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Monsters Among Us
In the remote waters of the South Pacific, something ancient stirs—and it's ravenous.
Nat McPherson, the sharp-witted host of Nat's Mysterious World, has faced down the likes of Yetis and Sasquatch without breaking a sweat. But when a distress call comes in from a secluded island where fishermen are being slaughtered by monstrous sea creatures, Nat realizes this isn’t just another story for her podcast—it’s a fight for survival.
Joined by Flora, a reserved scientist haunted by a shadowy past, Nat is thrust into a nightmare where the true dangers aren't just the creatures lurking below the surface.
Monsters Among Us is a gripping tale of survival, betrayal, and unimaginable horrors from the deep that will drag you into its depths and refuse to let go.
Nat McPherson, the sharp-witted host of Nat's Mysterious World, has faced down the likes of Yetis and Sasquatch without breaking a sweat. But when a distress call comes in from a secluded island where fishermen are being slaughtered by monstrous sea creatures, Nat realizes this isn’t just another story for her podcast—it’s a fight for survival.
Joined by Flora, a reserved scientist haunted by a shadowy past, Nat is thrust into a nightmare where the true dangers aren't just the creatures lurking below the surface.
Monsters Among Us is a gripping tale of survival, betrayal, and unimaginable horrors from the deep that will drag you into its depths and refuse to let go.
193 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 28, 2024
20 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
J.H. Moncrieff
33 books260 followersJ.H. Moncrieff's City of Ghosts won the 2018 Kindle Book Review Award for best Horror/Suspense.
Reviewers have described her work as early Gillian Flynn with a little Ray Bradbury and Stephen King thrown in for good measure.
She won Harlequin's search for “the next Gillian Flynn” in 2016. Her first published novella, The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave, was featured in Samhain’s Childhood Fears collection and stayed on its horror bestsellers list for over a year.
When not writing, she loves exploring the world's most haunted places, advocating for animal rights, and summoning her inner ninja in muay thai class.
To get free ebooks and a new spooky story every week, go to http://bit.ly/MoncrieffLibrary.
Reviewers have described her work as early Gillian Flynn with a little Ray Bradbury and Stephen King thrown in for good measure.
She won Harlequin's search for “the next Gillian Flynn” in 2016. Her first published novella, The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave, was featured in Samhain’s Childhood Fears collection and stayed on its horror bestsellers list for over a year.
When not writing, she loves exploring the world's most haunted places, advocating for animal rights, and summoning her inner ninja in muay thai class.
To get free ebooks and a new spooky story every week, go to http://bit.ly/MoncrieffLibrary.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 23, 2024
J.H. Moncrieff returns with a new monster tale and with this new one, we get a mash-up of two of her most popular characters from previous books! In this new novel, Moncrieff unites Nat from ‘Return to Dyatlov Pass’ and ‘Shadow of the Sasquatch’ with Flora from ‘Monsters in our Wake.’ I was super excited when this was announced, because I love the Nat character and Flora was solid working tentatively with Nokken the sea monster in ‘Monsters in our Wake.’ As with most Moncrieff books, the environment is at the heart of this one and humans destroying it is central to the plot.
What I liked: The story opens up with Nat having returned to her popular podcast and trying to move on physically and emotionally from the damage she suffered in ‘Shadow of the Sasquatch.’ Now, you don’t need to have read any of the previous three books that the two M/C’s have appeared in (though I highly recommend it!) as J.H. does a great job of summarizing the events from them throughout. On the podcast, a call comes in – a small island is being picked off by sea creatures and they believe Nat can help. When Flora hears this, she contacts Nat and they head to the island, joined by Nat’s producer, Flora’s son, and Archie, the only other survivor from the boat Flora was on in ‘Monsters in our Wake.’
At the island, events heat up and Moncrieff goes into Moncrieff mode – plenty of emotional tug-of-wars, creature carnage and the discovery of what is behind the creatures return. The islanders rely on fishing to survive and with their boats being destroyed and the people doing the fishing being killed, they want to fight and take back what they believe is rightfully their place to fish, even after Flora contacts the sea creatures and learns the ugly truth.
The last quarter of this novel is truly discovery. We learn something about Flora, something about Zach and we see Nat and Flora – and a despicable journalist – having to find a way to co-exist and survive. Moncrieff ups the stakes when a secret government aspect becomes involved and everything is turned up another notch.
The ending was solid, filled with sorrow, but also optimistic, and leaving the door open for further adventures from an main character.
What I didn’t like: Personally, I never found that Nat or Flora had time to have their own bigger, longer moments. The book couldn’t decide which one to really focus on, so their time was split, but never really got as deep and introspective as when they were on their own. It works, to tell their stories together, but I wish we could’ve had more time to really delve deeper, especially with some of the revelations.
As well, the secret government aspect will either work for readers or it won’t. I can’t go too far into it – spoilers and such – but I thought it was fun, if not slightly off the main path the story seemed to be following.
