Devour

by Kurt Anderson

IT LURKS
Deep beneath the ice of the Arctic Circle, something has awakened. A primordial creature frozen in time, it is the oldest, largest, most efficient predator that nature has ever produced. And it is ravenously hungry…
 
IT HUNTS
Thirty-five miles off the Massachussetts coast, a small research ship is attacked. All but one of its crew is killed by the massive serpentine horror that rises from the sea. The creature likes this human prey. The chewy outer hide. The tender saltiness within. And it wants more…
 
IT FEEDS
Responding to a distress signal, fishing-boat captain Brian Hawkins arrives in time to save the ship’s last survivor. But the nightmare is just beginning. A casino cruise ship carrying high-stakes passengers—and a top-secret cargo—becomes the creature’s bloodsoaked hunting ground. Desperate but determined, Hawkins goes after the biggest catch of the century.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Science Fiction, Monsters, Audiobook, Suspense

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 31, 2016

Reviews

[Ionia · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great cover! So scary!!

So, I love a good creature novel and this one has all the right elements to be truly terrifying. If you love those sci-fi movies where there is something big...really big...lurking in the depths, then this book will no doubt satisfy you. The story is good and has more than one thread going at the same time. There are unlikely heroes, secrets that get revealed as the book moves along and no shortage of action.

I liked the characters well enough that I cared about what happened to them and even felt a bit of sympathy for the monster, as one should when reading a full length novel about a beast doing what it must for survival.

The author managed to tie things together nicely toward the end of the book and I was able to suspend belief during this book long enough to enjoy it because the writing was good. If you love horror/thriller books, this one is a good choice. I won't go in the water for a while.

This review is based on a complementary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

[Ruby · Rating 2 out of 5]

B-Movie Creature Feature

The cover? Amazing. The Creature? Awesome. The Plot? Yikes. There was so much potential in this creature feature to have more horrific attack scenes. Instead, the book focused on a bunch of human characters and their personal problems. A lot of the common B-Movie tropes throughout which are always fun.

[Justplainlucas · Rating 2 out of 5]

CAUTION: SPOILERS WITHIN

Devour is one of those examples of the old adage, "Never judge a book by its cover." And that's exactly what I made the mistake of doing. I saw the cover, a massive maw rising from the water to close upon a cruise ship, and thought, "Ooooh, this is going to be SCARY!" To its credit, it did at least start off well. A giant sea creature hunts ice fishermen and smashes through the ice to get at them. Unfortunately, the pace it set could not keep up with the rest of the book.

First thing's first. The creature depicted on the cover is nowhere near the size that's described in the book. Although the creature is quite large, larger than a great whale, I did feel like this was a bait and switch. The main problem with this book, though, is that the creature feels more of an afterthought than the focal point of the story.

There's this whole subplot that takes place on the cruise liner Nokomis, and the author spends so much time trying to weave this illegal card game story together that by the time the story reverts back to the monster, whatever tension he's supposed to be building starts to dissipate. It's also not helped by the fact that just about every human character he has are cookie cutter generic types from action and horror genres. I actually moaned in detest when he devalued his main character Brian's shipmate Gilly when Brian recovered Gilly's body from the water and said, "I just don't like losing things."

This book is also horribly edited. I have to question some reviews on here that state this book is well-written and well-edited. It is not. There are countless spelling errors, missing and extra words, and he even manages to misspell one of his own character's names. There's a little girl named Taylor, and on one page, it's spelled with an O and on the very next page, it's spelled with an E! Was this even edited past first draft?!

I wasn't scared at all by this book. To be fair, it's very hard for a book to scare me, because I need audio and visual cues to really help immerse me, which is why movies and games are far better served for this genre, but this book didn't even make me uneasy. I suppose the main reason why is because so much time was spent on that damn stupid illegal card game! Bored the heck out of me! Also, the author just nonchalantly brings in another monster for a last minute scare tactic and just as quickly kills the monster off letting it be forgotten. It did have a cool ending when Brian killed the monster, even though it was highly unbelievable.

So much potential gone to waste in this book. If you want to read horror at sea, read Steve Alten's Meg series instead.

[Lora Milton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sea monster story with a borderline plausible premise; I've read about scientists finding unknown organisms in melting ice caps, this one is a large version. Very large, like from a time when the Earth was populated with big scary dinosaurs with lots of teeth. Anyone who has ever had an aquarium will know that sea creatures tend to be carnivorous and can be brutal.

This is such a creature and he's disappointed to find that ocean prey is smaller than it was last time he was free to hunt. However, humans who go out on boats make for pretty good eating. The boats themselves can be inconveniently solid, but what's a few bashes in the head when it provides food?

Several subplots develop on this seascape. The fishing boat that receives a distress call from a sinking boat they can only get to in time if they dump their catch, a cruise ship out farther than usual at sea so a group of gamblers can do as they like in international waters, a little girl on the cruise ship who doesn't think helping the childcare worker look after babies is much of a holiday for her, as she's the only older child on board.

The fun part past the halfway point was trying to work out who would survive among a fairly big cast of characters, many of them unpleasant. Conflicts of interest, betrayals and some fairly gruesome deaths made it all the more riveting.

This one is not for the squeamish. I recommend not eating for the last 10% or so. There were a couple of too convenient happenings and a couple of story lines that could have been more developed, but over all a very good sea monster story.

[Alan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had such promise as at least an exciting creature feature, but unfortunately the more it went on, the more ridiculous the story became to the point of it being just a waste of time. Starting off somewhat like a cross between the movie Deep Rising and one of Steve Alten's water monster books, a cruise ship loaded with gamblers hides its real nature, a floating poker game between two wealthy crime bosses and a whole lot of criminals working for them and running seedy dealings. Meanwhile, an ancient giant undersea menace has found its way into the Atlantic Ocean and attacks the ship. While this premise should have been entertaining even if it was pretty cheesy, the narrative becomes too entangled in the whole criminal activity and stupid gangsters, and what follows on the ship just got stupider as it went along. Despite the fact that the ship is sinking and being attacked by giant creature, the poker game continues. And the criminals keep beating up people. And no one wants to call for rescue because everyone will be in deep shit if the authorities find out what's going on below decks. Had a lot of that crap been removed, it would have been more enjoyable instead of the stupid slog it became.

[Todd Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply Brilliant. You can tell straight away that this Author has a talent for writing. This was such an easy book to read, and was so well written. However after reading this I will probably never go in the water again. as soon as I read the opening to this book I was hooked. it's hard to imagine a primordial creature that big waking up after being frozen in the Artic Circle, and being hungry - very hungry. Then having a taste for humans, and enjoying the hunt. Each time I got to a part in the book where the Author started talking about a boat, I thought "Oh No" it's coming. There aren't enough words to describe how much I enjoyed this book. It really is a story that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat. do yourself a favor and read this book.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've heard this in audiobook format.
Basically it's a story of giant prehistoric monster on a rampage in the north atlantic. Already destroyed some vessels and now has her sights on cruise ship. Meanwhile we follow a couple of characters, in one side we've get a fisherman who is going through though times and a man who is hosting a high stake card game in international waters. We've got other characters like a waitress and a small girl.

The story is one of those sci-fi movies you've watch in Sy-Fy. It's Saturday afternoon flick that will end and forget about it. Either way, I enjoy it but don't expect much... 5/10

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love a good monster tale! This was a fun listen 😊

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC REVIEW

This is a first for me, I normally just watch the animal attack horror movies but this one piqued my interest. Looking at the cover I thought Jaws, Alligator, and a whole array of different creature horror movies. But reading through the book I realized it was more like Deep Rising, without the tentacles, and Devour was a lot better. I liked this it was a good read once I got more than a couple chapters into it I inhaled the thing. It is in third person but it switches perspective between the main characters and the creature itself, that was a nice touch. I liked that it wasn't just the creature they were having to worry about but an alternate conflict that they are dealing with and the fact that the creature is there complicates matters.

The perspective of the creature is interesting because of how it thinks. You see how it's mind works as it finds out that the big things that float on the water have yummy bits fall out of them when you crash into them. The other characters are a fisherman who is trying to forget his past, a cocktail waitress just trying to earn some extra cash, a scientist who figures out what the hell is going on, and a young girl who is just a victim of circumstance.

Frank Moore has everything planned out he's got a gambling cruise ship all set up as a cover for his true intentions, he never expected that a creature that was suppose to be extinct would defrost from the arctic circle and start hunting them. Brain Hawkins was just trying to earn a living as a fisherman when he picks up a distress call from another vessel. With the Coast Guard busy all the unusual ocean activity Brain decides they are the other vessels only hope. He never expected to find the thing in pieces with barely one survivor a professor who was doing research with his students on the unusual activity going on recently. Destiny Boudreaux only took the job with Frankie because he promised a hefty paycheck and awesome tips. Taylor Millicent is only on the gambling cruise ship with her parents because it offered day care, and that fact that her parents really didn't care.

In international waters off the coast of Massachusetts Frankie's ulterior motives are in full swing when it all starts to fall apart. The creature just wants to eat it never expected to work this hard to have to get some food, but the humans those little tasty morsels started to fight back. When Brain and the scientist go aboard the cruise ship as the only means to survival he now has to fight back mobster thugs as well as find a way to survive the attack of the giant sea creature and make it back to shore.

Overall, this was a fun read. A heart pounding action and suspense with in depth characters and an alternate plot that adds to the intensity of the overall story.

[Mae Clair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many other reviewers, I was drawn to this book by its cover, and then the blurb. I have a passion for “monster” novels especially when the monster is of colossal proportions. That isn’t quite the case with this book (the cover is more conceptual in nature), but the sea-creature “predator” is still sizable enough to wreak havoc.

Based upon the blurb, the book isn’t what I expected, but the story maintained my interest. Odd as it may sound, I especially liked the POV the reader gets from the creature. I also think the author did a fantastic job describing it and allowing the reader to “see” its movements. I wasn’t invested in the characters the way I would have liked to be, but this is still an enjoyable read if you like monster/creature books, and it delivers a satisfying ending.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

I kinda wish everyone in this book had been devoured.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

This story was action-packed pretty much from beginning to end and I hope to read more stories by this Author!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect beach read. In my opinion, there just aren't enough books about sea monsters. As I am currently vacationing on the coast of Maine, I thought a rousing story about a ravenous sea beast eating people would be just what the doctor ordered, and I was right! This is a fun story featuring a dinosaur eating people on a cruise ship. There are gangsters, a plucky waitress, a sort of traumatized kid, and more dinosaurs. I'm only giving four out of five stars because I wanted the sea monster to eat more people.

I enjoyed this.

[Trent · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book about a sea monster, it seemed to lack a lot of sea monster. The sub plots about a high stakes gambling game, organ trafficking, and a missing girl made the story disjointed. I didn't care for the main character, Brian, who wasn't the focus of the story a lot of the time, but was reasonably interested in the antagonist Frankie. The ending was ok, but the 2nd monster coming from nowhere? And the epilogue made no sense.

[Niko · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this one. I love that the author is obviously someone who fishes and boats, I loved the extra detail you usually don't get around those subjects. The story though was slow and had a lot of extra story lines I just couldn't care about. I expected a creature story and I felt like I was lacking on the creature aspect of the story.

[Kevin Halter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creature Feature

This one was sort of all over the place for me. Parts of it I really enjoyed while other parts of it were a struggle to get through.
I kind of wish the protagonists had been Joe and his people from the beginning of the book.

[Button · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hoopla audiobook while I organized the house. Very entertaining monster thriller with some interesting subplot and interweaving of stories.
I would have loved more description of the ‘monster’ (don’t want to give away what it is) and more written from its point of view.
I would definitely read more of Anderson’s work.

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was a quick enjoyable read. I felt like the side story tended to overshadow the monster story which was a little off putting, but overall it kept my interest all the way through.

[Mtm66]

2.5

[Already Overbooked · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't move it can't see you if you don't move!
Make as much noise as possible?
No, don't move!
I think I am going to be obnoxiously loud...

[Jennifer Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. This was pretty good I guess. Outside of my normally preferred genre(s). But it was fairly well written, especially for a debut novel.

[LiteratureIsLife · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devour is first horror book to grace my reading list this October and makes for an excellent pre-Halloween scare. Prior to finishing the novel, I had no idea that it was author Kurt Anderson’s first work. Reading the book I never would have guessed that. Devour is well written and well edited; it is what you would come to expect from a seasoned author. Assuming Kurt Anderson is not just some other, well-known author’s pen name, Mr. Anderson really blew things out of the water in this book, metaphorically and literally. The premise of the book is pretty simple: there’s a sea monster wreaking havoc after climate change pushes it out of its usual hunting grounds.

Despite the novel’s cover featuring a sea monster, the story is not always about the monster. The boat that is under attack for the majority of Devour is a casino boat that is doing its thing out in international waters. For fans of monster movies that are familiar with those kinds of films, Devour is a bit like a mash-up between Deep Rising and Jaws. Illegal things are taking place on the boat and the people behind it are more interested in concluding their “business” and cutting loose than anything else. This drives a large wedge, in the form of fists and bullets, between them and the protagonists who would actually like to kill the monster and escape. While this does reduce the amount of time where we get to see the monster, multiple plot points were crucial for the story. They are in a boat, the monster is in the water; there cannot be very many interactions between the monster and the people due to that.

Now, a little more regarding the monster itself. From the descriptions in the book, it is a little unclear at first exactly what it looks like. Eventually, the conveniently placed scientist who is in most monster movies declares it is a kronosaur. Remember the really big water dinosaur in Jurassic World? It is similar to that. Although the kronosaur described in the book seems to be much bigger than what the fossil record indicates, we can chalk that up to an extra 65+ million years of evolution. As is the case in most monster movies, the kronosaur is an incredibly effective hunter and seems much more intelligent than the average animal. In fact, a few short chapters take place from the kronosaur’s point of view and portray it as capable of planning and harboring feelings of revenge.

Anderson spends a good amount of time developing his characters, both protagonists and antagonists alike. The more important characters get a bit more back story but no one spends so much time on their background that you are sitting there thinking, “Meanwhile, back at the ranch…” The book opens up a bit slowly but once the monster first attacks the pace picks up and stays that way for the rest of the novel. Devour features all of the right elements of a sea monster story as well as the right dosage of each one. This book marks a strong start to Kurt Anderson’s career as a novelist and I for one look forward to whatever he publishes next. On a side note, I am very happy not to live anywhere near the ocean and will need several post-Devour weeks before getting near any body of water deeper than a bathtub.

[Shelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot is layered and interesting, with a lot of different character motivations for everyone. But it lacked a lot of development of the monster, which should be the point of a monster story. We don't get to spend a lot of time on the beast, and indeed many of the human characters spend a good portion of the story downplaying or even denying the existence of the creature. I think that was the biggest downfall of the story. Like the second or third seasons of The Walking Dead, the creature becomes a backdrop for the characters, rather than the focus. The plot would have been pretty much the same if a storm was crippling the boat rather than a prehistoric beast.

You know when you can tell some character is the author's favorite? You know because the character isn't really that interesting or doesn't deserve all the attention he gets from other characters? Frankie felt like this, to me. He's not really a great guy. He's not even a good guy. But the author focuses so much on him, and gives him the 'heroes' death, and even makes the survivors go to his family as the very last scene in the book. I never felt like this character deserved all this attention. The only thing he had going for him was that he didn't want to kill one of the female characters. That's it.

I feel like the author could have worked more to wrap up things, as well. He repeatedly states that Taylor is now an orphan, because her parents were killed by the beast, and yet we never know what happens to her after they escape the boat. Did Brian and Destiny adopt her? Did she go to extended family, or into the foster care system? What about Wells? He gets on the tugboat, and the monster destroys the tugboat, but we never see his death for sure. And he was a major character!

There's a lot of attention to detail and good twists in this story, and I'm sure the author's next novels will be improved over this as his talent evolves.

[Michaël Wertenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read, with plenty of nice passages about boats navigating rough waters. Good, interesting characters, although it relies quite a bit on clichés, but that’s okay. It’s effective, here.
I was prepared to give it 4 stars (perhaps, with a stronger ending, even 5) but there are a few problems I’ll address.

LOADS of editing mistakes. So frustrating. I expected better from Pinnacle.
The brief passages from the monster’s POV weren’t effective. There were hints early on that the beast was supposed to be intelligent--beyond the intelligence we see in marine life—but ultimately, the monster never did anything really intelligent and wasn’t, actually, the biggest threat in the story.
The storyline with the bad guys on board the ship, I liked. I just wanted a better, more formidable monster; that’s what I came to the novel expecting.

There was one plot thread involving a preteen girl which was unnecessary, except that the author chose to make her the target of a bad guy’s sexual attack. The bad guy doesn’t get to go through with it, but that was still a disgusting and unnecessary tangent that ripped me from the story and had me finishing the novel with a bad taste in my mouth.

DEVOUR is Kurt Anderson’s first novel, and there is a lot to like here. I want to see what he can do with more rigorous editing and a more trimmed-down, focused story.

[RuinEleint · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giant prehistoric sea monster wakes and goes on a rampage! In other words, delicious popcorn for me!

By the standards of most creature feature books, this one is quite well written with sketched out characters and a secondary story. The author weaves in a lot of Jaws tropes and adds in some Titanic moments to construct a very entertaining read.

[Ana · Rating 2 out of 5]

another typical sea monster--hero history. Too predictable

[John Wolf · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aquatic horror? Great. Big monster? I'm in.

Unfortunately, this book hardly delivers on either of these fronts. I saw the reviews of this book and thought, "There's no way it's that bad." Unfortunately, it is. I was really let down by this book.

Sure, don't judge a book by its cover, but the novel is called Devour. The cover shows a monster attacking the ship. Reading the synopsis on the web or back of the book, you'd think you're in for a thrilling action-horror a la Deep Rising (especially given the casino boat setting and wide cast of characters ).

The monster is treated like an afterthought, absent from the book for chapters at a time. When it does appear, our characters often seem more perplexed or nonplussed about a prehistoric relic arisen from the icy depths to devour them whole.

I really think the author set out with the intent to create something like that or something like the movie Jaws. Unfortunately, aside from a strong opening, Anderson ended up writing something like the NOVEL Jaws full of unnecessary B and C plots about organized crime, illegal gambling, a character who just exists so she can get into danger and something happens on the page.

[NET7 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hunts, it's hunger almost insatiable. It then hibernates for decades. Now, it's hibernation is over...and it's HUNGRY. No longer satisfied with hunting in the artic, the creature moves south to Massachusetts, and begins a spree of terror. Can this prehistoric dinosaur, long thought extinct, deadly and hungry, be stopped?
This is an okay creature horror. It's difficult it seems to make a good creature horror book/flick. This was an okay one. The creature does have a high kill count, so you won't be bored as you'll have plenty of scary scenes where man, once the apex predator, is now they prey. However, it's not great, nor is it bad, just okay in my opinion.
I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

[Randy Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining But Derivative

Devour isn't a great book, but it's an entertaining potboiler that moves along at a good pace. The plot is a combination of the film The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (a dinosaur awakens in the Arctic and comes south via ocean currents to terrorize mankind) and Jaws (a fisherman becomes obsessed with getting revenge on the beast). It's not a bad mishmash, but a lot of subplots are thrown in that muddy the waters a bit (evil gamblers, neglectful parents, a disgraced ship's captain, etc.). [Trigger warning: one subplot involves child endangerment with implied molestation.] There are also short chapters from the beast's point of view, which actually enhance the reader's interest somewhat. Overall, a good beach or airplane read.

[Marc Jentzsch · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I loved - and continue to love - Deep Rising, this one was hard to pass up. Really, I've passed up many books like it, but for whatever reason, this is the one that got me. It isn't amazing but it's also pretty good for what it is. It's fun, and that's what matters more than anything. Giving the monster a POV was also not a terrible choice, even if it seemed way smarter than it probably should have.

I was pretty impressed with the author's seeming knowledge of seafaring, which helped boost the novel a few notches for me. It lost a notch for the scientist character not really using the most accurate of lingua franca; went back up with the presentation of the female characters.