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Menagerie
Monsters aren't real. They belong to the world of storybooks and legends. Or so you have been led to believe.
For the past twenty years, Gomer Horsenick has been building the world's strangest zoo. He and his ragtag group of men have explored the globe, collecting monsters of the sea, sand, sky and sewers. And now the zoo is ready to open.
But not if Juniper Lowery can stop him. A fervent animal activist, Juniper gets wind of Gomer’s intentions and makes it her mission to set these creatures free.
When her plan backfires, the monsters flee, descending upon the nearby town. A horrific nightmare of chaos and destruction ensues. It is up to Juniper and Gomer to reconcile their differences and save the city before the terror spreads.
For the past twenty years, Gomer Horsenick has been building the world's strangest zoo. He and his ragtag group of men have explored the globe, collecting monsters of the sea, sand, sky and sewers. And now the zoo is ready to open.
But not if Juniper Lowery can stop him. A fervent animal activist, Juniper gets wind of Gomer’s intentions and makes it her mission to set these creatures free.
When her plan backfires, the monsters flee, descending upon the nearby town. A horrific nightmare of chaos and destruction ensues. It is up to Juniper and Gomer to reconcile their differences and save the city before the terror spreads.
- GenresHorror
207 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 21, 2014
17 people are currently reading
362 people want to read
About the author
E. Stuart Marlowe
12 books8 followersE. Stuart Marlowe is the Amazon bestselling author of Menagerie and Call of the Kaiju. He is also an award-winning filmmaker, who has directed two features, Blood Rush and Horror House. Splatter is loosely based on his experiences producing these films. His third feature, Abruptio, stars Robert Englund, James Marsters, Sid Haig and Jordan Peele. He resides in Southern California.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 31, 2014
Think Jurassic Park but with monsters instead of dinosaurs. I did really enjoy this one but there were a few flaws. You have someone gathering monsters from all over the world to put in a zoo, which really sounds like a cool concept. But then a group of activists free the monsters, who invade the town and kill a lot of people. I hate it that everytime someone tries to build a cool zoo like this one or Jurassic Park something goes wrong, because it's still a cool idea! (By the way, if anyone has ever read any of my books then they would know I love monsters, so this one was right up my alley from the start.)
It was neat to watch them go around and catch some of the various monsters. These are all monsters made up strictly for the book, so it was cool in a way, but I think it would have also worked with more traditional monsters as well. I will say the book did have some cool "made up" monsters though.
Now for the flaws. There was one weird subplot where one of the zoo crew members was keeping a humanoid female monster as a sex slave in his little private dungeon which just didn't fit the book and it was never really explained as to the purpose of such a subplot. Maybe something that went over my head about "people being the real monsters" I suppose.
Next, even after these nutty activists free all of these monsters and cause many innocent people to be killed, they don't get punished! The monsters didn't even eat any of them that I remember. Seemed like they got off way too easy.
There was another subplot where all of the big scary monsters were scared of the nice friendly monster, and this was never explained either. I assumed he was going to "hulk out" or something at the end and show he was really the scariest of all, but it never happened.
One minor problem was several of the monster's victims (not all) came across as jerks that probably should have been killed, but that's sort of a staple of horror anyway.
Overall I would still suggest this for any fans of monster fiction. The concept is cool enough to make it worth the read alone, and there are some pretty gruesome scenes as well, but to me it never seemed overly gratuitous. Good, just not great.
It was neat to watch them go around and catch some of the various monsters. These are all monsters made up strictly for the book, so it was cool in a way, but I think it would have also worked with more traditional monsters as well. I will say the book did have some cool "made up" monsters though.
Now for the flaws. There was one weird subplot where one of the zoo crew members was keeping a humanoid female monster as a sex slave in his little private dungeon which just didn't fit the book and it was never really explained as to the purpose of such a subplot. Maybe something that went over my head about "people being the real monsters" I suppose.
Next, even after these nutty activists free all of these monsters and cause many innocent people to be killed, they don't get punished! The monsters didn't even eat any of them that I remember. Seemed like they got off way too easy.
