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Frogman: A Small Town Survival Horror
Cal Whitaker is going nowhere. A college dropout working a dead-end courier job, his life is a lonely cycle of late-night drives on the back roads of rural Ohio. That is, until he sees something impossible in his headlights—a slick, leathery creature with bulging black eyes that scrambles into the darkness.
His chilling encounter is dismissed by the local sheriff as a drunken mistake, leaving Cal isolated and questioning his own sanity. But when he finds claw marks on his car and a foul, swamp-like odor starts to linger around his home, he knows the thing from the river is real. And it knows where he lives.
Driven by a terrifying certainty, Cal digs into local history and uncovers a dark legend the town has tried to forget. He's not just dealing with a solitary monster, but a subterranean colony that has been hidden beneath the town for generations. When a child from the neighboring trailer is taken, Cal's search for answers becomes a desperate rescue mission. Armed with little more than a map of the town's storm drains and his own crumbling courage, he must descend into the suffocating darkness to confront the things that live below—or be dragged down into their world forever.
His chilling encounter is dismissed by the local sheriff as a drunken mistake, leaving Cal isolated and questioning his own sanity. But when he finds claw marks on his car and a foul, swamp-like odor starts to linger around his home, he knows the thing from the river is real. And it knows where he lives.
Driven by a terrifying certainty, Cal digs into local history and uncovers a dark legend the town has tried to forget. He's not just dealing with a solitary monster, but a subterranean colony that has been hidden beneath the town for generations. When a child from the neighboring trailer is taken, Cal's search for answers becomes a desperate rescue mission. Armed with little more than a map of the town's storm drains and his own crumbling courage, he must descend into the suffocating darkness to confront the things that live below—or be dragged down into their world forever.
165 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 29, 2025
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6 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 3, 2026
This was a good outing. The writing was on point, the premise was unique, and the actual story avoided the normal pitfalls that most creature features take. I’m, of course, referring to the onslaught and absolute overkill of gore. This took its time and divulged just enough insight on the frogmen with each appearance. They had purpose and their own society, not just thrown in to kill anyone nearby for no reason. That was a really great usage of the antagonists. Now, where this lost me a bit was how one note it all was. Plenty of action and whatnot, but our lead, Cal, really didn’t feel organic in his thoughts and actions. There needed to be a much deeper dive, building on certain underdeveloped plot points, that would have made everything more logical and sound. Taking some focus off the frogmen and the, at times, prolonged action sequences, to make room for that would have taken this story from good to great. Still a fun ride from Ethan Blackwood.
February 17, 2026
Frogman has always been a favorite cryptid of mine. This author wrote him greatly. It was spooky and super fun. I’ll continue with this author.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews