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They Rise
Some call them ghost sharks, the oldest and strangest looking creatures in the sea.
Marine biologist Brad Whitley has studied chimaera fish all his life. He thought he knew everything about them. He was wrong. Warming ocean temperatures free legions of prehistoric chimaera fish from their methane ice suspended animation. Now, in a corner of the Bermuda Triangle, the ocean waters run red. The 400 million year old massive killing machines know no mercy, destroying everything in their path. It will take Whitley, his climatologist ex-wife and the entire US Navy to stop them in the bloodiest battle ever seen on the high seas.
Marine biologist Brad Whitley has studied chimaera fish all his life. He thought he knew everything about them. He was wrong. Warming ocean temperatures free legions of prehistoric chimaera fish from their methane ice suspended animation. Now, in a corner of the Bermuda Triangle, the ocean waters run red. The 400 million year old massive killing machines know no mercy, destroying everything in their path. It will take Whitley, his climatologist ex-wife and the entire US Navy to stop them in the bloodiest battle ever seen on the high seas.
162 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 10, 2015
65 people are currently reading
945 people want to read
About the author
Hunter Shea
67 books1,005 followersHunter Shea is the author of over 25 books, with a specialization in cryptozoological horror that includes The Jersey Devil, The Dover Demon, Loch Ness Revenge and many others. As part of the new horror line at Flame Tree Press, his novel Creature has gained critical acclaim. His novel, The Montauk Monster, was named one of the best reads of the summer by Publishers Weekly. A trip to the International Cryptozoology Museum will find several of his cryptid books among the fascinating displays. Living in a true haunted house inspired his Jessica Backman: Death in the Afterlife series (Forest of Shadows, Sinister Entity and Island of the Forbidden). In 2011, he was selected to be a part of the launch of Samhain Publishing’s new horror line alongside legendary author Ramsey Campbell. When he’s not writing thrillers and horror, he also spins tall tales for middle grade readers on Amazon’s highly regarded Rapids reading app.
An avid podcaster, he can be seen and heard on Monster Men, one of the longest running video horror podcasts in the world, and Final Guys, focusing on weekly movie and book reviews. His nostalgic column about the magic of 80s horror, Video Visions, is featured monthly at Cemetery Dance Online. You can find his short stories in a number of anthologies, including Chopping Block Party, The Body Horror Book and Fearful Fathoms II.
A lifetime New Yorker, Hunter is supported by his loving wife and two beautiful daughters. When he’s not studying up on cryptozoology, he’s an avid explorer of the unknown, having spent a night alone on the Queen Mary, searching for the Warren’s famous White Lady of the Union Cemetery and other mysterious places.
You can follow his travails at www.huntershea.com.
An avid podcaster, he can be seen and heard on Monster Men, one of the longest running video horror podcasts in the world, and Final Guys, focusing on weekly movie and book reviews. His nostalgic column about the magic of 80s horror, Video Visions, is featured monthly at Cemetery Dance Online. You can find his short stories in a number of anthologies, including Chopping Block Party, The Body Horror Book and Fearful Fathoms II.
A lifetime New Yorker, Hunter is supported by his loving wife and two beautiful daughters. When he’s not studying up on cryptozoology, he’s an avid explorer of the unknown, having spent a night alone on the Queen Mary, searching for the Warren’s famous White Lady of the Union Cemetery and other mysterious places.
You can follow his travails at www.huntershea.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
July 13, 2024
"Chimaera. According to Webster's, the word is based on a creature of mythology, an amalgam of different species in one terrifying beast. Or, in the current vernacular, one ugly fucker."
i read this book for shark week, only to find out that "ghost shark" is apparently a nickname for the chimaera fish - a creature distantly related to without actually being a shark. as our hero brad whitley, or "whit," explains, that's "distant in the way of hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary paths winding away from one another." so, oops. i broke shark week.
chimaera fish are "living dinosaurs," existing even before sharks, clocking in at an impressive 400 million-years. and they're pretty cute, with their armored faces and toofless mowfs. they even have precious little stingers that release toxic venom from a spine near their dorsal fin, but don't worry - they aren't deadly to humans.
i mean, except when they are GIGANTIC prehistoric chimaera fish, suspended in time in frozen methane that has just now begun to melt because of some bizarre thing this author invented to make this story work about the globe getting warmer or something.
this delivers exactly what you'd expect from a book about giant killer fish, right down to its stock characters out of a syfy movie cast. that's not necessarily a bad thing. it's perfectly satisfying when one's expectations so neatly line up with the actual reading experience.
these books always seem to feature a divorced couple, frequently both scientists of some kind, brought back together to fight a giant killer cryptid. check and check. and the hero - a rumpled self-deprecating alcoholic ichthyologist and appreciator of women who says corny things like:
"Nestor, you're turning out to be handier than Tabasco sauce at an oyster eating contest."
and wise things like:
Gotta watch out for those librarian types.
and delivers dreadful quips during his badass action hero scenes while fighting twenty-foot-long monsters:
"This definitely isn't like shooting fish in a barrel."
groan. but it's a groan that i anticipated groaning during this book - a perfectly acceptable groan of good-natured dismay at how perfectly appropriate the character is.
"So what's an ichthyologist?"
"It's a fancy way of saying I study fish - cartilaginous fish to be exact. I try not to brag too much."
there's a spunkily irreverent punk chick scientist with a green mohawk working for whit's ex - a climatologist who is totally quitting smoking, like right now. i mean, unless some unexpectedly stressful situation arises.
"I need Marlboros. Better get us to Miami."
also appearing - a superfan of hemingway, delighted at finally following in the footsteps of his hero; marlin fishing off of key west, having buffed up for the trip, after all - He didn't want Hemingway looking down thinking he was a pussy.
and a minority character who is cheerfully servile, ready to drive whit around, bring him coffee, make arrangements, acquire seaworthy vessels, access confidential medical records, all with a grandfatherly smile and infinite patience at being written in such an antiquated and stereotypical way.
and a gruff but good-hearted fishing boat captain and his teenaged son, stepping up into rescue mode because it's the right thing to do.
and a wealthy entrepreneur whose business involves filming college girls flashing their boobs for a successful DVD franchise,
who is out on the open water, aboard a yacht filled with boobies and libations and camera-inspired lesbian experimentation, where he is so, so bored by his own excesses.
and a little moppet of a girl with golden ringlets who recites facts about marine biology like a puppy doing tricks for a pat on the head who is there for the "oh please let the little girl live!!" people.
and many more - because the reason books like these have such a large cast of characters is because many of them are there solely to be killed off by monster fish, either by their evidently very poisonous to humans stingers and those innocently toothless jaws powerful enough, once their scale is amplified, to pancake a human, making one character refer to a corpse as "a grisly Flat Stanley."
like a bigger version of this, with less flopping and more killing
it's fun and funny and bloody and salty and it saves room for a possible sequel at the end!!!
they're gonna need a bigger sea lion…
come to my blog!
April 20, 2017
When a chimaera fish of usual size is caught, ichthyologist Brad "Whit" Whitley comes all the way from Australia to Miami to examine it. Having made the chimaera fish, aka ghost shark, his life's work, Whit thought he knew it all but discovered he had a lot more to learn when even larger ghost sharks start popping up and devouring everyone in sight. The only person Whit can turn to for help is even more fearsome, his ex-wife...
As I've said many times before, I'm a sucker for Hunter Shea's creature feature gore-fests. When this one dropped to ninety nine cents, my cheapness alarm when off and I snapped it up like a ghost shark on an unsuspecting swimmer.
They Rise is part cautionary tale, part bloodbath. Climate change has lead to more methane vents opening up on the ocean floor, causing ghost sharks to congregate and the oceans to run red with blood. Whit, the smart-mouthed scientist with a drinking problem, is forced to reject everything he knows about ghost sharks in an effort to stop their feeding frenzy. His ex-wife ends up in the same boat, pun intended, when her expedition studying the methane vents goes horribly wrong.
It's a fun story, full of ghost shark carnage. Shea's writing is as crisp as ever and Whit is hilarious, sometimes annoyingly so. However, the story wasn't up to Shea's usual efforts. It was pretty much a variant on Jaws (or possibly Jaws 2), as could be expected with sharks. How about staying away from the water, people? The ending felt a little detached. When the coast guard and navy get involved, it gets a little impersonal.
Despite my gripes, it was still a fun read, just not an essential one. Three out of five stars.
Also:
As I've said many times before, I'm a sucker for Hunter Shea's creature feature gore-fests. When this one dropped to ninety nine cents, my cheapness alarm when off and I snapped it up like a ghost shark on an unsuspecting swimmer.
They Rise is part cautionary tale, part bloodbath. Climate change has lead to more methane vents opening up on the ocean floor, causing ghost sharks to congregate and the oceans to run red with blood. Whit, the smart-mouthed scientist with a drinking problem, is forced to reject everything he knows about ghost sharks in an effort to stop their feeding frenzy. His ex-wife ends up in the same boat, pun intended, when her expedition studying the methane vents goes horribly wrong.
It's a fun story, full of ghost shark carnage. Shea's writing is as crisp as ever and Whit is hilarious, sometimes annoyingly so. However, the story wasn't up to Shea's usual efforts. It was pretty much a variant on Jaws (or possibly Jaws 2), as could be expected with sharks. How about staying away from the water, people? The ending felt a little detached. When the coast guard and navy get involved, it gets a little impersonal.
Despite my gripes, it was still a fun read, just not an essential one. Three out of five stars.
Also:
April 20, 2017
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
When my buddy Dan’s review popped up and I saw there was a story out there about ghost sharks I was IN. I L.O.V.E.D. Ghost Shark . . . .
Then I found out it was really about . . . .
“Chimaera. According to Webster’s, the word is based on a creature of mythology, an amalgam of different species in one terrifying beast. Or, in the current vernacular, one ugly fucker.”
The story here is about a surfer-dude-looking, wise-cracking, functioning alcoholic/marine biologist named Whit who ends up partnered with his climatologist ex-wife Suzanne when a methane-filled fissure under the ocean gives way, releasing a shitton of prehistoric mammoth-sized chimaera from its depths. It’s up to the two to (1) survive and (2) come up with a way to send these killers back to the hell from whence they came.
The couple of my friends who have read They Rise both gave it a 3 Star rating. To them I ask . . . .
Just kidding. I’m giving it all 5 because it ended up being EXACTLY what I hoped it would be. Even though some soon-to-be-chum character dared to say . . . .
“This is not a B-movie, Suzanne.”
That dumbshit was 100% wrong. This was ABSOLUTELY a B-movie and that’s why I loved it. They Rise had everything you could ever want in a cheesy horrorflick book:
1. Monsters from the deep
2. Sexy leading characters with a love/hate history
3. Awesome one-liner type of humor such as:
“ “If we survive this, I’m calling you Dr. Jones from now on.”
“But I’m not afraid of snakes.”
4. High body count with plenty of guts and gore as well as some decent shock and awe like in . . . .
The only thing that could have made things better would have been if someone told me I could eat a unicorn fart. And then I discovered I could eat a unicorn fart!!!!!!
This sumbitch was an absolute delight and made my day exponentially more enjoyable. Endless thanks to Dan for using his lending feature in order to put this gem in my reading repertoire . . . . .
When my buddy Dan’s review popped up and I saw there was a story out there about ghost sharks I was IN. I L.O.V.E.D. Ghost Shark . . . .
Then I found out it was really about . . . .
“Chimaera. According to Webster’s, the word is based on a creature of mythology, an amalgam of different species in one terrifying beast. Or, in the current vernacular, one ugly fucker.”
The story here is about a surfer-dude-looking, wise-cracking, functioning alcoholic/marine biologist named Whit who ends up partnered with his climatologist ex-wife Suzanne when a methane-filled fissure under the ocean gives way, releasing a shitton of prehistoric mammoth-sized chimaera from its depths. It’s up to the two to (1) survive and (2) come up with a way to send these killers back to the hell from whence they came.
The couple of my friends who have read They Rise both gave it a 3 Star rating. To them I ask . . . .
Just kidding. I’m giving it all 5 because it ended up being EXACTLY what I hoped it would be. Even though some soon-to-be-chum character dared to say . . . .
“This is not a B-movie, Suzanne.”
That dumbshit was 100% wrong. This was ABSOLUTELY a B-movie and that’s why I loved it. They Rise had everything you could ever want in a cheesy horror
1. Monsters from the deep
2. Sexy leading characters with a love/hate history
3. Awesome one-liner type of humor such as:
“ “If we survive this, I’m calling you Dr. Jones from now on.”
“But I’m not afraid of snakes.”
4. High body count with plenty of guts and gore as well as some decent shock and awe like in . . . .
The only thing that could have made things better would have been if someone told me I could eat a unicorn fart. And then I discovered I could eat a unicorn fart!!!!!!
This sumbitch was an absolute delight and made my day exponentially more enjoyable. Endless thanks to Dan for using his lending feature in order to put this gem in my reading repertoire . . . . .
July 12, 2021
As part of a Goodreads group read, I was able to experience my first Hunter Shea novel with "They Rise," but I was overall disappointed. Still, the book is entertaining, a love letter to "Jaws" ripoffs and animals-amok scifi horrors of the 70s and 80s. If you like literature and movies in this subgenre, you will enjoy this book as much as hot buttered popcorn. But for me, the end product fell to the level of mediocrity when I was expecting something different and refreshing.
"They Rise" sounds more like a zombie horror, evoking images of the dead rising from their graves. But what we have instead is schools of hungry prehistoric fish rising from deep ocean trenches in the Bermuda Triangle, supposedly released from an icy slumber due to global warming. The behavior of these fish is so comically ridiculous that I had a hard time suspending disbelief, and the reader must be able to do this throughout a work of fantasy in order to fully appreciate the narrative. I was willing to buy into giant chimaera fish wrecking havoc on tourists and fishing fleets in Caribbean waters. But the title of this book should have been "They Fly." Because these pesky piscine predators spend more time leaping through the air and flopping around on deck than in the water.
Chimaera are supposed to be deep sea fish, but this is not a story that takes place within the confines of submarines, underwater lab facilities, or diving suits. All the action takes place on the surface. So Hunter Shea's setup contains no palpable threat to humanity unless he has them constantly snatching people from behind railings, jumping onto boats, swallowing people in midair, and knocking down helicopters. And how these fish, dormant for a million years, would know there is food on these non-nutritious floating boxes we call boats so that they would expel all their energy hoisting their ponderous tonnage onto the decks of watercraft is beyond me. Also, there are literally thousands of these chimaera that have been awakened at once--what kind of natural event could have suspended so many of these critters alive in prehistory? Why were these the only species that apparently had been preserved and revived? We never know. We're supposed to just be awed by all the giant fish flying around and landing magically on top of people. It's as ridiculous as the shark leaping out of the water and roaring in "Jaws 4" or a tornado flinging around man-eaters that snap at anything moving in the air in "Sharknado," without the self-aware element of parody.
And speaking of humor, the attempts at comedy here do not work. There are a few exchanges between characters that are supposed to pass for witty banter, but are not very clever and do not bring even a faint smile to the corner of one's mouth. In fact, the writing overall is very pedestrian and, at times, immature. There is no art to the prose, just straightforwardly delivered horror tropes we've all seen before with no hint of originality.
Still, Hunter Shea manages to avoid the pitfalls of other writers who produce unpolished and adolescent thrillers--his characters are not annoying, unlikeable snips. For the most part, his cast features sympathetic personalities that the reader would hate to see squashed like a water balloon between the grinding maw of a chimaera. The only irritating element was how everyone, including the military, turns to the main protagonist for help simply because he has studied chimaera for 10 years. But these fish are not really chimaera, and so his expertise really does not apply. In addition, any knowledge he has does not seem to provide any further solution other than lobbing bombs at them, shooting them with big guns, and burning them with gasoline. He finally does come up with a solution that is almost as brutal as the fish themselves, but I won't go into spoilers for this review.
Others have commented on the gore and carnage in this novel, and I must admit that the way the chimaera kill their victims is interesting as it is gruesome. But I didn't find this to be an overly gory book, nor particularly scary.
Though not marketed as YA, this book would be most appropriate for young teenagers budding into the next generation of horror fans, cutting their teeth on such fare as my generation did with Zebra, Leisure, Onyx, and Tor paperbacks decades ago. A very mediocre entry into this subgenre of the creature feature that provides a few hours of mindless fun, but will largely be a gateway drug for those readers destined to move on to be horror junkies while being quickly forgotten by the "normies."
