The Sentinel

Jane Harper #1

by Jeremy Bishop

In the frigid waters off the Arctic Ocean, north of Greenland, the anti-whaling ship, The Sentinel, and her crew face off against a harpoon ship in search of Humpback whales. When the two ships collide and a suspicious explosion sends both ships to the bottom, the crews take refuge on what they think is a peninsula attached to the mainland, but is actually an island, recently freed from a glacial ice bridge. Seeking shelter, the two opposing crews scour the island for resources. Instead, they find Viking artifacts, the preserved remains of an ancient structure and a stone totem warning of horrible creatures buried in the island's caves. Facing violent, frigid storms, a hungry polar bear and the very real possibility that they are stranded without hope of rescue, Jane Harper leads the two crews, who must work together to defend themselves against an ancient evil upon which the modern stories of both zombies and vampires are based. The original undead are awake and hungry. Beware the Draugar.

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Fantasy, Thriller, Fiction, Adventure, Paranormal

278 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2011

About the author

Pseudonym for Jeremy Robinson

Reviews

[Atyaman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the premise of this book interesting for a light reading and that is where it didn't disappoint. The plot and the flow of the story is quite good. After the free sample (about the first 10% of the book) I was hooked so I bought it.

Our main hero (a heroine actually) Jane Harper starts out as a very interesting character with her witty and sarcastic remarks. Unfortunately that will become only repetitive and dull after a while and boring plus tiresome towards the end. Throughout the whole novel only one person show any growth in character, but real the problem here is that none of the characters are written well enough to be engaging. I didn't really like any of them. No, that's not the right phrasing... I couldn't care less for them. If I don't care for the characters than I don't care for what's going to happen to them. See where I go with this? In this case, what's the point? What's left to carry me through the novel? The story – which I liked – and the writing.

So... the writing. It was ok at best, but weak a lot of times. Tons of short sentences and some cringe worthy lines. I think it mostly comes down to that the narrating was really weak. It was like: I see that. I thought that. I said that and I did that...
Please show what happens not just tell it in short sentences.
Let me show what I'm rambling about:

»I turn on the gas and sprint across the open field. I pass the Viking ruins thirty seconds later. They're about fifty feet to my right. I can't see Jakob or Alvin through the entrance, but I can't see the tent, either. So I continue heading for Peach, who is running in a straight line across the plain, but not toward me, or the shelter.
As I get closer, I see her eyes have kind of a blank stare. "Peach," I shout to her.«

On the plus side I found only 3 or 4 typos (note, my native language isn't English and my spelling is bad). The formatting of the e-book could've been a little bit better, but it's ok.


And finally a personal side note if I may. Of coure this doesn't count towards my rating, just my views on the morality of the author.
While I've searched for reviews of this book I've found the author's facebook page. There's an entry on it from Mr. Bishop:

»Hey TORMENT fans. I need your help! Can you visit the Amazon review page for TORMENT: {amazon link}

See those "most helpful" one star reviews. Can you click "no" button where it asks, "Was this review helpful to you?" And then, on the top three 5 star reviews, can you click "Yes" Thanks!«

That's just low.

[Nikki Wilde · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel definitely had me from the start. I couldn't put it down and Sunday at 1:30am with less than 5 hours left to sleep before work, I was still flipping pages as fast as I could.

What a great novel. The beginning was fun and the genius behind the Bilksen's revenge was too funny. I'm really looking forward to more of Jane Harper. Jane's tough, and funny, and exciting. I'm hoping she has more to come.

I've always been excited about Viking myth's and folklore so this book really kept me interested. Also, the detailing in the story had me right there with the characters. I could almost feel the icy cold of the waters and the surroundings. Not to mention the terror as the story progressed.

I actually loved how everything wasn't spelled out perfectly for you about the zombie/vampire creatures. Which leads into a way of continuing the story. Perhaps, learning more about them in the future. The ending definitely left you with sort of a sinking feeling in your stomach as to what could and might happen next.

I loved how this novel never had a moment of rest. It was fast paced and exciting. There was humor, sarcasm, cleverness, and running. Don't forget to run. The creatures were well thought out and questions that kept popping up were taken care of towards the end.

One thing that bothered me (and this is probably just me) I couldn't really picture the hiding places they had. Either, Torstein was super huge large, or I was picturing their hidey hole all wrong. It's really the only thing I couldn't quite get a clear understanding of.

I have to say, I enjoyed this thoroughly. I can't wait for more. And come on, who doesn't love some good Viking stories!?

[Ms. Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had fun with this one due to the main character, Jane, whose wit and skill left nothing to be desired. She was strong, but not overly so. Super-witty with some movie/tv/people references that tickled my funny bone.

There was action. Plenty of it to be exact. Lots of players lost their lives. The author did not make it easy on anyone.

This is just one of those reads that you come across and enjoy your time with it, giving you a renewed zest to pick up more books.

A fun-filled, blood-soaked adventure.

I'm glad I gave this author a try.

[Dee Haddrill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant start to a new series, Jane Harper is incognito on an anti-whaling ship when the anti-whalers attempt to destroy a whaling ship, and end up sinking both ships. Stranded on a deserted island off Greenland, the survivors have to come together to survive an insidious and deadly threat from the past. It’s gory, it’s action packed, it’s awesome.

In my humble opinion, of course 💙

[chucklesthescot · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lets get it right out in the open shall we? If there is one thing in life that I hate, it is hearing a woman referred to using the c word. I hate that word. But let's be honest, in this book that is the one word that perfectly sums up our heroine Jane.

Jane is a pure and utter bitch from hell and I hated her. She believes that she is superior to everyone else on the ship. She looks down her nose at all the grotty men on board who aren't good enough to share her bed...then she gets annoyed that none WANT to sleep with her! She is prejudiced, rude and vile. She constantly makes mean comments in her head directed at the fat girl Jenny who is a nice and friendly women who goes out of her way to help Jane and saves her from a bad fall. So Jane has bitchy thoughts about being flattened by Jenny, crushed by Jenny, the boat tipping because of Jenny, polar bears finding a better meal in Jenny...When you get a comment like this every second bloody paragraph on every page, it gets tiresome. The author obviously has some obsession with fat people as we kept getting this crap rammed down our throats.

Jane also thinks she is the great undercover spy on the ship, working to get evidence of this environmental group using illegal and dangerous methods to further their aims. Trouble is, the captain of the ship knows she is a spy and has been having her watched all along. Not so great now are we Jane?

By the time the boats sink quite early on in the book, I already hated Jane and wanted her to die painfully. Knowing this wasn't going to happen made me decide to give up on this hellish MC and find something better to read. I can barely even comment on the plot or writing style because the entire section I read was Jane complaining, Jane bitching, Jane being a giant pain in the butt.

No thanks!

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost gave up on this book. For the first three chapters the main character does nothing but make fat jokes about the ONLY character who is nice to her. WTF, seriously? Sets her up to be a right unlikeable bitch - she thinks she's totally superior to everyone, acts like a total cow to everyone around her and yet SOMEHOW has TWO men sniffing around her because she's clearly the Most Awesome Ever (tm).

I persevered and once the apparently so offensive woman is out of the picture, it's an OK story. I very nearly one-starred this because of how completely unlikeable this woman is.

Also, the whole reason I bought this was because of the promise of ZOMBIE WHALES, but they don't even turn up until the next to last chapter.

[Julie Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jane Harper is a force to be reckoned with. She is smart, tough, and has a mean throwing arm! This was a great story with so many different types of characters and personalities. The plot kept me guessing, as each time I thought I knew where the story was going, it took a different turn. I loved the story and have already downloaded The Raven.

[Cheer Papworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sentinel is one twisted, adventured filled, blood, guts and gore laden horror story at its entertaining best! The story begins with the thirty something Jane Harper aboard an anti-whaling activist ship, Sentinel, in the midst of a "battle" with the Greenland based whaling ship, Bliksem. Jane is working undercover for WSPA as an investigative reporter to look into some shady activist dealings, little does she know the evil designs set in place by The Captain of the Sentinel, McAfee (a modern psychotic Captain Ahab). As the battle between the activists and whalers ensues, catastrophic events lead to the sinking of both vessels. Jane saves the lives of two comrades, Jenny and Peach and flees into the cold Greenland sea in a survival raft.

Jane and crew find themselves stranded on a frigid island that holds untold horrors including polar bears, zombie/vampire Vikings, and a virus that could destroy the world. Jane encounters survivors from the Bliksem including the Captain Jakob, his heroic and handsome son Willem and their side-kick Alvin and they join forces. They soon discover that they have unleashed a frozen, ancient nightmare from the island caves that will terrorized and kill them to extinction unless they fight and fight they do.

Jane as the strong, feisty, hilariously jaded heroine is the perfect character to take readers on this crazy ride. She is supported by rich supporting characters whose flaws are demonstrated practically every minute in every action they take. Sure mayhem and death befall most of these characters, like the course of every good horror story, but you can't get much better than this in the department of gruesomeness....seriously!

I know the idea of virus infested, zombie/vampire Vikings sounds completely outrageous, but Bishop writes a fast-paced fantastical plot that blows your mind and keeps you rapidly turning pages without a care for reality...this is fiction in its wildest, untamed form. Bishop's writing is smart and reminds me a bit of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child books with some Bridget Jones-like humor...just plain good stuff and entertaining to boot, I want to read more!

[Kaisersoze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking for an enjoyable, fast-paced, old-school, action-adventure-horror read? Then look no further than Jeremy Bishop's The Sentinel. Told from the POV of caring-but-snarky, intelligent-but-relatable Jane Harper, The Sentinel tells the story of a group of marooned whalers and anti-whalers who have to join forces to stave off an undead enemy that becomes more powerful with every life it claims.

Bishop's choice to set his story amongst the ice in the Artic and weave in elements of Norse mythology helps to differentiate The Sentinel from the pack of similarly themed works that pit monsters versus a group of ever dwindling characters. But it his skill in bringing Jane and some of her fellow survivors to life that really makes this one shine. Sure, there is the usual strong manly-man love interest, and the slightly weaselly fellow who goes through a (far too swift) redemptive arc, but against those stereotypes there is an older ship's captain who has a touching relationship with his son, and the character who is initially identified and ridiculed for being overweight, but soon becomes a clever, humorous and loyal ally to Jane.

The action through the back-half of the novel is constant; the gore not at all skimped on. Bishop's writing might be a bit simplistic, but it gets the job done, and besides who needs Justin Cronin like prose for a pulpy action-horror like this? I read to be entertained, and I most definitely was with The Sentinel.

4 Charging Polar Bears for The Sentinel.

[David Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

YA? Did not appear overtly so. A pretty good horror story set in a very isolated location (an island off Greenland). Not really zombies and not really vampires. But still a form of the walking dead that want to either bite you or eat you. In the beginning the author kept harping on one character being overweight. Must have had the main character make 8 or 9 comments to this in just the first 10% of the book. The weight issue wasn't even a factor in the story. Okay, we get it, she's a tad chubby, can we move on to the rest of the story?

Not sure why this is considered YA. Okay, no sex maybe, but surely there must be other factors. People die and get eaten, blown-up, and other stuff. There might have been some cussing, but nowhere near like in Pulp Fiction. I picked up both this book and the follow-up book: for $1.99 each.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not great lit but lots of fun. Who doesn't get excited at the idea of what are, in effect, Viking zombies?

Also, only $3.99 on Kindle!

Funny that I enjoyed this cheap book, from an author & publisher I've never heard of much more than the last thriller I read, which was from a supposedly good author & a big name publisher.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

COULD. NOT. PUT. IT. DOWN. NON-STOP ACTION. GREAT STORY. JANE HARPER KICKS ASS. :)

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Long Time Coming. Let me tell you a story. It begins in 2010. Jeremy Robinson and I have known each other online for a few years now, having met in MySpace. I've read every book he's written (just a half dozen or so at this point), and he is now releasing a book he calls TORMENT - his first outright horror book. So I read it too. And it literally gave me nightmares for YEARS after reading it.

A year later, Robinson releases his next horror book - The Sentinel. And it becomes the first of his books that I would not read... for 13 years. Until November 2024, when he is gearing up to release the completed Jane Harper Trilogy via writing a book called THE HOST and packaging it similarly to how he did FAMINE and HUNGER: THE COMPLETE TRILOGY earlier in the 2020s.

And now that my nightmares from TORMENT have faded - particularly after Robinson retconned it into his INFINITE TIMELINE event in the late 2010s/ early 2020s and weakened it significantly - I'm finally in a position that I can attempt to read THE SENTINEL.

And what I found... was nowhere NEAR the horror of TORMENT. Yes, it absolutely has its horrific moments - many times over. Its got an almost Carrie-type callback. Its got a ship sinking. Its got creatures. Its got the same irreverent wit that Robinson would come to develop more over the last 15 years. Truly, having read everything Robinson has released since THE SENTINEL (other than its sequel, THE RAVEN), this may as well be included in his "Origins" package, because you can absolutely see in this book the beginnings of his style to come for the next decade+ of his career.

So pick this book up, even now - or maybe wait until March 2025 when THE SENTINEL: THE COMPLETE JANE HARPER TRILOGY is released. You're going to laugh. You're going to cry. You might even puke a few times at the horror on the screen. But you're going to have a blast doing it, and you're going to want to have the next book available immediately at hand anyway.

Very much recommended.

[RJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our protagonist Jane Harper works for the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) as an investigative journalist covertly reporting on the illegal taking of whales in the Arctic Ocean. She secures a crew position on The Sentinel, a reconditioned anti-whaling ship that follows and harasses the illegal whaler Bliksem; similar to objectives by Greenpeace. The adversarial encounter gets out of hand, leaving both ships sinking. Jane and several crew members make shore to what they believe is a peninsula from the mainland in a liferaft. A few of the Bliksem crew also survive. Together, they discover they’ve landed on an island with no supplies or shelter. With the setting presented and the characters introduced, the story proceeds with a series of unusual discoveries, paranormal sightings, and terrifying encounters. Seeking shelter from a storm and the bitter cold, discovered caves appear to be a lifesaver. Unfortunately, the caves are connected to ancient Scandinavian folklore, sealed for a purpose. What is released is beyond the imagination!

[BookishDramas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeremy Bishop/Jeremy Robinson has written some great books and this one is somewhere in the middle of that long list. This story was written nearly a decade and a half earlier and the difference in writing style is apparent to someone who has read a lot of his books.
It starts off so well with anti-whaling agitation that turns catastrophic with characters which were loads of fun and filled with humorous banter. The next part drives deep into fantasy, horror and creature feature territory with sentient zombies. The story slowly turns into the thing and progresses at a brisk pace. The effects become predictable but the pace ever lets down.
Basically you know how this will turn out but can't stop reading.

This is a part of a trilogy and I am now reaching out to the next one.

[BookishDramas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeremy Bishop/Jeremy Robinson has written some great books and this one is somewhere in the middle of that long list. This story was written nearly a decade and a half earlier and the difference in writing style is apparent to someone who has read a lot of his books.
It starts off so well with anti-whaling agitation that turns catastrophic with characters which were loads of fun and filled with humorous banter. The next part drives deep into fantasy, horror and creature feature territory with sentient zombies. The story slowly turns into the thing and progresses at a brisk pace. The effects become predictable but the pace ever lets down.
Basically you know how this will turn out but can't stop reading.

This is a part of a trilogy and I am now reaching out to the next one.

[Soo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mini-Review:

The story has an interesting setup for creating a new cast of heroes. None of them set out to be heroes but that's what happened. There are lots of unrealistic elements but none of them grated on my nerves to the point that I didn't like the book.

Nice highlights on environmental issues.
Good contrast of characters.
Thumbs up on the climax & plot tie ups.
Predictable & fun story.

[Ashley Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much action!! Vikings, vampires, arctic tundra. The science behind the supernatural was cool. I liked the characters but I had one issue. The main character kept calling Jenny fat and that after her description it didn’t add to the story. But I liked the book so much I can’t take off a star for it.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid horror read

A solidly good read. I liked the main character Jane; shes funny and heroic. The Draugr are a creative horror villain. Yet I gave this 4 (not 5) stars because it didn't grab me and keep me turning pages quickly. I have no specific complaints but it's just not Bishop's best. Still, if you are looking for something new to read, I say go ahead and give this a try.

[Arlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened via Audible

Wow drama drama and more. This was wonderful. I loved the character set up, the myth and science all wrapped into a great book. The reader was excellent choice as well.

[Ryan B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a bit to get into the story line, but when I did, I really enjoyed it. The story had a great mix of high energy, horror, and history all wrapped together. I found it entertaining and would read more from this author including the next book in this chapter.

[juana hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zom

I'm a fan of authors that combine some family lore or myth. This book combined all the ingredients. Fast pace, with action at page. A very believable story with family at its root.

[Lissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m really really glad that Jeremy Robinson has evolved into a better writer (and maybe person) than he was when he wrote this. This book was wildly fat-phobic and the FMC so unlikeable that it did a disservice to what would have been a great story.

[Barbara Berry Berry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new twist on walking dead

This book was great. I couldn't lay it down. I love sci fi and this measures up to a great read. It has all the perfect ingredients.

[Trent Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty enjoyable

[Nicholas Leroux · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed reading this. Wish I could find the follow up, “Raven”, in book form.

[Steve Jennings · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not usually a Zombie guy but this one was different enough to be interesting. Haven’t decided about the rest of the trilogy yet.

[Elyse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paperback won in a Goodreads Giveaway.

Well, this was a pretty awful book. It was trying to explain it to my husband but once I got to zombie Vikings and zombie walruses he just started laughing. WTH? I didn't like the MC at all. Why the focus on fat-shaming? MC was fat-shaming another character in her head. Unnecessary even though she "tried" to curb it. This book was just a wild mix of topics. I won't be reading the second one.

[Meg Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

great fun, fun story, fun gore