Why you should buy it: If you love big, fun, action-filled creature thrillers, this one’s perfect. If you’re a Moncrieff fan, you’ll be all over this. And if you love environmental impact based stories, this one features that aspect at its core. Moncrieff delivers a home run with this one, whether you’re a fan of Nat, Flora or creatures, and I for one, can’t wait to see what’s next.
What I liked: The story opens up with Nat having returned to her popular podcast and trying to move on physically and emotionally from the damage she suffered in ‘Shadow of the Sasquatch.’ Now, you don’t need to have read any of the previous three books that the two M/C’s have appeared in (though I highly recommend it!) as J.H. does a great job of summarizing the events from them throughout. On the podcast, a call comes in – a small island is being picked off by sea creatures and they believe Nat can help. When Flora hears this, she contacts Nat and they head to the island, joined by Nat’s producer, Flora’s son, and Archie, the only other survivor from the boat Flora was on in ‘Monsters in our Wake.’
At the island, events heat up and Moncrieff goes into Moncrieff mode – plenty of emotional tug-of-wars, creature carnage and the discovery of what is behind the creatures return. The islanders rely on fishing to survive and with their boats being destroyed and the people doing the fishing being killed, they want to fight and take back what they believe is rightfully their place to fish, even after Flora contacts the sea creatures and learns the ugly truth.
The last quarter of this novel is truly discovery. We learn something about Flora, something about Zach and we see Nat and Flora – and a despicable journalist – having to find a way to co-exist and survive. Moncrieff ups the stakes when a secret government aspect becomes involved and everything is turned up another notch.
The ending was solid, filled with sorrow, but also optimistic, and leaving the door open for further adventures from an main character.
What I didn’t like: Personally, I never found that Nat or Flora had time to have their own bigger, longer moments. The book couldn’t decide which one to really focus on, so their time was split, but never really got as deep and introspective as when they were on their own. It works, to tell their stories together, but I wish we could’ve had more time to really delve deeper, especially with some of the revelations.
As well, the secret government aspect will either work for readers or it won’t. I can’t go too far into it – spoilers and such – but I thought it was fun, if not slightly off the main path the story seemed to be following.
Why you should buy it: If you love big, fun, action-filled creature thrillers, this one’s perfect. If you’re a Moncrieff fan, you’ll be all over this. And if you love environmental impact based stories, this one features that aspect at its core. Moncrieff delivers a home run with this one, whether you’re a fan of Nat, Flora or creatures, and I for one, can’t wait to see what’s next.
September 11, 2024
Good
Normally I love the Nat books but this one was really slow and she seemed overly bitchy. Not one of my faves
Normally I love the Nat books but this one was really slow and she seemed overly bitchy. Not one of my faves
September 20, 2024
J.H. Moncrieff is an author I have admired for a few years now. She has taken me to some pretty scary, creepy and dark places - from Dyatlov Pass to the much-haunted Italian island of Poviglia. Monsters Among Us marks the return of one of her previous main characters - Nat McPherson who featured so prominently in Return to Dyatlov Pass. Here she is facing a very different foe. The 'monsters' of the title are not mindless bone-crunching killers although they can - and will - massacre humans with the best of them, but their origins and motivations are what marks this story out from other 'cryptids'. Nat is joined by a scientist - Flora - who has some knowledge and experience of what they could be dealing with and of the enormity and seeming impossibility of the task ahead of them. A whole way of life is threatened, but there is so much more at stake and it is up to Nat and Flora to find some way through and prevent annihilation on an unimaginable scale. Thoroughly enjoyable - highly recommended.
October 8, 2024
The Monsters Return
J.H. Moncrieff returns to Severed Press with her latest book that returns some characters from her previous Severed books.
When sea monsters are killing the island locals, two women with connections to cryptids are brought in to help stop the attacks. Both women are main characters from previous Moncrieff books, and each has their own skills that help to stop the attacks.
With new and old characters, Monsters Among Us is a fun read. I hope to see more books from her in the future!
J.H. Moncrieff returns to Severed Press with her latest book that returns some characters from her previous Severed books.
When sea monsters are killing the island locals, two women with connections to cryptids are brought in to help stop the attacks. Both women are main characters from previous Moncrieff books, and each has their own skills that help to stop the attacks.
With new and old characters, Monsters Among Us is a fun read. I hope to see more books from her in the future!
October 28, 2024
Review of this book.
A really different type of story. The ending blew me away. Totally unexpected and believable!! A very well written book. A lo of thought went into this book. It held my interest and entertained me at the same time. Not many books do that through the whole book.
A really different type of story. The ending blew me away. Totally unexpected and believable!! A very well written book. A lo of thought went into this book. It held my interest and entertained me at the same time. Not many books do that through the whole book.
January 11, 2026
I really liked the other two books about Nat but this one just didn’t do it for me. It was more about the character Flora from another one of the authors books that I hadn’t read. It seemed like the author just kind of threw Nat into her story. 🎙️🧠🦕🌊
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September 30, 2024Among us
full review at MonsterBookClub
full review at MonsterBookClub
October 5, 2025
This wasn’t the strongest book I’ve read by J.H. Moncrieff. The story wasn’t the strongest. But I do hope to see another few books by Moncrieff.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews