperback, 347 pages

 

I admit it. I’m stuck-up. I don’t give new things a chance. Any horror novel written after 1990 surely sucks. But while perusing the books at Savers recently, this one caught my eye. Despite being newer (2014) and twice as thick as I like to read, the back cover hype made me give it a chance. A gory monster book for $3; it was worth a shot.

Remember when the mangy, hairless raccoon carcass washed up in Montauk, NY and a new cryptozoological hero was born? Well, Shea took that sensational (if fleeting) story and fleshed it out as reality and the results are phenomenal. Indescribable monsters are flooding into Long Island and shredding everyone in sight. Where do they come from and how do you stop them?

Shea gets it. He knows how to write a nature-strikes-back/ bloody monster story and this one is right up there with the best of this beloved genre. All of my favorite tropes are present: introducing characters that are mere monster fodder, gratuitous gore and sex, snarling, unstoppable monsters and the death of characters that you thought would live. One welcome update to the model that I love so much is an ass-kicking, disabled woman; someone that Guy N. Smith would never have had the presence of mind include in a story.

After enjoying this one as much as I did, I looked up Shea’s other titles and it seems that the cryptozoology monsters are his thing. I look forward to reading more of his work, especially his Skunk Ape novel, which clocks in at well under 200 pages. The Montauk Monster runs a bit long because plenty of explanation is needed for the beasts’ existence, but it still moves quickly, and I couldn’t be happier with my $3 purchase.

This review originally appeared in Midnight Magazine #8, July 2021.

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