There was another subplot where all of the big scary monsters were scared of the nice friendly monster, and this was never explained either. I assumed he was going to "hulk out" or something at the end and show he was really the scariest of all, but it never happened.
One minor problem was several of the monster's victims (not all) came across as jerks that probably should have been killed, but that's sort of a staple of horror anyway.
Overall I would still suggest this for any fans of monster fiction. The concept is cool enough to make it worth the read alone, and there are some pretty gruesome scenes as well, but to me it never seemed overly gratuitous. Good, just not great.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2014
In theory a book about a team running around and catching monsters for a Jurassic Park type facility sounds fantastic. Unfortunately this book just doesn't live up to how the story would go in my head.
I think my main issue, is whilst the team run around catching these monsters, there is just not enough detail about the monsters themselves. Granted, this may be just me as I love detail.
On the other hand I do like the idea of another group who oppose the monster hunters, however again it didn't pan out to much. Really sorry, just didn't feel this book.
I think my main issue, is whilst the team run around catching these monsters, there is just not enough detail about the monsters themselves. Granted, this may be just me as I love detail.
On the other hand I do like the idea of another group who oppose the monster hunters, however again it didn't pan out to much. Really sorry, just didn't feel this book.
June 11, 2014
What? How Mr. Marlowe can create such a book still ponders me. Being able to create monsters and describe them is amazing. Everything is so detailed and interesting. I loved the constant change between characters and events. I couldn't stop reading. Very well done Mr Marlowe.
May 14, 2022
An interesting premise, and I liked the idea of monster hunters and those opposing them as animals that shouldn’t be confined to a zoo. The descriptions were good and I liked the characters. Still, there was something lacking. I guess you can see how this was a movie script turned into a book. It kind of just wrapped up and I didn’t feel like there was as much developed as there could have been.
February 8, 2020
Not bad, but
I liked a lot of this book, but when I got to the end, I felt there was something missing. Try it yourself as it's I my my opinion.
I liked a lot of this book, but when I got to the end, I felt there was something missing. Try it yourself as it's I my my opinion.
April 16, 2020
Mr Marlowe does a great deal of research to bring realism into his story. Making them more exciting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2016
Menagerie is about the mission of a dedicated monster hunter to safely harvest the world's deadliest hidden creatures and bring them under one roof, a zoological park where they will no longer be a threat to mankind. But even monsters have their defenders, and the road to Hell is paved with good intentions...
I liked the main character Gomer and the tough, pistol wielding Brit Alfred - they made for a good partnership, a pillar of strength and wise cracks to the other whenever needed. But I also thought a great deal more could have been made of their relationship. I found it hard to connect with any of the other characters though.
The story was interesting but never had me guessing. The build up to the inevitable finale and 'things go wrong' moment and the aftermath is good, but I did have a number of issues.
The author has created their own menagerie of creatures, inventing them rather than mining existing folklore. This means that we are given a myriad of monsters to imagine and picture, but rarely are we given the descriptive resources to do so. We are also never given any insight into any of the creatures instincts or modus operandi, despite the narrative's arching theme of them being sentient beings.
I'm not squeamish, and I love creature feature horror, but I felt the over detailed descriptions of the murder of young children unnecessary and disturbing, especially given the lack of descriptive details practically everywhere else. Everyone knows you never show them killing kids or the dog!
Menagerie therefore was an entertaining but ultimately flawed read, but I thought it was good value. You may well get more out of it than I if you like a fast-paced narrative and don't dawdle on the details. And maybe you'll find the lack of known monsters refreshing - it certainly is intriguing at first. It's priced and pitched well enough to give a go if curious, just as I was.
I liked the main character Gomer and the tough, pistol wielding Brit Alfred - they made for a good partnership, a pillar of strength and wise cracks to the other whenever needed. But I also thought a great deal more could have been made of their relationship. I found it hard to connect with any of the other characters though.
The story was interesting but never had me guessing. The build up to the inevitable finale and 'things go wrong' moment and the aftermath is good, but I did have a number of issues.
The author has created their own menagerie of creatures, inventing them rather than mining existing folklore. This means that we are given a myriad of monsters to imagine and picture, but rarely are we given the descriptive resources to do so. We are also never given any insight into any of the creatures instincts or modus operandi, despite the narrative's arching theme of them being sentient beings.
I'm not squeamish, and I love creature feature horror, but I felt the over detailed descriptions of the murder of young children unnecessary and disturbing, especially given the lack of descriptive details practically everywhere else. Everyone knows you never show them killing kids or the dog!
Menagerie therefore was an entertaining but ultimately flawed read, but I thought it was good value. You may well get more out of it than I if you like a fast-paced narrative and don't dawdle on the details. And maybe you'll find the lack of known monsters refreshing - it certainly is intriguing at first. It's priced and pitched well enough to give a go if curious, just as I was.
June 10, 2016
Yet another good idea squandered in the hands of a bad writer.
This is the second book, if you can even call it that, that I've read in the past few weeks to let a really great premise go to waste. Monsters are real. A wingnut with money to burn and too much time on his hands decides to catch them and put them in a theme park. An equally unstable activist sets them free. If all of this had taken up less than half the book, the story might have worked. If any of the characters were likable or even believable, this could have been a great book. If the author hadn't set up multiple plotlines and left them hanging, hadn't contradicted himself noticeably, had maybe just put a little more time into this book, he might have been the next Michael Crichton. Instead, we are stuck with a half baked jumble of scenes that never cohere into an enjoyable story. The authors bio claims the book is derived from an unsold screenplay. I guess there's a reason no one would buy it.
This is the second book, if you can even call it that, that I've read in the past few weeks to let a really great premise go to waste. Monsters are real. A wingnut with money to burn and too much time on his hands decides to catch them and put them in a theme park. An equally unstable activist sets them free. If all of this had taken up less than half the book, the story might have worked. If any of the characters were likable or even believable, this could have been a great book. If the author hadn't set up multiple plotlines and left them hanging, hadn't contradicted himself noticeably, had maybe just put a little more time into this book, he might have been the next Michael Crichton. Instead, we are stuck with a half baked jumble of scenes that never cohere into an enjoyable story. The authors bio claims the book is derived from an unsold screenplay. I guess there's a reason no one would buy it.
November 6, 2016
This was one of those books I read on a whim, largely because I loved Fragment, by Warren Fahy, which was about a monster ecosystem, and the cover art, which was intriguing and cool. It had also been sitting neglected in my Kindle for WAY too long. Unfortunately, I can't say the novel lived up to expectations, but I can say it was a good, action packed read with lots of grisly violence and monstrous deaths, both human and otherwise. Didn't love it, but don't dislike it, so I give it full recommendation for those looking for said violence and deaths. Perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for such, so I won't blame the book for my prior mindset.
July 30, 2015
Great premise for a story, but not done quite to potential. The characters were not very likeable, the monsters needed more indepth description. the premise that someone releases deadly monsters onto the public then feels no remorse after hundreds of deaths, doesn't really fly. Especially when they are supposed to be such a compassionate person in the story. I would like to see more history of the monsters as well. However, this is not a bad read, it went a little slow for me but I did finish it.
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July 26, 2014More like Mehnagerie.
A fun [yet worn] idea wasted in the hands of someone who had no clue how to write. Rife with clichés, obnoxiously boring characters, and such a lack of detail or originality drags this book down. I would tell the author to stick to his day job, but I doubt he's any better at making "indie horror," so maybe throw an app at your local Burger King. Learn how to construct a sandwich instead of a plot.
A fun [yet worn] idea wasted in the hands of someone who had no clue how to write. Rife with clichés, obnoxiously boring characters, and such a lack of detail or originality drags this book down. I would tell the author to stick to his day job, but I doubt he's any better at making "indie horror," so maybe throw an app at your local Burger King. Learn how to construct a sandwich instead of a plot.
June 16, 2014
The story was pretty much what I expected it would be but I read it anyway. The plot could have made an interesting story but I really didn't even like the characters and was just glad to finish the book.
July 6, 2014
Too fragmented in point-of-view and story.
Couldn't finish.
The section I did read, about 40%, left me fairly meh.
Couldn't finish.
The section I did read, about 40%, left me fairly meh.
March 27, 2015
It was entertaining but a little thin. Started with a cool concept but ended flat.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews