Saurian

by Michael Cole

For millions of years, it drifted through space. For millions of years, it has slept. For millions of years, it dreamt of carnage. A violent predator, it has been crafted for slaughter.

Its teeth can dice flesh and bone with minimal effort; its claws can tear through any obstacle and reduce flesh to pulp; the armor scales covering its body can deflect fifty-caliber bullets; and it has a malice to put all of these tools to their maximum potential.

Now, it has awakened.

When Armand Tower came to the quiet town of McClellen, Michigan, he expected it to be a run of the mill experience. Specialized in locating meteorite fragments, he has seen all sorts of celestial objects, including objects from outside the solar system.

But nothing could have prepared him for this.

Animals are found dead, people mysteriously disappear, and a putrid odor fills the forest. As Armand investigates further, he uncovers the horrible truth. What has crash-landed in the backwoods of McClellen was not rock, but a Saurian creature hellbent on bloodshed.

With the body count steadily rising, Armand must team up with a pair of young resort employees, a rusty small-town police chief, and a lunatic biker to stop the menace.

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

Published August 8, 2024

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name

Among authors of this name:

*Michael Cole - Rare, Antiquarian Books
*Canon Michael Cole - Editor, Christian periodicals
*Michael Cole - Children's books
*Michael Cole - Psychology, Children's development
*Michael F. Cole - Infectious Diseases
*Michael R. Cole - Horror, Science Fiction

Reviews

[❀ Kylie-Ree ❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is the book I chose to fill the Cosmic Horror slot of my TBR Halloween Bingo.

It's not really horror, more gore, and it jumped around a lot which I don't mind.

At first, it reminded me of the movies SyFy used to show, you know, the ones I'm talking about, the cheesy monster movies where everything is CGI.

As I read, it felt just like a B-movie, and I was having a ton of fun with it, but later on, near the end of the book, there were some distasteful scenes that killed a lot of the enjoyment I was getting from it.

It's not a bad book, nor is it the best thing I've ever read, but I feel it could have been a lot better if it hadn't included a few scenes. And maybe that's just me, which is totally fine.

It kept me talking while I read, and it had a lot of cool space facts that I didn't know, but still, I'm a little disappointed that I didn't enjoy the last half of the book, like I enjoyed the beginning half.

[Terry and dog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Straightforward, well paced and easy to read, space creature demolishing humans story. It has a bunch of good characters, both likeable and unlikeable and a great setting and an impressive beastie. Good, horrific fun in a remote resort.

[Duane Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, action book

Saw the book on FB, looked interesting.
The pace of the story is good, very little slow or boring parts. A creature feature in book form. You meet all the main players, as well get some basic information on the victims. The author provided a good description of the monster.
The means of killing it were rather serendipitous..
Yeah I know big word. I enjoyed the book, an easy read.

[Matt Egan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gory fun!

Saudi an is the story of a meteorite hunter who ends up searching for what turned out to be an "escape pod" containing a reptilian monster that runs amok at an out of the way resort. Aided by police, resort employees and a veteran biker. The fun starts fast, the body count is high, and the violence is creative to say the least.

[BookishDramas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first book by Michael and will not be my last.
Having read a significant amount of techno-thrillers and creature/alien techno thrillers, I had come across many of Michael Cole's books, purchased them but never read before. The topics are interesting as this one is of an ancient alien creature which lands on earth and starts a gore fest in a small town while some people try to find a way to neutralise it.
I loved the creature created by Michael here which is described in detail and its killing spree is also lovingly documented and where this book falls short for me was first the predictability, could jump 20 pages at any point without losing sight of the story and second the absence of any pre or latter to such an invasion. No scientific curiosity or research just whams and bam. What satisfied me was the length of the book, around 200 pages which is short for a novel and also the continuous action in the story which does not allow a dull moment while reading.

[Jamie Mcclimon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monsterously good book!

I absolutely loved this book from start to finish! It was an exciting read with plenty of action. I enjoyed how descriptive Michael Cole was with everything. It was easy to envision all the blood, guts, and gore. The few typos and wrong names used were simple to ignore in light of how well all the chaos and destruction were laid out.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes monsters and/or creature feature books.

[Calvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story but horrible dialogue

I've read quite a few novels by this author before and had fun with them. This one has a good story, pretty standard killer alien horror novel. But my God the dialogue was so clunky it made SyFy B movies look good. There were too many examples of exposition and cheesy/dumb dialogue to list. Plenty of creatures action and gore

[Joyce Grubb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrifying, could not put it down

GREAT HORROR STORY. COULD NOT PUT THE STORY DOWN TILL THE END. IT STARTS WITH A BANG AND ENDS WITH BANG.
LOTS OF BLOOD AND GUTS. PEOPLE GETTING KILLED ALL OVER THE PLACE. GREAT FOR A HALLOWEEN
STORY.

[Ankit Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of gore, fast paced. Exactly what I have come to expect from the Author. I read it right after reading another of his books 'Tyrant'. Might be the reason I am taking away 1 star. Similar plots, monster loose killing people. A few unlikely heroes emerge to save the day.

[Dixie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read

Except for some typos the book was a quick read held my attention from start to finish. The ending was fun

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Book!

I enjoyed reading this story. The characters were believable and the story was fast paced.

I would highly recommend reading this.

[Nancy L. Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read

I really enjoyed this book, I was hooked from page one! I loved the characters and the action. Well done

[Michael Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of fun!

Terrific imagination. Far too many typos and editing errors, but still rated 5 stars. I'll be looking for more from Mr. Cole.

[Eric]

The saurian from outer space

Review at MonsterBookClub

[Mrs B S Bairstow/ Mr A Bairstow · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read

Different if not a little predictable ending. Really enjoyable read.
Would have benefited from being longer and more detailed, but still enjoyable

[Robert Ruck · Rating 5 out of 5]

great monster read

Lot’s of blood and gore. Pure fun to read. Characters are likeable and the monster is very cool. Overall a good story.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast paced story. Gore galore. Very interesting characters. Good storyline. Well thought up monster too. Forget about Jaws. This horror can get you too.

[Joseph Horacki · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun ride. This book is like an action packed b movie.

[Michael Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intense and fast paced

[Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good fast read

Outer-space monsters, teenage hoodlum bikers, dopey cops and the guy gets the girl. Who could ask for more. Good morning star story

[Paige Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this. Quick read and good ole' scary monster story.

[Cj Zawacki · Rating 5 out of 5]

not as detailed as I expected. More like a B-movie that a host would make fun of on night shows.

[Ziggy Nixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It did not kill to eat. It killed because it desired to.

3 1/2 stars. Even though I think I liked Michael Cole's "HIVE (G.O.R.E Sector Book 1)" - a testosterone-filled story about the government's Giant Organism Reconnaissance and Extermination team for those of you not yet in the know - a little bit better, "Saurian" is still another very fun, very readable creature feature with its own share of heart-pounding moments. If you're curious about a kind of quick and dirty summary, well, just imagine a Xenomorph with some real Predator-esque dismemberment tendencies landing in the Michigan backwoods at the peak of tourist season. If that weren't enough to set the stage, also imagine that said creature has spent perhaps the last gazillion years in stasis doing nothing but going crazy and developing a total need for death and destruction. And… ACTION!

Does anyone else find it odd all of this stuff is happening right after a meteorite landed nearby?

So like I said, fun stuff! Cole never really lets us catch our breath as we race around the surrounding area getting to know the locals only long enough to see them slaughtered in nasty ways. No kidding, this reptilian killing machine makes the killer rabbit from "The Holy Grail" seem like a cute little, well, bunny as it makes it's way through anything it can find, from large bears, fresh pike, and each and every human that crosses its path. Add to that it's apparent enjoyment of both disembowelment and I guess what can be called disenspinement (and disenbrainment, disenskullment, etc.), and thinks get really bloody really quickly. Along the way we're treated to a couple of more mundane human interactions and a little backstory for a few of our main players, which in both cases was appreciated.

Good luck. Have fun getting killed.

Still, to be honest, there's not a lot of surprises. The book answers the question of "how will we ever defeat this creature?" pretty early on if you're paying attention. It's most fortunate indeed that those of the cast who are left standing each have a particular skillset or some know-how or even trinkets from their childhoods handy that will help save the day. Plus we are all in on the big secret of the nasty DinoDude's Achilles' heel, assuming Achilles could poop from same. Because goodness knows, both the local sheriff's department and even a SWAT team (no, not a GORE team) only show up long enough to add their own viscera, offal, limbs and more to the growing pile. But who are we kidding: when your main "meeting point" is called "Parker’s Middle of Nowhere Resort", it was either going to be that or a horribly disfigured psychopath lurking about with various sharp knives at his disposal and a nasty attitude towards teenagers.

It seemed perfectly calm. Almost too calm.

Again, a quick read but a fun read. The editing is overall fairly well-handled though it does slip at times (Fletcher or Flecher, make the call!) and even like "Hive", there is some repetition scattered throughout that makes for wonky flow. But wouldn't you know it: there's even a bit of redemption at the end for one of the "team" that I'm sure no one could have predicted at the beginning. And for events that as far as I can tell take 2 or 3 days to transpire to their fullest, well, that ain't bad. Watch the skies, y'all, never know what's gonna come callin'!

[Dennis Welty]

Good read, alien terrifying locals

Good alien/monster book. Fast read. Almost like a xenomorph from aliens came down into a little town to do some damage. The descriptions of the carnage made it seem like you were there watching it happen. The story isn't drawn out, but fast paced from the start.

[Bellerophon]

Another gory adventure.

Love this author. He never stops reinventing the genre. This one had more character-driven melodrama. I liked them all, even the prick. The beastie was bad ass and mean. Not much else. Thanks for the great weekend read. Awesome time. Highly recommended.

[irv Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book read and keep you wondering.

You are taken to the Midwest to see what happens when something from space comes down and all he'll break lose. The author did a good job with the book , you can't seam to read enough good job.

[carl e. james · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good action read

Start to finish action. A really good Sci fi horror that was hard to put down. Each chapter kept you interested waiting to read what was next. Good characters and good read.