Score: A solid 3 stinky fish heads.
"They Rise" sounds more like a zombie horror, evoking images of the dead rising from their graves. But what we have instead is schools of hungry prehistoric fish rising from deep ocean trenches in the Bermuda Triangle, supposedly released from an icy slumber due to global warming. The behavior of these fish is so comically ridiculous that I had a hard time suspending disbelief, and the reader must be able to do this throughout a work of fantasy in order to fully appreciate the narrative. I was willing to buy into giant chimaera fish wrecking havoc on tourists and fishing fleets in Caribbean waters. But the title of this book should have been "They Fly." Because these pesky piscine predators spend more time leaping through the air and flopping around on deck than in the water.
Chimaera are supposed to be deep sea fish, but this is not a story that takes place within the confines of submarines, underwater lab facilities, or diving suits. All the action takes place on the surface. So Hunter Shea's setup contains no palpable threat to humanity unless he has them constantly snatching people from behind railings, jumping onto boats, swallowing people in midair, and knocking down helicopters. And how these fish, dormant for a million years, would know there is food on these non-nutritious floating boxes we call boats so that they would expel all their energy hoisting their ponderous tonnage onto the decks of watercraft is beyond me. Also, there are literally thousands of these chimaera that have been awakened at once--what kind of natural event could have suspended so many of these critters alive in prehistory? Why were these the only species that apparently had been preserved and revived? We never know. We're supposed to just be awed by all the giant fish flying around and landing magically on top of people. It's as ridiculous as the shark leaping out of the water and roaring in "Jaws 4" or a tornado flinging around man-eaters that snap at anything moving in the air in "Sharknado," without the self-aware element of parody.
And speaking of humor, the attempts at comedy here do not work. There are a few exchanges between characters that are supposed to pass for witty banter, but are not very clever and do not bring even a faint smile to the corner of one's mouth. In fact, the writing overall is very pedestrian and, at times, immature. There is no art to the prose, just straightforwardly delivered horror tropes we've all seen before with no hint of originality.
Still, Hunter Shea manages to avoid the pitfalls of other writers who produce unpolished and adolescent thrillers--his characters are not annoying, unlikeable snips. For the most part, his cast features sympathetic personalities that the reader would hate to see squashed like a water balloon between the grinding maw of a chimaera. The only irritating element was how everyone, including the military, turns to the main protagonist for help simply because he has studied chimaera for 10 years. But these fish are not really chimaera, and so his expertise really does not apply. In addition, any knowledge he has does not seem to provide any further solution other than lobbing bombs at them, shooting them with big guns, and burning them with gasoline. He finally does come up with a solution that is almost as brutal as the fish themselves, but I won't go into spoilers for this review.
Others have commented on the gore and carnage in this novel, and I must admit that the way the chimaera kill their victims is interesting as it is gruesome. But I didn't find this to be an overly gory book, nor particularly scary.
Though not marketed as YA, this book would be most appropriate for young teenagers budding into the next generation of horror fans, cutting their teeth on such fare as my generation did with Zebra, Leisure, Onyx, and Tor paperbacks decades ago. A very mediocre entry into this subgenre of the creature feature that provides a few hours of mindless fun, but will largely be a gateway drug for those readers destined to move on to be horror junkies while being quickly forgotten by the "normies."
Score: A solid 3 stinky fish heads.
July 5, 2021
This was a fun one!
I finally got to read a book by Hunter Shea and it won’t be my last!
They Rise is a creature feature book with chimaera fish as the main star.
These fish reside deep down in the ocean but due to warming ocean temperatures, their prehistoric grand daddies are coming up to the surface with a vengeance.
They were predators back in the day and don’t know the difference during our present time.
They Rise is a fast-paced book, gory as hell and very entertaining.
The main character of Brad Whitley was a bit of a cliché. He’s not only a drunk, but he’s a grizzled marine biologist that’s coming to save the day.
Think John McClane from Die Hard, but a salty fish guy on a boat!
I still enjoyed the book even though Whit was just “okay” as a main character. I enjoyed the rest of the characters and I loved the plot and action!
And the character of Nestor was the best! By far, my favorite in the whole book.
Definitely check this one out if you love creature horror, like Jaws, The Rats or Meg!
I finally got to read a book by Hunter Shea and it won’t be my last!
They Rise is a creature feature book with chimaera fish as the main star.
These fish reside deep down in the ocean but due to warming ocean temperatures, their prehistoric grand daddies are coming up to the surface with a vengeance.
They were predators back in the day and don’t know the difference during our present time.
They Rise is a fast-paced book, gory as hell and very entertaining.
The main character of Brad Whitley was a bit of a cliché. He’s not only a drunk, but he’s a grizzled marine biologist that’s coming to save the day.
Think John McClane from Die Hard, but a salty fish guy on a boat!
I still enjoyed the book even though Whit was just “okay” as a main character. I enjoyed the rest of the characters and I loved the plot and action!
And the character of Nestor was the best! By far, my favorite in the whole book.
Definitely check this one out if you love creature horror, like Jaws, The Rats or Meg!
April 17, 2025
I am a big Hunter Shea mark. And I’ve read a ton of his books now. When it comes to creature features, very few can match his abilities. However this one fell a little flat for me. Had a good premise, fantastic antagonists, lots of gunfire and action, but nothing necessarily connected. It almost read like Loch Ness Revenge, but without the charm that it’s characters brought to the table. Here Whit is the main character, and he just played out like a weak hero figure. He’s not likeable and he was a bit difficult to stick with. And I saw a few reviews that I agree with, in that once the military got involved a little bit past 60%, things became very muddled. I also really didn’t care for the ending, nor what it lead into. But I don’t want to just focus on what I didn’t like, because it was a mindless, fun spectacle. Like Jaws but amped up and on a much bigger scale. So maybe if I was in a different mindset, I would have had better takeaways. But I would definitely recommend Loch Ness Revenge or even Megalodon in Paradise over this.
November 8, 2021
Shark infested waters swimming in blood and gore!
A small backstory:
Suzanne Merriweather is a climatologist and she studies climate changes within the ocean, but when her and her crew discover a fissure on the ocean floor that is releasing methane - they also realize that the fissure is releasing chimaera sharks. The size of them is what has her worried as they are bigger than normal and they are out for blood.
The only man that can help her figure out what is going on is her ex-husband (Whit) and as much as she doesn't want to get him involved, she has to pull him back into her life as he is the only one that has studied the chimaera sharks and knows them better than anyone.
When her and her ex-husband team back up they do not realize that they will be in a fight for survival as the chimaera sharks have infested the ocean and they are hungry for blood. Nothing will stop them tearing apart whatever lies in their path!
Thoughts:
This was a great shark story and as always with books by this author, it was a blood and guts feeding fest!
The last half of the book I read within 24 hours as I just could not put it down! There is tons of action throughout most of the book, but the last half of the book was a bloodfest!
It is a good thing I had my gore suit on as I needed it for this book! Giving this book five "Shark Infested" stars!
For more thoughts on this review, please see my blog:
https://booknookretreat.blogspot.com/...
A small backstory:
Suzanne Merriweather is a climatologist and she studies climate changes within the ocean, but when her and her crew discover a fissure on the ocean floor that is releasing methane - they also realize that the fissure is releasing chimaera sharks. The size of them is what has her worried as they are bigger than normal and they are out for blood.
The only man that can help her figure out what is going on is her ex-husband (Whit) and as much as she doesn't want to get him involved, she has to pull him back into her life as he is the only one that has studied the chimaera sharks and knows them better than anyone.
When her and her ex-husband team back up they do not realize that they will be in a fight for survival as the chimaera sharks have infested the ocean and they are hungry for blood. Nothing will stop them tearing apart whatever lies in their path!
Thoughts:
This was a great shark story and as always with books by this author, it was a blood and guts feeding fest!
The last half of the book I read within 24 hours as I just could not put it down! There is tons of action throughout most of the book, but the last half of the book was a bloodfest!
It is a good thing I had my gore suit on as I needed it for this book! Giving this book five "Shark Infested" stars!
For more thoughts on this review, please see my blog:
https://booknookretreat.blogspot.com/...
July 4, 2021
They Rise is a quick creature feature with lots of action and gore and giant man-eating fish.
They weren't sharks and they sure as hell weren't whales. They looked like something straight from a drive-in horror movie.
This is my fist book by Hunter Shea and I enjoyed the deep-water adventure reminiscent of tales like Jaws and Piranha. The pace was fast and the ancient chimaera's were badass with their armor and toxins and crushing, toothless mouths.
When the first one clamped down on his leg, he felt the muscle and meat explode from his skin like an overfilled sausage casing.
The only downside for me personally was that I didn't connect with the characters as much as I wanted. They felt like antiquated cutouts where the heroic rake, with a drink in one hand and weapon in the other, protects the woman as she watches from safety of a hiding place, falling deeper in love with his manliness.
...watch my lovely ex and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid like follow me outside, okay?
Except for Nestor, of course. He was pure OG; memorable, lovable and brave.
I've already purchased my next Shea book, Creature, and I'm looking forward to more gruesome fun.
They weren't sharks and they sure as hell weren't whales. They looked like something straight from a drive-in horror movie.
This is my fist book by Hunter Shea and I enjoyed the deep-water adventure reminiscent of tales like Jaws and Piranha. The pace was fast and the ancient chimaera's were badass with their armor and toxins and crushing, toothless mouths.
When the first one clamped down on his leg, he felt the muscle and meat explode from his skin like an overfilled sausage casing.
The only downside for me personally was that I didn't connect with the characters as much as I wanted. They felt like antiquated cutouts where the heroic rake, with a drink in one hand and weapon in the other, protects the woman as she watches from safety of a hiding place, falling deeper in love with his manliness.
...watch my lovely ex and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid like follow me outside, okay?
Except for Nestor, of course. He was pure OG; memorable, lovable and brave.
I've already purchased my next Shea book, Creature, and I'm looking forward to more gruesome fun.
March 7, 2016
This was a fun and well paced marine story with a bite…I was hungry for a creature story I could breeze through and still enjoy this weekend and all the drinking in the book made me laugh, reality has a firm foot planted here even if the rest is pure gore and fantasy. Shea seems to get better with each new story.
Fleshed out characters and real life situations criss crossed with fish from hell that clearly missed the etiquette memo were always the front runner here. You have different scientists and also ichthyologists, ex partners, fishermen and the navy doing a dance here. If you enjoy semi lite-semi gruesome creepy ways the body can disintegrate in then this books is for you, I read it in a few hours and felt satisfied and the writing is great, it never detracts from the abominations happening within the pagers.
- Kasia S.
Fleshed out characters and real life situations criss crossed with fish from hell that clearly missed the etiquette memo were always the front runner here. You have different scientists and also ichthyologists, ex partners, fishermen and the navy doing a dance here. If you enjoy semi lite-semi gruesome creepy ways the body can disintegrate in then this books is for you, I read it in a few hours and felt satisfied and the writing is great, it never detracts from the abominations happening within the pagers.
- Kasia S.
October 21, 2017
4.5 stars, rounded up!
THEY RISE, by Hunter Shea, is an aquatic-themed creature feature of mass proportions! This novel was pure fun from an 80's-loving horror enthusiast's perspective. We start out with an unexpected incident on a fishing vessel, when they bring aboard a horrific species of fish that few had even heard of before.
Dr. Brad (Whit) Whitley, an Ichthyologist, is one of those very few. In fact, the fabled "ghost shark" has become an obsession with him.
". . . a chimaera fish, one of the oldest fish in the ocean . . . "
Shea's descriptions of this monstrous species leaves the reader absolutely stunned by the sheer brutality and ferocity these creatures are capable of. They were once the ultimate killing machines in the oceans, and now something has brought them back to the Atlantic in staggering numbers.
"It doesn't look real . . . "
". . . That's because it's not supposed to be."
In addition to the chimaera fish, we are given a cast of characters that are so finely detailed and humanly "flawed", that they instantly feel real to the reader. I've always felt that Shea was exceptionally strong when it comes to characterization, and this novel offers further proof of that. In addition to Whit, we have his ex-wife's climatologist crew, Nestor--a retired, comedic man of all jobs, and various other personnel that are all thoroughly fleshed out so as to portray their roles realistically.
"I don't like that word, probably."
"It's better than definitely getting squashed . . . "
The novel starts off with the action immediately, and keeps the adrenaline pumping through each successive scene. Just as the characters are not given a chance to rest, neither are the readers. The body count and carnage continues to rise, with enough graphic depictions of the various deaths the chimaera are capable of also increasing exponentially. Still, many are positively stunned merely by the presence of the alpha fish.
"This shouldn't even be here . . . "
Shea is in top-form with this novel of "extinct" nature returned. I honestly couldn't put this book down due to the rapid pace, mounting action, and gore splattering everywhere at all times.
". . . A predator with no equal. Anything and everything around them was fair game . . ."
A horror-lover's dream, THEY RISE is a novel you won't want to forget. With realistic characters, insane scenes of slaughter, and a mass of enigmatic killing machines, if you haven't read this book yet, you'll want to add it to the top of your list.
Highly recommended!
THEY RISE, by Hunter Shea, is an aquatic-themed creature feature of mass proportions! This novel was pure fun from an 80's-loving horror enthusiast's perspective. We start out with an unexpected incident on a fishing vessel, when they bring aboard a horrific species of fish that few had even heard of before.
Dr. Brad (Whit) Whitley, an Ichthyologist, is one of those very few. In fact, the fabled "ghost shark" has become an obsession with him.
". . . a chimaera fish, one of the oldest fish in the ocean . . . "
Shea's descriptions of this monstrous species leaves the reader absolutely stunned by the sheer brutality and ferocity these creatures are capable of. They were once the ultimate killing machines in the oceans, and now something has brought them back to the Atlantic in staggering numbers.
"It doesn't look real . . . "
". . . That's because it's not supposed to be."
In addition to the chimaera fish, we are given a cast of characters that are so finely detailed and humanly "flawed", that they instantly feel real to the reader. I've always felt that Shea was exceptionally strong when it comes to characterization, and this novel offers further proof of that. In addition to Whit, we have his ex-wife's climatologist crew, Nestor--a retired, comedic man of all jobs, and various other personnel that are all thoroughly fleshed out so as to portray their roles realistically.
"I don't like that word, probably."
"It's better than definitely getting squashed . . . "
The novel starts off with the action immediately, and keeps the adrenaline pumping through each successive scene. Just as the characters are not given a chance to rest, neither are the readers. The body count and carnage continues to rise, with enough graphic depictions of the various deaths the chimaera are capable of also increasing exponentially. Still, many are positively stunned merely by the presence of the alpha fish.
"This shouldn't even be here . . . "
Shea is in top-form with this novel of "extinct" nature returned. I honestly couldn't put this book down due to the rapid pace, mounting action, and gore splattering everywhere at all times.
". . . A predator with no equal. Anything and everything around them was fair game . . ."
A horror-lover's dream, THEY RISE is a novel you won't want to forget. With realistic characters, insane scenes of slaughter, and a mass of enigmatic killing machines, if you haven't read this book yet, you'll want to add it to the top of your list.
Highly recommended!
January 2, 2020
And my search for some more entertaining underwater books continues.
Read so far:
The Swarm by Frank Schätzing. Good, but overlong. How many of it actually takes place underwater? I can’t really remember at this point.
Sphere by Michael Crichton. Very good.
Jaws by Peter Benchley. Good. But somewhat disappointing ending.
The Abyss by Orson Scott Card. Decent. But nothing spectacular.
Low Vol. 1 by Rick Remender. Loved the art, hated the characters. Never continued with that one.
Megalodon in Paradise by Hunter Shea. Pretty bad.
Meg by Steve Alten. Decent prequel, pretty good first book, only getting worse ever since. Granted I’ve only read the first three (four, if you count the prequel).
I might have read some more in my younger years. But those are the ones I (thanks to Goodreads) can remember. So you see, it started out pretty well but then got mostly worse. And They Rise is probably the low point so far.
This one is about supersized chimaera fish, so-called ghost sharks, attacking a large and mostly underdeveloped cast of characters around the coast of Miami.
It stays above the waterline for the better part of its 158 pages. Because the ghost sharks happily come to you.
Which begs the question if there‘s really nothing for them to chew on in the sea.
Well, maybe they just prefer tasty humans and their boats?
Problem is, there's barely any variation in their attacks. It is just constant jumping onto boats and stinging/poisoning humans. Or outright eating them/parts of them as they somehow repeatedly not manage to stay away from a fish out of the water.
Then comes the inevitable helicopter scene.
And lastly the grand finale, that resembles something like this:
But with submarines and fighter jets and the like.
It's pretty ridiculous. Which is okay. But somehow it’s also not much fun. I mean I enjoyed it well enough in the beginning, but it simply got old very quickly.
Even though this book is rather short, I think it's still too long for what's on offer.
Alas.
Any recommendations?
Read so far:
The Swarm by Frank Schätzing. Good, but overlong. How many of it actually takes place underwater? I can’t really remember at this point.
Sphere by Michael Crichton. Very good.
Jaws by Peter Benchley. Good. But somewhat disappointing ending.
The Abyss by Orson Scott Card. Decent. But nothing spectacular.
Low Vol. 1 by Rick Remender. Loved the art, hated the characters. Never continued with that one.
Megalodon in Paradise by Hunter Shea. Pretty bad.
Meg by Steve Alten. Decent prequel, pretty good first book, only getting worse ever since. Granted I’ve only read the first three (four, if you count the prequel).
I might have read some more in my younger years. But those are the ones I (thanks to Goodreads) can remember. So you see, it started out pretty well but then got mostly worse. And They Rise is probably the low point so far.
This one is about supersized chimaera fish, so-called ghost sharks, attacking a large and mostly underdeveloped cast of characters around the coast of Miami.
It stays above the waterline for the better part of its 158 pages. Because the ghost sharks happily come to you.
Which begs the question if there‘s really nothing for them to chew on in the sea.
Well, maybe they just prefer tasty humans and their boats?
Problem is, there's barely any variation in their attacks. It is just constant jumping onto boats and stinging/poisoning humans. Or outright eating them/parts of them as they somehow repeatedly not manage to stay away from a fish out of the water.
Then comes the inevitable helicopter scene.
And lastly the grand finale, that resembles something like this:
But with submarines and fighter jets and the like.
It's pretty ridiculous. Which is okay. But somehow it’s also not much fun. I mean I enjoyed it well enough in the beginning, but it simply got old very quickly.
Even though this book is rather short, I think it's still too long for what's on offer.
Alas.
Any recommendations?
January 11, 2016
Review: THEY RISE by Hunter Shea
The entire time I read this story, the science-oriented portion of my brain continued to remind me, "This could really happen," just as when I read about rising sea levels or Antarctic ice melting, Unlike a mythical Godzilla arising from the sea, methane vents and global warming are real. Marine biologists and oceanographers don't know everything under the ocean.
Now that I've scared you, let the master take over. Hunter Shea knows his cryptids. "They Rise" will surely turn you inside out and upside down, simultaneously thrilling you and terrifying you, and leaving you clamoring for more.
The entire time I read this story, the science-oriented portion of my brain continued to remind me, "This could really happen," just as when I read about rising sea levels or Antarctic ice melting, Unlike a mythical Godzilla arising from the sea, methane vents and global warming are real. Marine biologists and oceanographers don't know everything under the ocean.
Now that I've scared you, let the master take over. Hunter Shea knows his cryptids. "They Rise" will surely turn you inside out and upside down, simultaneously thrilling you and terrifying you, and leaving you clamoring for more.
October 6, 2018
I always hunt for Hunter Shea when I want some senseless monster fun. B-Movie madness, gore, and monsters!!!!
And he's back. And this novella is pretty much what I wanted Meg to be but didn't quite manage.
Shea's got it. Novellas are the perfect length for this kind of thing. Fast and furious characterizations that are dropped face first into the muck (or ocean) to be eaten in glorious fashion.
And then the fighting back is just as good.
Mind you, I DO have to turn my head off sometimes as I read these, but I'm not reading them for accuracy. It's monster madness! :) I'm having a great time.
:)
And he's back. And this novella is pretty much what I wanted Meg to be but didn't quite manage.
Shea's got it. Novellas are the perfect length for this kind of thing. Fast and furious characterizations that are dropped face first into the muck (or ocean) to be eaten in glorious fashion.
And then the fighting back is just as good.
Mind you, I DO have to turn my head off sometimes as I read these, but I'm not reading them for accuracy. It's monster madness! :) I'm having a great time.
:)
March 19, 2021
My first book by Hunter, and the one that made me a life long fan It's got everything you can ask for non-stop action, escalating horror, and suspense to keep you reading till the end. You wont be disappointed.
July 1, 2021
Non-stop action and gore, great creature horror!
October 7, 2018
It's not a secret that I like b-movie-like creature features. However, even within this genre, there are some authors better than the rest. Hunter Shea is definitely one of the better ones.
As the story goes, methane so far trapped in ice is released thanks to global warming and with the methane vents come so-called ghost sharks or chimera fish.
Only these aren't the harmless variety scientists have encountered so far. These are bloodthirsty apex predators from Once Upon A Time and they soon turn the Atlantic coast around Miami into a pink froth.
As such stories go, we have the usual beginning, middle and end - nothing special. However, I liked the character development as well as the gloriously disgusting deaths and realistic panic out on the open ocean. As I've personally witnessed with my last book, it seems to be more difficult to pull off than many would expect and I'm glad Shea delivered another fast-paced and fun ride.
Between these fish and the rats from one of his previous novellas, I don't know if Shea will have enough humans left to destroy in upcoming stories. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
As the story goes, methane so far trapped in ice is released thanks to global warming and with the methane vents come so-called ghost sharks or chimera fish.
Only these aren't the harmless variety scientists have encountered so far. These are bloodthirsty apex predators from Once Upon A Time and they soon turn the Atlantic coast around Miami into a pink froth.
As such stories go, we have the usual beginning, middle and end - nothing special. However, I liked the character development as well as the gloriously disgusting deaths and realistic panic out on the open ocean. As I've personally witnessed with my last book, it seems to be more difficult to pull off than many would expect and I'm glad Shea delivered another fast-paced and fun ride.
Between these fish and the rats from one of his previous novellas, I don't know if Shea will have enough humans left to destroy in upcoming stories. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
April 8, 2019
My first read by Hunter Shea, but judging by how much I loved this, it will be far from my last!
Part Jaws? Well, yea I guess. I honestly felt “meh” about Jaws, the book (and I read it before I watched the movie, which I enjoyed a bit more), so if this is part Jaws i’d say it took the best parts of it and threw out the boring crap. That’s not to say that this book isn’t fleshed out though, because it is!
A fisher catches more than he bargains for off the Miami shores. A fish unlike anyone has seen lays ruin to the boat and it’s passengers. Another boat in the area also gets its hands full with the strange fish and learn, not only does it have one hell of a nasty and lethal bite (even without teeth) but also a lethal sting from it’s fin. Brad Whitman is an ichthyologist who specializes in chimera fish aka the ghost shark, so he’s brought in to study one of the captured killers. However it’s like nothing he’s ever seen before.
What lies in these pages is large killer fish, brought back thanks to global warming (they were trapped in ice until methane vents released them. The book explains it better). Prehistoric killing machines laying waste to anyone and anything in their path, having no issue swallowing a man whole!
I wasn’t expecting fleshed out characters, the book is only 150 pages, but I was pleasantly surprised! The characters are fully fleshed out and very realistic. I got to know and care about the characters. Even tearing up when they died (because hello, lots of death here). Everything was extremely believable. The characters, the plot. And the deaths were awesome!
It was a fast start, getting right into the action while at the same time fleshing out the characters and having you get to know them.
Stuff through-out had me going “hell yes!” with the commentary on some things in the world and i’ve annotated quite a few things.
The romance was unexpected but really well done. And that ending was perfect!
TW’s:
Main villain: Global Warming
Secondary villain: Prehistoric killer fish
More of this. Pleaseeee!
Youtube | Twitter | Tumblr | Goodreads | Instagram | Letterboxd | TV Time
Part Jaws? Well, yea I guess. I honestly felt “meh” about Jaws, the book (and I read it before I watched the movie, which I enjoyed a bit more), so if this is part Jaws i’d say it took the best parts of it and threw out the boring crap. That’s not to say that this book isn’t fleshed out though, because it is!
A fisher catches more than he bargains for off the Miami shores. A fish unlike anyone has seen lays ruin to the boat and it’s passengers. Another boat in the area also gets its hands full with the strange fish and learn, not only does it have one hell of a nasty and lethal bite (even without teeth) but also a lethal sting from it’s fin. Brad Whitman is an ichthyologist who specializes in chimera fish aka the ghost shark, so he’s brought in to study one of the captured killers. However it’s like nothing he’s ever seen before.
What lies in these pages is large killer fish, brought back thanks to global warming (they were trapped in ice until methane vents released them. The book explains it better). Prehistoric killing machines laying waste to anyone and anything in their path, having no issue swallowing a man whole!
I wasn’t expecting fleshed out characters, the book is only 150 pages, but I was pleasantly surprised! The characters are fully fleshed out and very realistic. I got to know and care about the characters. Even tearing up when they died (because hello, lots of death here). Everything was extremely believable. The characters, the plot. And the deaths were awesome!
It was a fast start, getting right into the action while at the same time fleshing out the characters and having you get to know them.
Stuff through-out had me going “hell yes!” with the commentary on some things in the world and i’ve annotated quite a few things.
The romance was unexpected but really well done. And that ending was perfect!
TW’s:
Main villain: Global Warming
Secondary villain: Prehistoric killer fish
More of this. Pleaseeee!
Youtube | Twitter | Tumblr | Goodreads | Instagram | Letterboxd | TV Time
January 24, 2016
My second read by Hunter Shea and also my favorite, so far. They Rise is equal parts Jaws, Pirahna, and Tremors. Shea does a marvelous job creating a tale that mixes B-move sci-fi without having any of the hokiness.
A fishing charter catches more than what it bargains for off of the shores of Miami. A strange fish, unlike anything the crew has ever seen before, lays carnage to the boat and it's passengers. Around the same time that the charter has its hands full with the strange fish, a commercial fishing boat in the area bags a couple of these big bastards and finds out that they not only can take a mean bite out of you but they also pack a nasty and lethal sting. Brad Whitman, icthyologist and expert in chimaera fish, or also known as the ghost shark, is brought in to study the captured killer and what he finds makes his bowels loosen.
Shea's characters are fully-fleshed out and extremely realistic. The dialogue is spot on and very believable. The setting and the atmosphere plays nicely inside your head as you're "hooked" into this creepy tale. I found myself being completely immersed into the story and developing a slight diversion to wanting to be out on the ocean. This is ironic, because I was planning a Caribbean vacation at the same time while reading They Rise and this story infiltrated my psyche and, for a moment, I had to shake an irrational aversion to my upcoming vacation. That's the makings of a good yarn - one that keeps you thinking after you've put it down. Great stuff.
5 highly lethal fish out of 5
You can also follow my reviews at the following links:
https://kenmckinley.wordpress.com
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/A2J1...
A fishing charter catches more than what it bargains for off of the shores of Miami. A strange fish, unlike anything the crew has ever seen before, lays carnage to the boat and it's passengers. Around the same time that the charter has its hands full with the strange fish, a commercial fishing boat in the area bags a couple of these big bastards and finds out that they not only can take a mean bite out of you but they also pack a nasty and lethal sting. Brad Whitman, icthyologist and expert in chimaera fish, or also known as the ghost shark, is brought in to study the captured killer and what he finds makes his bowels loosen.
Shea's characters are fully-fleshed out and extremely realistic. The dialogue is spot on and very believable. The setting and the atmosphere plays nicely inside your head as you're "hooked" into this creepy tale. I found myself being completely immersed into the story and developing a slight diversion to wanting to be out on the ocean. This is ironic, because I was planning a Caribbean vacation at the same time while reading They Rise and this story infiltrated my psyche and, for a moment, I had to shake an irrational aversion to my upcoming vacation. That's the makings of a good yarn - one that keeps you thinking after you've put it down. Great stuff.
5 highly lethal fish out of 5
You can also follow my reviews at the following links:
https://kenmckinley.wordpress.com
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/A2J1...
tbr-horror-and-thriller
August 27, 2018On Sale Now for .99 cents - GHOST SHARKS - grab!
June 8, 2021
As I was closing in on the end of They Rise, Vice reported on scientists reviving 24,000 year-old multicellular microbes they'd found frozen in Siberian permafrost. While Hunter Shea's scientific reasoning for this story, his first with Severed Press from back in 2016, is just plausible-enough, there is some actual real-life precedence for the scares being generated here. Granted, million-plus year-old chimera fish escaping from the ice thanks to growing methane vents on the freezing ocean floor is a bit of a leap from microscopic organisms, it's just enough to kick that willing suspension of disbelief into high gear.
Honestly, though, even that's more than I really needed here. I cracked open They Rise for the singular purpose of seeing ghost sharks eat people, scientific rigor be damned, and I was not the least bit disappointed. Shea, in fact, rarely, if ever, disappoints (I'm edging my bets here because if he ever does disappoint, it's not a story I've read yet). Fun is always the name of the game in a Shea book, and that goes double for a Shea sea shanty like this (see if YOU can say Shea sea shanty three times fast).
The set-up is quick and dirty -- old-timer fishermen make an unexpected catch and get attacked by the ugliest damn thing they've ever seen -- and the story simple and easy enough to sink into. The latter involves, as I said above, prehistoric killer fish killing people and sinking boats. The main protag is an alcoholicmarine biologist ichthyologist struggling to save the day, if he can keep his head up and away from a bottle long enough. The science is horror movie thin, but that's all part of the fun, and Shea knows this well, so you never feel like you're drowning in regurgitated research and factoids the author can't let go of. It's all just dirty, bloody joy.
Shea gets us off and running, and faster than you can Piranha we're neck deep in toxic fish poisons, capsizing boats, some light commentary on the dangers of global warming, and, most important of all in a killer fish book, sweet, unbridled, glorious mayhem. They Rise is a good catch, y'all!
Honestly, though, even that's more than I really needed here. I cracked open They Rise for the singular purpose of seeing ghost sharks eat people, scientific rigor be damned, and I was not the least bit disappointed. Shea, in fact, rarely, if ever, disappoints (I'm edging my bets here because if he ever does disappoint, it's not a story I've read yet). Fun is always the name of the game in a Shea book, and that goes double for a Shea sea shanty like this (see if YOU can say Shea sea shanty three times fast).
The set-up is quick and dirty -- old-timer fishermen make an unexpected catch and get attacked by the ugliest damn thing they've ever seen -- and the story simple and easy enough to sink into. The latter involves, as I said above, prehistoric killer fish killing people and sinking boats. The main protag is an alcoholic
Shea gets us off and running, and faster than you can Piranha we're neck deep in toxic fish poisons, capsizing boats, some light commentary on the dangers of global warming, and, most important of all in a killer fish book, sweet, unbridled, glorious mayhem. They Rise is a good catch, y'all!
January 6, 2016
I think that we can all remember the first time that we saw Jaws, when we were first truly terrified to go back in the water. There is something about the water that makes us cautious. Human beings have come to rule the earth, we are the alphas everywhere, except the oceans, lakes and rivers. We are slow and weak in the water, a five inch piranha (basically a kitten with fins) can create panic in our minds. Hunter Shea has pulled from this basic human fear to make us afraid to go in the water again.
Off the coast of Miami, warming water temperatures have released a monster frozen in time, setting them loose on America’s ocean playground. A truly great horror novel plays on what could be, if I don’t believe that it could happen, the story just isn’t as terrifying. This is what works in They Rise, a monster that is the total master of its domain - in a place where we are virtually helpless. But beyond that, a monster that may really exist. The potential for fiction becoming reality ups the ante on the scare factor.
No great horror can survive on story alone, it needs great characters. I like Brad Whitley. Although he is a bit of an arse at the beginning, he grows into a character that I want to see conquer not only the monster, but also his own demons. Then there is Nestor, how could anyone not love Nestor?
So, if you’ve gotten over your Jaws complex, dive into They Rise and spend some more holidays gazing cautiously at the water, wondering what’s down there.
Off the coast of Miami, warming water temperatures have released a monster frozen in time, setting them loose on America’s ocean playground. A truly great horror novel plays on what could be, if I don’t believe that it could happen, the story just isn’t as terrifying. This is what works in They Rise, a monster that is the total master of its domain - in a place where we are virtually helpless. But beyond that, a monster that may really exist. The potential for fiction becoming reality ups the ante on the scare factor.
No great horror can survive on story alone, it needs great characters. I like Brad Whitley. Although he is a bit of an arse at the beginning, he grows into a character that I want to see conquer not only the monster, but also his own demons. Then there is Nestor, how could anyone not love Nestor?
So, if you’ve gotten over your Jaws complex, dive into They Rise and spend some more holidays gazing cautiously at the water, wondering what’s down there.
November 11, 2025
Some call them ghost sharks, the oldest and strangest looking creatures in the sea. Marine biologist Brad Whitley has studied chimaera fish all his life. He thought he knew everything about them. He was wrong. Warming ocean temperatures free legions of prehistoric chimaera fish from their methane ice suspended animation. Now, in a corner of the Bermuda Triangle, the ocean waters run red. The 400-million-year-old massive killing machines know no mercy, destroying everything in their path. It will take Whitley, his climatologist ex-wife and the entire U.S. Navy to stop them in the bloodiest battle ever seen on the high seas.
Are you old enough to remember the TV show "Creature Feature"? My cousins and I watched it every Saturday afternoon. The world would have had to have ended by 12:30 for us not to have been rooted in front of the TV at 1:00 on any given Saturday afternoon! This story reminded me of one of those Saturday afternoon films. What absolute pure fun, me...the horror show enthusiast, had with it! It starts out with a bang...well, okay... a splash, along with an unexpected incident on a fishing boat when they bring aboard a horrific species of fish that few people had even ever heard of, much less ever seen before.
Dr. Brad, (Whit), Whitley, is an Ichthyologist. The fabled "ghost shark" had become an obsession with him. Thanks to "Mr. Google", I learned something new! "The "ghost shark" is "a "chimaera" fish, and one of the oldest fish from thousands of years ago that can still be found in the world's oceans". Author, Hunter Shea's descriptions of this monstrous species will leave the reader absolutely stunned. Wait until you find out about the sheer brutality and ferocity that these creatures are capable of. They were once the ultimate killing machines in the seas, and now something has brought them back to the Atlantic in staggering numbers. "It doesn't look real... and That's because it's not supposed to be."
In addition to the fish...which IS the star of this show... we are given a cast of characters that are so finely detailed and so humanly "flawed", that they don't feel like they are characters in a book...they instantly feel like they just stepped out of the house next door...in flesh and blood form. In addition to Whit, we have his ex-wife's climatologist crew, Nestor...a retired man but still a "jack of all trades", and various other personnel that are realistically portrayed as well.
The story starts off with immediate action and keeps the adrenaline flowing through each successive scene. Just as the characters are not given a chance to rest, neither is the readers. The body count and carnage continue to rise, with, I warn you, very graphic depictions of the various deaths the chimaera is capable of, and those horrific deaths increase exponentially. Some of the men are rightfully frightened but there are many who are positively stunned just by the actual presence of this "alpha fish". We keep hearing the crew saying, "This shouldn't even be here". Seems that someone had failed to tell the fish that...or else they became "fish food" while delivering the message. Be aware... if you are not into mounting action, and gore splattering everywhere at all times...then you have picked up the Wrong Book! This is the story of a predator that literally has no equal. Anything and everything around them are fair game...and they're hungry with a capital "H".
This book is a "horror-lover's" dream. It's a novel that you may not want to remember, but you won't be able to forget. The characters are realistic...the scenes and the slaughter are just short of insane...and this is combined with a literal mass of enigmatic killing machines. Horror enthusiastic will love it.
I included the picture in case you think you might want to get one for your swimming pool or fish tank:)
Are you old enough to remember the TV show "Creature Feature"? My cousins and I watched it every Saturday afternoon. The world would have had to have ended by 12:30 for us not to have been rooted in front of the TV at 1:00 on any given Saturday afternoon! This story reminded me of one of those Saturday afternoon films. What absolute pure fun, me...the horror show enthusiast, had with it! It starts out with a bang...well, okay... a splash, along with an unexpected incident on a fishing boat when they bring aboard a horrific species of fish that few people had even ever heard of, much less ever seen before.
Dr. Brad, (Whit), Whitley, is an Ichthyologist. The fabled "ghost shark" had become an obsession with him. Thanks to "Mr. Google", I learned something new! "The "ghost shark" is "a "chimaera" fish, and one of the oldest fish from thousands of years ago that can still be found in the world's oceans". Author, Hunter Shea's descriptions of this monstrous species will leave the reader absolutely stunned. Wait until you find out about the sheer brutality and ferocity that these creatures are capable of. They were once the ultimate killing machines in the seas, and now something has brought them back to the Atlantic in staggering numbers. "It doesn't look real... and That's because it's not supposed to be."
In addition to the fish...which IS the star of this show... we are given a cast of characters that are so finely detailed and so humanly "flawed", that they don't feel like they are characters in a book...they instantly feel like they just stepped out of the house next door...in flesh and blood form. In addition to Whit, we have his ex-wife's climatologist crew, Nestor...a retired man but still a "jack of all trades", and various other personnel that are realistically portrayed as well.
The story starts off with immediate action and keeps the adrenaline flowing through each successive scene. Just as the characters are not given a chance to rest, neither is the readers. The body count and carnage continue to rise, with, I warn you, very graphic depictions of the various deaths the chimaera is capable of, and those horrific deaths increase exponentially. Some of the men are rightfully frightened but there are many who are positively stunned just by the actual presence of this "alpha fish". We keep hearing the crew saying, "This shouldn't even be here". Seems that someone had failed to tell the fish that...or else they became "fish food" while delivering the message. Be aware... if you are not into mounting action, and gore splattering everywhere at all times...then you have picked up the Wrong Book! This is the story of a predator that literally has no equal. Anything and everything around them are fair game...and they're hungry with a capital "H".
This book is a "horror-lover's" dream. It's a novel that you may not want to remember, but you won't be able to forget. The characters are realistic...the scenes and the slaughter are just short of insane...and this is combined with a literal mass of enigmatic killing machines. Horror enthusiastic will love it.
I included the picture in case you think you might want to get one for your swimming pool or fish tank:)
July 5, 2021
Great story! Action-packed from start to finish.
March 10, 2016
Weird fish from the depths with a poisonious stinger that will mash you to pulp with their non-teeth laden jaws? Such is the threat in Hunter Shea's latest They Rise.
Most reviewers seem to have really enjoyed this pulpish thriller about a marine biologist and his ex-wife banding together with an asortment of other side characters to identify, run from and then exterminate these chimaera fish. But for mine it was a very standard entry into the "threats from the deep" sub-genre, with nothing to make it stand out from the pack, nor anything to damn it for being terrible.
The main two characters have a cliched ex-spouses rekindling their connection thing going on, most of the side characters are drawn well enough only to be chimaera-bait (with the exception of Nestor who I did like), and the thrilling elements are very stock standard before it virtually becomes an action novel - complete with leaping massive fish being destroyed en masse by fire, guns and other toxic substances.
Meh. I don't get the fuss. But that's okay. Each to their own. And Shea has written some other works I really did like. This one just wasn't for me.
2.5 Clouds of Red Mist Where a Big Fish Used To Be for They Rise.
Most reviewers seem to have really enjoyed this pulpish thriller about a marine biologist and his ex-wife banding together with an asortment of other side characters to identify, run from and then exterminate these chimaera fish. But for mine it was a very standard entry into the "threats from the deep" sub-genre, with nothing to make it stand out from the pack, nor anything to damn it for being terrible.
The main two characters have a cliched ex-spouses rekindling their connection thing going on, most of the side characters are drawn well enough only to be chimaera-bait (with the exception of Nestor who I did like), and the thrilling elements are very stock standard before it virtually becomes an action novel - complete with leaping massive fish being destroyed en masse by fire, guns and other toxic substances.
Meh. I don't get the fuss. But that's okay. Each to their own. And Shea has written some other works I really did like. This one just wasn't for me.
2.5 Clouds of Red Mist Where a Big Fish Used To Be for They Rise.
July 13, 2021
70's Piranha movie meets Jaws meets The Meg with nano-drop of global warming side-effects thrown in for the political fun of it. Fun, gory and totally ridiculous, I sniggered my way through this, and although it's not Shea's best work, I will always go back for more Hunter :)
January 8, 2016
When Erin Al-Mehairi approached me about joining the blog tour for this book, I’ll admit I was hesitant. The holidays were approaching and I was already behind the eight ball as far as my work and reading loads go. And then she told me it was another Hunter Shea book. And it was another Hunter Shea monster story. Fricken sea monsters, even. Sigh. Where the hell do I sign up? Because Hunter Shea plus monsters equals mayhem and delight. And Hunter Shea plus sea monsters equals THEY RISE, another outstanding entry in Hunter Shea’s growing Monstronomicon.
I’ve long been a fan of monster stories and sea monsters are among my favorite. I saw the movie JAWS when I was 10 years old and I never looked back. That movie scared the fuck out of me and I loved every last minute of it. It taught me that being afraid can bring you great joy. Soon after, I read the stellar novel by Peter Benchley and subsequently read every other book he wrote. But, with the exception of a few books like Steve Alten’s MEG, the waters have been pretty dry in the world of sea monsters for quite awhile. Until now. Hunter Shea’s chimaera, or ghost fish, is one hell of a scary sea monster. Hours after closing the book, I’m still thinking about it and I suspect I will be for awhile. If I weren’t already afraid of the ocean, I would be after reading THEY RISE.
As with any great story, there is almost always one particular thing that really makes it work. Anyone who has followed Shotgun Logic for any length of time knows that is the thing I hunt for when I write a review. The thing that really makes THEY RISE work is that it’s believable. Shea did his research for this novel and, because of that, I found it extremely easy to suspend my sense of disbelief. While the scenario is unlikely, the science is solid enough to make it plausible. THEY RISE is designed to scare the hell out of you and it’s that plausibility combined with well developed characters and tense, gruesome action scenes that makes it function perfectly to its specifications.
If you like a well written, rocket paced horror story and you don’t mind a little–okay, entire barge-loads–of blood in the water, check out Hunter Shea’s newest novella from Severed Press. I enjoyed the hell out of this book and will likely read it again at some point in the future.
I’ve long been a fan of monster stories and sea monsters are among my favorite. I saw the movie JAWS when I was 10 years old and I never looked back. That movie scared the fuck out of me and I loved every last minute of it. It taught me that being afraid can bring you great joy. Soon after, I read the stellar novel by Peter Benchley and subsequently read every other book he wrote. But, with the exception of a few books like Steve Alten’s MEG, the waters have been pretty dry in the world of sea monsters for quite awhile. Until now. Hunter Shea’s chimaera, or ghost fish, is one hell of a scary sea monster. Hours after closing the book, I’m still thinking about it and I suspect I will be for awhile. If I weren’t already afraid of the ocean, I would be after reading THEY RISE.
As with any great story, there is almost always one particular thing that really makes it work. Anyone who has followed Shotgun Logic for any length of time knows that is the thing I hunt for when I write a review. The thing that really makes THEY RISE work is that it’s believable. Shea did his research for this novel and, because of that, I found it extremely easy to suspend my sense of disbelief. While the scenario is unlikely, the science is solid enough to make it plausible. THEY RISE is designed to scare the hell out of you and it’s that plausibility combined with well developed characters and tense, gruesome action scenes that makes it function perfectly to its specifications.
If you like a well written, rocket paced horror story and you don’t mind a little–okay, entire barge-loads–of blood in the water, check out Hunter Shea’s newest novella from Severed Press. I enjoyed the hell out of this book and will likely read it again at some point in the future.
February 25, 2016
I'll start off by saying I'm a huge fan of Hunter Shea's work. The man hasn't written a bad story. They Rise is as good as anything he's offered to date.
They Rise is about a marine biologist, Whit, who tries to save the ocean from monstrous chimera fish who eat and poison everyone in their path, all while dealing with his ex-wife, whom he still loves after all these years. While the mutated fish may serve as this novella's main dish, the real story is within this complex relationship between Whit and Suzanne.
The best thing about Hunter Shea's stories is his ability to craft dynamic characters while basically writing a B-horror flick. The monsters are intriguing, yes, and they fuel the plot along, sure - but the characters give this story life.
I can't recommend Shea's writing enough, and specifically, this novella. I tore through it in one sitting and after I got about 40% in, I knew there was no turning back. I was hooked.
They Rise is about a marine biologist, Whit, who tries to save the ocean from monstrous chimera fish who eat and poison everyone in their path, all while dealing with his ex-wife, whom he still loves after all these years. While the mutated fish may serve as this novella's main dish, the real story is within this complex relationship between Whit and Suzanne.
The best thing about Hunter Shea's stories is his ability to craft dynamic characters while basically writing a B-horror flick. The monsters are intriguing, yes, and they fuel the plot along, sure - but the characters give this story life.
I can't recommend Shea's writing enough, and specifically, this novella. I tore through it in one sitting and after I got about 40% in, I knew there was no turning back. I was hooked.
February 3, 2019
I picked this one up a few months ago and then saved it to take to the beach on vacation. It turned out to be too chilly last week for lounging by the ocean, but I made do with sitting by the condo window overlooking Tampa Bay and looking up from the pages occasionally to watch the dolphins frolic and the pelicans soar past. The book is lots of fun, a real page-turner with voracious monsters, heroic characters, and lots of silly fishy fun. It's a great B-movie except the special effects are perfect because they're self-generated. Perfect for shark week fans.
October 17, 2018
It's Halloween season so I thought why not some monsters? The kind that showed up in all those movies in the 1970s of nature gone amok? What fun, right? And Hunter Shea knows how to do them - yes he does!!!!
This one mixes in a little climate change and the horrible effects it might have. (Maybe if climate change had more effects like these, wouldn't they take more notice? Especially Florida!)
Monster fish from pockets of methane on the ocean floor arise. They're hungry. And, they can jump and are poisonous. Well, maybe it's a good thing I stay away from Florida then.
This one mixes in a little climate change and the horrible effects it might have. (Maybe if climate change had more effects like these, wouldn't they take more notice? Especially Florida!)
Monster fish from pockets of methane on the ocean floor arise. They're hungry. And, they can jump and are poisonous. Well, maybe it's a good thing I stay away from Florida then.
October 6, 2025
After reading some other books by this author, I knew one thing about his newest release. It would be crammed with action, suspense, and horror. He didn’t waste any time dropping me into the water and using me as chum for his shark swarm.
Some kind of new shark, or maybe it’s a prehistoric one, has appeared in the waters of the Bermuda Triangle. As their numbers grow, along with their size, the victims rise at a staggering rate. Think you’re safe in a boat? Nope. They can just leap aboard and snatch you, or sink the boat and then snatch you.
It’s a race to find out where they come from and to stop them before they spread across the globe.
I’ve always been fascinated by monsters from the deep. After Jaws, I could never look at the ocean the same way again. I’ve been deep sea fishing and seen huge sharks. And I’ve been at the beach and had to get out of the water because of a sighting. It’s well known that when swimming in the warm Gulf waters where I live, there are sharks swimming with me all the time. Just because you don’t see them, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Needless to say, after reading horror stories about sharks, and watching plenty of movies, I now have a pool and swim on shore.
The sharks in this book are terrifying. They attack in numbers, range from big to huge, and don’t let a boat get in their way. Once you’re on the menu, they won’t stop.
And something else this author does, or should I say doesn’t do. He doesn’t spare his characters. At any given time, they could become chum. So don’t get too attached.
Nonstop action, suspense, and carnage keep you glued to the story right to the end. At around 160 pages, it’s not that long. I sure could’ve read more.
Some kind of new shark, or maybe it’s a prehistoric one, has appeared in the waters of the Bermuda Triangle. As their numbers grow, along with their size, the victims rise at a staggering rate. Think you’re safe in a boat? Nope. They can just leap aboard and snatch you, or sink the boat and then snatch you.
It’s a race to find out where they come from and to stop them before they spread across the globe.
I’ve always been fascinated by monsters from the deep. After Jaws, I could never look at the ocean the same way again. I’ve been deep sea fishing and seen huge sharks. And I’ve been at the beach and had to get out of the water because of a sighting. It’s well known that when swimming in the warm Gulf waters where I live, there are sharks swimming with me all the time. Just because you don’t see them, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Needless to say, after reading horror stories about sharks, and watching plenty of movies, I now have a pool and swim on shore.
The sharks in this book are terrifying. They attack in numbers, range from big to huge, and don’t let a boat get in their way. Once you’re on the menu, they won’t stop.
And something else this author does, or should I say doesn’t do. He doesn’t spare his characters. At any given time, they could become chum. So don’t get too attached.
Nonstop action, suspense, and carnage keep you glued to the story right to the end. At around 160 pages, it’s not that long. I sure could’ve read more.
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