MONSTERS: WE’RE ALL A LITTLE DIFFERENT - - DARK TIDE BOOK FIVE (Crystal Lake Publishing, December 2022) Trade paperback, 178 pages. ISBN #978010957133-22-5
I've been enjoying the Dark Tide series, with a different theme and different authors for each volume. With Book FIve's theme of Monsters I'm expecting to be thrilled in the same way that a good horror film satisfies. The first entry did not disappoint me.
IT CAME FROM THE LAKE by Glenn Rolfe is very cinematic in it's pacing and descriptive visuals, and would make for a good monster movie. Beyond the standard monster-in-the-woods tropes is a collection of side stories and interesting characters to make the reader more invested in everyone's plight. The monster is like a cross between Swamp Thing and Bigfoot and has an unusual and disgusting way of draining and dispatching it's victims.
All the activity takes place around Owens Lake and the surrounding woods. In addition to the stalking monstrosity, there's property owner Henry Owens who's a bit too friendly with the female staff at his business office. He may have picked the wrong person to bother. His brother Francis is a PTSD-ravaged Vietnam vet who's been charged with protecting the lake and property and takes his assignment way too seriously.
Kristin Owens suspects her husband of cheating and hires private detective Maddox to gather enough evidence to win a divorce case. He's definitely skilled at investigating but his integrity is not as spot-on. Young Leilani is a runaway from her foster home who wanders into the wrong woods. Quincey is a local teenager, victim of an abusive father who often escapes to the lake for needed solitude. He just picked the wrong day to go there. FOUR STARS.
IN THE GLASTENBURY WOODS by Tom Deady The story does not keep readers waiting long before foreshadowing events, and from there the suspense just builds and builds. Well done.
Three high school grads returning from a celebratory road trip and taking a seriously wrong turn. Would make a perfect movie. I appreciate how the monster is not fully described, and just viewed by the characters in glimpses. That makes it even scarier. A satisfactory ending. I enjoyed this. FOUR STARS.
GROUNDHOG SLAY by Nick Kolakowski is the most original and off-beat story in the trio, and my personal favorite. This takes a little spin off of the popular Groundhog Day film. Just imagine the funny and likable Bill Murray being replaced by Jason Voorhees, and then falling into a time loop where he relives a single day - - wake up, kill with machete, be killed, wake up, start over again with several variations including some familiar victims and adversaries, and then rinse and repeat.
The story takes a science-fiction turn before long, and this evolves into an action tale a la James Bond with a brilliant but evil scientist behind the chaos. Who doesn't enjoy a story where the monster gets to be a hero? FOUR STARS.
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