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Toxic Behemoth
A creature born of flesh and toxic waste stalks the ocean depths, devouring every living thing in its path as it grows to a colossal size.
Weeks after its inception, the monster rises from the deep and attacks a cruise ship, alerting humanity to its presence.
The United States armed forces are called in to stop it, but with its human like intellect, mammoth size and organic, alien-like weaponry, the toxic behemoth will prove the most formidable enemy humanity has ever seen.
Weeks after its inception, the monster rises from the deep and attacks a cruise ship, alerting humanity to its presence.
The United States armed forces are called in to stop it, but with its human like intellect, mammoth size and organic, alien-like weaponry, the toxic behemoth will prove the most formidable enemy humanity has ever seen.
- GenresHorror
122 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 2, 2014
7 people are currently reading
175 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 22, 2021
I love this author, but he made a monumental error in having this book be from the kaiju's POV. When your protagonist is an unstoppable killing machine who cannot be killed you are inadvertently removing all drama and suspense from the story.
November 13, 2014
Review copy
5 stars? Damn right. Not because it's great literature , but because it knows exactly what it's supposed to be, and is flat out fun.
Michael's been a hit man for the mob for a long time. He's good at his job and he's careful about getting rid of the body and the murder weapon after every job. When the boss's son, Vinny, asks for the gun used in the most recent hit saying he'll take care of getting rid of it, he has second thoughts, but hey, it's the big guy's son. Bad move. Vinny sets him up. The only way to escape serious jail time is by ratting out Vinny. It doesn't go well.
The mob related portion of the story is totally believable, brutal, and becomes very bloody. I've come to the realization that NO ONE IS SAFE IN A DAVID BERNSTEIN BOOK. I'm not going to go into how we get to the Toxic Behemoth. That would be way to much of a spoiler, better to let you discover this on your own. It takes some serious suspension of disbelief, but it's worth it. What follows is exactly what you look for in a kaiju story.
For example, "The cruise linee tilted at a steep angle. Timmy's dad hadn't been holding on to anything and went flying over the railing. Timmy's mother cried out, her voice the loudest Timmy had ever heard it. She fruitlessly reached over the railing, but her husband was already gone, rocketing toward the ocean and screaming the entire way. Then, just before he hit the water, a tentacle snatched him out of the air. The force must've been too much, because his dad's body was cut in half. Blood gushed. Timmy's dad's upper body was quickly entangled again by the tentacle. The man's legs and waist splashed into the water. but a moment later, the large chunk of meat was snatched up by another tentacle. Both pieces where brought to the monster's torso area, where the slithering winged serpents tore at the meat."
Once the action starts, it doesn't let up. If you're susceptible to nightmares, consider yourself warned. Toxic Behemoth is the stuff nightmares are made of. Uber violence with just a touch of humor to ease the tension.
At the rate he's going, it won't belong before David Bernstein writes a novel where one of his characters just kills everyone on the planet.
If you're looking for a quick read that won't tax your brain and has a healthy dose of mayhem, Toxic behemoth could be the book you're looking for.
Available now as a Kindle download from Amazon.com and if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can get it at no additional charge.
5 stars? Damn right. Not because it's great literature , but because it knows exactly what it's supposed to be, and is flat out fun.
Michael's been a hit man for the mob for a long time. He's good at his job and he's careful about getting rid of the body and the murder weapon after every job. When the boss's son, Vinny, asks for the gun used in the most recent hit saying he'll take care of getting rid of it, he has second thoughts, but hey, it's the big guy's son. Bad move. Vinny sets him up. The only way to escape serious jail time is by ratting out Vinny. It doesn't go well.
The mob related portion of the story is totally believable, brutal, and becomes very bloody. I've come to the realization that NO ONE IS SAFE IN A DAVID BERNSTEIN BOOK. I'm not going to go into how we get to the Toxic Behemoth. That would be way to much of a spoiler, better to let you discover this on your own. It takes some serious suspension of disbelief, but it's worth it. What follows is exactly what you look for in a kaiju story.
For example, "The cruise linee tilted at a steep angle. Timmy's dad hadn't been holding on to anything and went flying over the railing. Timmy's mother cried out, her voice the loudest Timmy had ever heard it. She fruitlessly reached over the railing, but her husband was already gone, rocketing toward the ocean and screaming the entire way. Then, just before he hit the water, a tentacle snatched him out of the air. The force must've been too much, because his dad's body was cut in half. Blood gushed. Timmy's dad's upper body was quickly entangled again by the tentacle. The man's legs and waist splashed into the water. but a moment later, the large chunk of meat was snatched up by another tentacle. Both pieces where brought to the monster's torso area, where the slithering winged serpents tore at the meat."
Once the action starts, it doesn't let up. If you're susceptible to nightmares, consider yourself warned. Toxic Behemoth is the stuff nightmares are made of. Uber violence with just a touch of humor to ease the tension.
At the rate he's going, it won't belong before David Bernstein writes a novel where one of his characters just kills everyone on the planet.
If you're looking for a quick read that won't tax your brain and has a healthy dose of mayhem, Toxic behemoth could be the book you're looking for.
Available now as a Kindle download from Amazon.com and if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can get it at no additional charge.
July 19, 2016
No-one is going to take a novella called Toxic Behemoth too seriously, but author David Bernstein chooses to start this Kaiju-centric tale with some fairly extreme criminal underground action. Caught completely off-guard, I wasn't sure what I was reading until that tale becomes the type of story Kaiju fans are more familiar with around 20% in.
From there, it all becomes fairly standard, with the somewhat varied take of having several chapters from the point of view of the massive monster. The book moves at a starling brisk pace, so before you even know it, the navy are attacking the creature and it is showing off a range of impressive special abilities. Then it starts wreaking havoc and the fun truly begins.
To be honest, I was on board with this one all the way until the last 5%. But Bernstein opts to throw in an ending which did not at all fit with what came before it, and runs completely counter to much of what was previously established - even if bigger Kaiju fans might appreciate what he was aiming to do. But the ending left me with very cold and in and of itself dropped my rating a whole star.
3 Missile-Deflecting Tentacles for Toxic Behemoth.
From there, it all becomes fairly standard, with the somewhat varied take of having several chapters from the point of view of the massive monster. The book moves at a starling brisk pace, so before you even know it, the navy are attacking the creature and it is showing off a range of impressive special abilities. Then it starts wreaking havoc and the fun truly begins.
To be honest, I was on board with this one all the way until the last 5%. But Bernstein opts to throw in an ending which did not at all fit with what came before it, and runs completely counter to much of what was previously established - even if bigger Kaiju fans might appreciate what he was aiming to do. But the ending left me with very cold and in and of itself dropped my rating a whole star.
3 Missile-Deflecting Tentacles for Toxic Behemoth.
January 19, 2015
When I saw that David Bernstein, one of my favorite writers, had penned a book about a Kaiju beast, I was hooked. The Toxic Behemoth is much more than just a monster tale. It has heart, thanks to a wonderfully inventive twist. When a mob hitman is pegged by the FBI, he turns snitch on the inept son of the family's boss. It's only fair, as he was set up by the mobster to take the fall.
But things turn tragic when his cooperation with the FBI is discovered. Cut to said hitman being dumped in the Atlantic Ocean in a shipping container filled with toxic waste. The kid in me who spent countless hours watching movies from the 50s and 60s about monsters spawend from toxic and nuclear sludge stood up and cheered. Here was born a tremendous sea creature with the heart and mind of a man bent on revenge.
The kaiju is pretty damn impressive, teeming with a destructive bag of tricks you've never seen before. Toxic Behemoth is a monstrous romp that will leave you wanting more!
But things turn tragic when his cooperation with the FBI is discovered. Cut to said hitman being dumped in the Atlantic Ocean in a shipping container filled with toxic waste. The kid in me who spent countless hours watching movies from the 50s and 60s about monsters spawend from toxic and nuclear sludge stood up and cheered. Here was born a tremendous sea creature with the heart and mind of a man bent on revenge.
The kaiju is pretty damn impressive, teeming with a destructive bag of tricks you've never seen before. Toxic Behemoth is a monstrous romp that will leave you wanting more!
February 21, 2021
Let's get Kraken
I associate this book with Clash of the Titans more than Kaiju (Gesundheit!), although the first 25% is almost exactly The Godfather right down to the cliched "swim with the fishes". Unfortunately, the rest of it reads like a B Grade movie - and not even a good B Grade movie. The writing style seemed clunky and the plot poorly thought out. The ending was sudden and quite silly.
Oh...and FYI...radar doesn't detect objects underwater. Sonar does. And combat pilots wear helmets. The acid would have to eat through that first. Misinformation abounds.
Overall, not my cup of tea.
I associate this book with Clash of the Titans more than Kaiju (Gesundheit!), although the first 25% is almost exactly The Godfather right down to the cliched "swim with the fishes". Unfortunately, the rest of it reads like a B Grade movie - and not even a good B Grade movie. The writing style seemed clunky and the plot poorly thought out. The ending was sudden and quite silly.
Oh...and FYI...radar doesn't detect objects underwater. Sonar does. And combat pilots wear helmets. The acid would have to eat through that first. Misinformation abounds.
Overall, not my cup of tea.
May 9, 2018
that was such a fun read. loved it. totally different from anything else I've read. You had to feel sorry for the monster though.
I love several horror writer's and David is one of them. always has a good read.
I love several horror writer's and David is one of them. always has a good read.
March 30, 2022
I bought this some years back along with a number of other kaiju novels and honestly just kind of forgot about it until I recently came across it while doing some cleaning.
I know it's been a while so I'll just say I hope the author's gotten better. If I never read or hear "in the shit" again it will be too soon. One of the things that stands out to me is one chapter the monster is thinking about how it will have to try to be stealthy and sneak past human military forces in order to kill the people that wronged its previous life human self but the very next one it promptly takes a stand and fight approach to the first military force it meets. Overall it's written really, really bluntly which is something I have trouble with myself, but it seemed to grow more so towards the end, I think there was more description early on.
I know it's common to have brief POVs from people who are about to die, but lingering four pages on the sob story of some random dude about to be eaten a page later isn't a good ratio.
I know it's been a while so I'll just say I hope the author's gotten better. If I never read or hear "in the shit" again it will be too soon. One of the things that stands out to me is one chapter the monster is thinking about how it will have to try to be stealthy and sneak past human military forces in order to kill the people that wronged its previous life human self but the very next one it promptly takes a stand and fight approach to the first military force it meets. Overall it's written really, really bluntly which is something I have trouble with myself, but it seemed to grow more so towards the end, I think there was more description early on.
I know it's common to have brief POVs from people who are about to die, but lingering four pages on the sob story of some random dude about to be eaten a page later isn't a good ratio.
September 22, 2020
well, it's not Gojira, but a fun and fast kaiju read
kaiju-The word “Kaiju” means “strange beast” or “giant monster”. The term “Kaiju” refers to a genre of Japanese films featuring giant monsters. Godzilla is a Kaiju and all of the Godzilla films are part of the Kaiju genre. The 1954 film “Gojira” is considered to have been the first mainstream Kaiju film and popularized the genre. In 1956, the film was released in America, and was re-titled “Godzilla, King of The Monsters!”. The Godzilla films feature many different Kaiju, including Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan, Anguirus, and Gigan.
kaiju-The word “Kaiju” means “strange beast” or “giant monster”. The term “Kaiju” refers to a genre of Japanese films featuring giant monsters. Godzilla is a Kaiju and all of the Godzilla films are part of the Kaiju genre. The 1954 film “Gojira” is considered to have been the first mainstream Kaiju film and popularized the genre. In 1956, the film was released in America, and was re-titled “Godzilla, King of The Monsters!”. The Godzilla films feature many different Kaiju, including Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan, Anguirus, and Gigan.
September 15, 2025
The book starts off with a mob hit man and morphs into a monster story - kind of odd turn.
I found a lot of description of the battles not much story progress which is alright, but I was hoping for a little more.
I found a lot of description of the battles not much story progress which is alright, but I was hoping for a little more.
September 29, 2020
Not bad
This book is an okay kaiju book. It got repetitive after awhile but i still wanted to finish it. If there’s a sequel I hope it has a little more to it.
This book is an okay kaiju book. It got repetitive after awhile but i still wanted to finish it. If there’s a sequel I hope it has a little more to it.
January 10, 2015
While the pacing of the story was good, the origins of the creature and the driving force behind the creature's actions didn’t quite work for me. I also felt that the development of the creature was too quick, taking place over a matter of days as opposed to months or years. This is a story that should have spanned a greater time period, especially since we are there for the "birth" of the creature.
May 17, 2015
Godzilla on Crack!
This book starts out brutal then amps up destruction with each chapter. Action packed with plenty of Gore. We can only hope for a sequel.
This book starts out brutal then amps up destruction with each chapter. Action packed with plenty of Gore. We can only hope for a sequel.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews