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Killer
They were caught in the ultimate trap. They faced the ultimate terror.
Five men and one beautiful woman. Marooned on a floating island of arctic ice. Together they had the equipment and skills to fight the freezing cold, the violently savage storms.
Then suddenly from the angry seas the jaws of horror opened wide as nature's deadliest creature rose from the depths—a huge killer whale of enormous intelligence, incredible power, indestructible endurance, ravenous for human prey...
Five men and one beautiful woman. Marooned on a floating island of arctic ice. Together they had the equipment and skills to fight the freezing cold, the violently savage storms.
Then suddenly from the angry seas the jaws of horror opened wide as nature's deadliest creature rose from the depths—a huge killer whale of enormous intelligence, incredible power, indestructible endurance, ravenous for human prey...
255 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
25 people are currently reading
940 people want to read
About the author
Peter Tonkin
91 books61 followersPeter Tonkin's first novel, KILLER, was published in 1978. His work has included the acclaimed "Mariner" series that have been critically compared with the best of Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley and Hammond Innes.
More recently he has been working on a series of detective thrillers with an Elizabethan background. This series, "The Master of Defense", has been characterised as 'James Bond meets Sherlock Holmes meets William Shakespeare'. Each story is a classic 'whodunit' with all the clues presented to the reader exactly as they are presented to the hero, Tom Musgrave. The Kirkus Review described them as having 'Elizabethan detail, rousing action sequences, sound detection...everything a fan of historical mysteries could hope for."
More recently he has been working on a series of detective thrillers with an Elizabethan background. This series, "The Master of Defense", has been characterised as 'James Bond meets Sherlock Holmes meets William Shakespeare'. Each story is a classic 'whodunit' with all the clues presented to the reader exactly as they are presented to the hero, Tom Musgrave. The Kirkus Review described them as having 'Elizabethan detail, rousing action sequences, sound detection...everything a fan of historical mysteries could hope for."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
December 28, 2023
I was surprised by how much I liked this as I was expecting a knockoff of Jaws, but this is a very different beast to be sure. Killer begins at a military base in Oregon where they train animals like porpoises to attack and guard ships and such. Their real prize is a huge orca that they have trained to go after human beings since it was little. Now, the beast is huge and when the brass come to inspect it (funding you know?) an accident happens and the orca flees.
Tonkin switches gears after introducing the monster (although he often switches POVs back to it when things get interesting!) and presents the rest of the cast of the tale. Kate, a post-grad research fellow, is off to Alaska to join and expedition there, one lead by her father, a renowned scientist. He greats her at the airport, along with the rest of the crew, and off they go, flying to bring in new supplies to the old camp. Well, the plane crashes on the pack ice North of Barrow, Alaska, and the team-- a handful of people-- are stranded on an iceberg. If that was not bad enough, our 'friendly' killer whale, now with a few dozen followers, find them and figures out it is time for some tasty human meat...
While obviously Killer concerns a classic 'man versus beast' narrative/plot, what makes this one stand out involves the climate. The Artic is frigging cold, even in summer, and this becomes the big enemy off the bat. Made me shiver just thinking about it! Among the handful of stranded explorers/scientists, several are experienced 'cold men' and know how to survive, and, luckily, the plane was bringing in new supplies, so they have tents, food, etc., and just hope for a quick rescue. Their struggles with the cold, a polar bear, a pack of walruses, and yes, the orca and his buddies altogether make this adventure tale/thriller/horror novel shine.
There are some issues with the characters, giving this a dated feel. Our (almost) token Eskimo with his native lore screams bad stereotype; Kate goes from being a rock to a damsel in distress at the drop of a hat; her father the scientist is also a bad stereotype, etc. Yet, if you can get by these flaws, Killer proves to be a fun and gripping read. Pretty amazing given that this was Tonkin's first novel. 4 toothy stars!!
Tonkin switches gears after introducing the monster (although he often switches POVs back to it when things get interesting!) and presents the rest of the cast of the tale. Kate, a post-grad research fellow, is off to Alaska to join and expedition there, one lead by her father, a renowned scientist. He greats her at the airport, along with the rest of the crew, and off they go, flying to bring in new supplies to the old camp. Well, the plane crashes on the pack ice North of Barrow, Alaska, and the team-- a handful of people-- are stranded on an iceberg. If that was not bad enough, our 'friendly' killer whale, now with a few dozen followers, find them and figures out it is time for some tasty human meat...
While obviously Killer concerns a classic 'man versus beast' narrative/plot, what makes this one stand out involves the climate. The Artic is frigging cold, even in summer, and this becomes the big enemy off the bat. Made me shiver just thinking about it! Among the handful of stranded explorers/scientists, several are experienced 'cold men' and know how to survive, and, luckily, the plane was bringing in new supplies, so they have tents, food, etc., and just hope for a quick rescue. Their struggles with the cold, a polar bear, a pack of walruses, and yes, the orca and his buddies altogether make this adventure tale/thriller/horror novel shine.
There are some issues with the characters, giving this a dated feel. Our (almost) token Eskimo with his native lore screams bad stereotype; Kate goes from being a rock to a damsel in distress at the drop of a hat; her father the scientist is also a bad stereotype, etc. Yet, if you can get by these flaws, Killer proves to be a fun and gripping read. Pretty amazing given that this was Tonkin's first novel. 4 toothy stars!!
August 28, 2017
Probably the best book about a killer whale trying to tear off and eat every arm on the planet.
I could talk about it all day.
I could talk about it all day.
February 5, 2024
One of my favorite things to have happened in 2023 is White Gladis. Gladis is an orca living in the Atlantic near Gibraltar, and she became famous during the spring and summer of last year when she started attacking yachts with the intention of sinking them, and then she started teaching other orcas how to do it (leading to the amazing mashup word "orcanizing"). Gladis and her friends don't want to eat the people who are on the boats they sink; the theory is that she was hit by a boat at some point, and that the trauma has made her especially aggressive (by orca standards) and subsequently, hell-bent on revenge. Most people who sail yachts in that area tend to be rich knobs, so really, Gladis is a bit of a working-class hero in my book and I greatly enjoy reading updates on her rampage. Nothing like an apex predator fucking shit up not even to eat, but to make a point.
When "Killer" appeared on my radar, I immediately thought of Gladis. This big orca is a little more homicidal than she is, but it's been traumatized by humans and wants revenge, and they are obviously kindred spirits.
The titular killer whale this novel is about was trained, along with other sea mammals, in a military facility in Oregon. And yep, he was trained to kill and maim! One day, a less-than-careful high ranking officer visits the facility, lets his arm dangle off the side of a railing, and well, the orca does what it was trained to do, and is confused and traumatized when it’s rewarded with being shot at by the very people who trained him! He manages to escape the facility and finds a wild pod to integrate to. And that could have been his happy ending. Alas.
A team of scientists and cold-weather survival experts are on their way to Alaska when their plane crashes and they manage to set up camp on a large ice floe. They are well-aware that their chances of being rescued are slim, but they remain hopeful. Until a specific, huge, angry (and definitely not friendly towards humans) orca and his pod happen to swim by…
The comparisons to “Jaws” are unavoidable – I haven’t read the book, but I have seen the movie, so I can tell you that “Killer” is just as action-packed, and maybe I am biased, but orcas are way smarter than sharks (not to mention bigger), so I find the idea of being stalked by a huge, highly intelligent and super-organized pack of apex predators way more unnerving that Bruce the giant shark. The novel also doesn’t relent: expect the tension to last until the last page!
The characters are not terribly well-developed, which I didn’t expect, so I wasn’t disappointed. And I do appreciate that while the sole female character is repeatedly described as beautiful, she is also competent and calls out the gross objectification she is subjected to by another character.
This book is a fun ride, and it’s probably more clever than it was given credit for at the time, as Tonkin obviously did very thorough research. If you are looking for vintage pulp with a good head on it’s shoulder, this is a great pick!
When "Killer" appeared on my radar, I immediately thought of Gladis. This big orca is a little more homicidal than she is, but it's been traumatized by humans and wants revenge, and they are obviously kindred spirits.
The titular killer whale this novel is about was trained, along with other sea mammals, in a military facility in Oregon. And yep, he was trained to kill and maim! One day, a less-than-careful high ranking officer visits the facility, lets his arm dangle off the side of a railing, and well, the orca does what it was trained to do, and is confused and traumatized when it’s rewarded with being shot at by the very people who trained him! He manages to escape the facility and finds a wild pod to integrate to. And that could have been his happy ending. Alas.
A team of scientists and cold-weather survival experts are on their way to Alaska when their plane crashes and they manage to set up camp on a large ice floe. They are well-aware that their chances of being rescued are slim, but they remain hopeful. Until a specific, huge, angry (and definitely not friendly towards humans) orca and his pod happen to swim by…
The comparisons to “Jaws” are unavoidable – I haven’t read the book, but I have seen the movie, so I can tell you that “Killer” is just as action-packed, and maybe I am biased, but orcas are way smarter than sharks (not to mention bigger), so I find the idea of being stalked by a huge, highly intelligent and super-organized pack of apex predators way more unnerving that Bruce the giant shark. The novel also doesn’t relent: expect the tension to last until the last page!
The characters are not terribly well-developed, which I didn’t expect, so I wasn’t disappointed. And I do appreciate that while the sole female character is repeatedly described as beautiful, she is also competent and calls out the gross objectification she is subjected to by another character.
This book is a fun ride, and it’s probably more clever than it was given credit for at the time, as Tonkin obviously did very thorough research. If you are looking for vintage pulp with a good head on it’s shoulder, this is a great pick!
December 17, 2024
Boom. Something is bumping up against the ice from underneath. Boom! The ice cracks like spiderwebs as something black and slick pushes its way through. BOOM! It's a paperback from hell, and a totally killer one at that! This very well done survival adventure story from the Eighties has been thankfully rereleased with a new introduction by Grady Hendrix.
An intelligent orca was raised and trained by the military to be a man-eater, but when it escapes into the open ocean, it spells bad news for the survivors of a plane crash adrift on an ice floe.
I don't really have any negatives to talk about, but there is one glaring mixed element. There are some odd language choices where words and phrases are used too often and unnecessarily. Why do I mention this nitpick? Because it seems that when the author gets something in his mind, it stays there. He probably went insane every Christmas with an endless loop of "Feliz Navidad" stuck in his head.
As a result, certain themes get overplayed. In particular, the theme of family. The titular killer whale grew up with a surrogate human family which ultimately betrays him, which is why the intelligent animal has a vendetta. The orca eventually becomes the alpha of a family of his own kind, and together they bully and hunt our main characters in the story. I love how Tonkin shows how the whales help and take care of each other like family, yet they are only dying or getting injured because of the single-minded vengeance of their leader who persists in tormenting two-legged castaways quite handy at defending themselves with rifles, hollow-points, harpoons, and dynamite.
The theme of family is reflected on the human side to a comical degree. It appears that everybody working in extreme polar conditions is related to each other. At the start of the novel, our heroine is hired by her father to join his Arctic scientific expedition team, unbeknownst to him. The Washington consultant on the team, whose name is Ross, was married to the sister of another guy on the team, and their brother died on a previous expedition with Ross, which has impact throughout the story. And Ross has a best friend whose brother was also on this ill-fated expedition. They really keep it in the family, don't they?
Similarly, in the very first pages of the book, somebody loses an arm. Well, the author liked that image so much that people start losing arms and hands and fingers all over the place! Even a whale loses an arm, or in this case a flipper. Ross himself is a venerable Luke Skywalker, wearing a black kid glove over an artificial hand. And everybody keeps drawing attention to it. "So, Ross, tell us about the ARM. Why do you only have one ARM? Must be hard to tie your own shoes on account of the ARM. Did you lose it in the ARMY? We wanna hear all about what happened to that there ARM!" See what I mean?
But as odd as the book can be, we genre-fiction fans are in very familiar territory. This is a tense and action-packed thriller of the "ticking clock" variety that we have seen many times before, but Peter Tonkin applies the formula to perfection. This novel knows it exists for fun, and does its job masterfully, building in tension and action until a ludicrously insane finale. The breakneck pace occasionally lags for some exposition dumps and to school the reader on some science, but overall, this is a great page-turner for lazy wintry days.
The introduction by Grady Hendrix is also worth the price of purchase. It gives a fascinating snapshot of how a burgeoning writer could quickly rise to stardom during the horror paperback heyday by detailing the interesting career of Peter Tonkin.
If you enjoy paperbacks from hell because you actually READ them, then treat yourself by checking out this book.
SCORE: 4 Knucklebones of Sedna out of 5
WORD OF THE DAY: Debouch
SUGGESTED MUSICAL PAIRING: "Warriors of the Deep" by Big City Orchestra
An intelligent orca was raised and trained by the military to be a man-eater, but when it escapes into the open ocean, it spells bad news for the survivors of a plane crash adrift on an ice floe.
I don't really have any negatives to talk about, but there is one glaring mixed element. There are some odd language choices where words and phrases are used too often and unnecessarily. Why do I mention this nitpick? Because it seems that when the author gets something in his mind, it stays there. He probably went insane every Christmas with an endless loop of "Feliz Navidad" stuck in his head.
As a result, certain themes get overplayed. In particular, the theme of family. The titular killer whale grew up with a surrogate human family which ultimately betrays him, which is why the intelligent animal has a vendetta. The orca eventually becomes the alpha of a family of his own kind, and together they bully and hunt our main characters in the story. I love how Tonkin shows how the whales help and take care of each other like family, yet they are only dying or getting injured because of the single-minded vengeance of their leader who persists in tormenting two-legged castaways quite handy at defending themselves with rifles, hollow-points, harpoons, and dynamite.
The theme of family is reflected on the human side to a comical degree. It appears that everybody working in extreme polar conditions is related to each other. At the start of the novel, our heroine is hired by her father to join his Arctic scientific expedition team, unbeknownst to him. The Washington consultant on the team, whose name is Ross, was married to the sister of another guy on the team, and their brother died on a previous expedition with Ross, which has impact throughout the story. And Ross has a best friend whose brother was also on this ill-fated expedition. They really keep it in the family, don't they?
Similarly, in the very first pages of the book, somebody loses an arm. Well, the author liked that image so much that people start losing arms and hands and fingers all over the place! Even a whale loses an arm, or in this case a flipper. Ross himself is a venerable Luke Skywalker, wearing a black kid glove over an artificial hand. And everybody keeps drawing attention to it. "So, Ross, tell us about the ARM. Why do you only have one ARM? Must be hard to tie your own shoes on account of the ARM. Did you lose it in the ARMY? We wanna hear all about what happened to that there ARM!" See what I mean?
But as odd as the book can be, we genre-fiction fans are in very familiar territory. This is a tense and action-packed thriller of the "ticking clock" variety that we have seen many times before, but Peter Tonkin applies the formula to perfection. This novel knows it exists for fun, and does its job masterfully, building in tension and action until a ludicrously insane finale. The breakneck pace occasionally lags for some exposition dumps and to school the reader on some science, but overall, this is a great page-turner for lazy wintry days.
The introduction by Grady Hendrix is also worth the price of purchase. It gives a fascinating snapshot of how a burgeoning writer could quickly rise to stardom during the horror paperback heyday by detailing the interesting career of Peter Tonkin.
If you enjoy paperbacks from hell because you actually READ them, then treat yourself by checking out this book.
SCORE: 4 Knucklebones of Sedna out of 5
WORD OF THE DAY: Debouch
SUGGESTED MUSICAL PAIRING: "Warriors of the Deep" by Big City Orchestra
March 7, 2019
I bought this book on the strength of a great review I read online by Grady Hendrix of the Too Much Horror Fiction blog. It was just like he said; batshit-crazy and over the top. What I wasn’t expecting was how well it was written, especially since this is Tonkin’s first book. Just to be clear, this is a man vs nature horror/gore fest. Great heaps of blood and carnage are spooned out over the course of this adventure and it was great fun to read. It gets down to business right off the hop and from there onwards it’s fast and lean, with very little padding like you find in books today. Well worth your time to track down - recommended!
August 3, 2023
the good- great cover. this was very readable. the kills were great. orcas are so scary.
the bad- baaaaad portrayal of inuit culture. baaaaaad portrayal of the one female character. it also could have been a little crazier? after a while, things get pretty repetitive.
the bad- baaaaad portrayal of inuit culture. baaaaaad portrayal of the one female character. it also could have been a little crazier? after a while, things get pretty repetitive.
November 28, 2021
A big-ass killer whale escapes from the military’s animal intelligence unit (or something) and has developed a justifiable hatred for humans and a love for their flesh. What does he do? Why, he recruits a pack killers to go hunt blue whales and six research scientists whose plane has just crashed into a big old slab of ice in the artic of course. Sucks to be them.
But it’s not just the blood-thirsty orcas that are out to get our band of marooned scientists: the floe they’ve taken shelter on is rapidly drifting into warmer seas- melting, and there’re polar bears, and walruses, and blizzards, and more walruses, and more polar bears and - perhaps worst of all - an insufferable dickhead called Simon. Yep, they’re pretty screwed and when the men are not busy seeing to the desperate woman in constant need of saving, they’re arguing amongst themselves and just doing manly things like fishing, farting and re-heating beans.
Jokes aside, Killer is a fast, raw and fiercely written thriller that’s as nasty as it is snappy. The pacing is on point and Tonkin does a great job convincing the reader that this far-fetched nonsense could actually happen. And that’s a sign of a good author. Some of the passages about the land, sea and sky scapes are beautifully written and woven into the action of the novel and although the characters were a little bland and lacking in any real conviction, I still cared about them enough to see this through to the end. And what an ending!
Overall, though, this was a solid creature feature and one I’d thoroughly recommend to anyone looking for a balls-to-the-wall adventure book.
But it’s not just the blood-thirsty orcas that are out to get our band of marooned scientists: the floe they’ve taken shelter on is rapidly drifting into warmer seas- melting, and there’re polar bears, and walruses, and blizzards, and more walruses, and more polar bears and - perhaps worst of all - an insufferable dickhead called Simon. Yep, they’re pretty screwed and when the men are not busy seeing to the desperate woman in constant need of saving, they’re arguing amongst themselves and just doing manly things like fishing, farting and re-heating beans.
Jokes aside, Killer is a fast, raw and fiercely written thriller that’s as nasty as it is snappy. The pacing is on point and Tonkin does a great job convincing the reader that this far-fetched nonsense could actually happen. And that’s a sign of a good author. Some of the passages about the land, sea and sky scapes are beautifully written and woven into the action of the novel and although the characters were a little bland and lacking in any real conviction, I still cared about them enough to see this through to the end. And what an ending!
Overall, though, this was a solid creature feature and one I’d thoroughly recommend to anyone looking for a balls-to-the-wall adventure book.
June 29, 2020
I considered giving 3 stars to Killer.
It’s basically Jaws, except with a rogue orca instead of a shark and the town of Amity replaced with and iceberg. Plus, a lot of the side plots of Benchley’s seminal classic are wiped away and you’re left with what, at face value, seems like a great read.
And for almost 50% of it, Killer is pretty good. Tonkin’s ability to keep the story going into more and more exiting places and his skill at keeping some of the scenes tense is on display. He’s great at keeping the reader entertained and actually wondering if things couldn’t get possibly worse for the characters.
But then, after a time, Killer becomes repetitive and, sadly, boring. Countless pages of backstory and explanation of Innuit legends. Page after page of the same kind of thing where the Killer whale attacks, and then retreats and then attacks all over again. Confusing moments where things happen and it’s hard to visualize. Even the ending felt kind of lame and safe.
I had hopes this one would, as Grady Hendrix suggested, be a crazy gore fest of a novel that made Jaws look like a dolphin. By the end, I just wanted to be done with it.
It’s basically Jaws, except with a rogue orca instead of a shark and the town of Amity replaced with and iceberg. Plus, a lot of the side plots of Benchley’s seminal classic are wiped away and you’re left with what, at face value, seems like a great read.
And for almost 50% of it, Killer is pretty good. Tonkin’s ability to keep the story going into more and more exiting places and his skill at keeping some of the scenes tense is on display. He’s great at keeping the reader entertained and actually wondering if things couldn’t get possibly worse for the characters.
But then, after a time, Killer becomes repetitive and, sadly, boring. Countless pages of backstory and explanation of Innuit legends. Page after page of the same kind of thing where the Killer whale attacks, and then retreats and then attacks all over again. Confusing moments where things happen and it’s hard to visualize. Even the ending felt kind of lame and safe.
I had hopes this one would, as Grady Hendrix suggested, be a crazy gore fest of a novel that made Jaws look like a dolphin. By the end, I just wanted to be done with it.
March 6, 2025
It was exciting up until the Orca attacks, basically the suspense of what would happen, but then it got a bit tedious.
January 4, 2025
If dolphins are so smart, why do they live in igloos?
August 20, 2023
Sure, there's a big killer whale on the cover of this book, and sure, it's trying to hunt down some folks stranded on an ice floe, but really, this book is all about how difficult it is to survive in the Arctic. Not that it has the same pedigree, but it's a little like reading "To Build a Fire" ... just with a killer whale added in for some flavor.
This is a relentless story, well-paced and compelling, but it does suffer from being written in 1979. The female lead is pretty strong, but she gets shunted off to being the damsel in distress at different times, becomes the subject of the male gaze even when everyone's fighting for their lives, and the romantic angle seems a little forced (Tonkin gives them barely a prelude before they're mashing lips), so this is more like a 3.5-star book than a full four. It would just be a shame to round it down when the thrills keep getting more and more intense. It's almost like Speed in that respect.
This is a relentless story, well-paced and compelling, but it does suffer from being written in 1979. The female lead is pretty strong, but she gets shunted off to being the damsel in distress at different times, becomes the subject of the male gaze even when everyone's fighting for their lives, and the romantic angle seems a little forced (Tonkin gives them barely a prelude before they're mashing lips), so this is more like a 3.5-star book than a full four. It would just be a shame to round it down when the thrills keep getting more and more intense. It's almost like Speed in that respect.
March 20, 2023
I don’t know why I finished this book. Maybe just an image need to finish what I started? Too many reviews about how well-written this is. The dialogue is atrocious. The sole female character is a graduate student who acts like she’s a tween; so cringeworthy. From referring to her estranged father as “Daddy” to worrying about her bra breaking while escaping certain death. I can’t even. Men, amiright?
December 7, 2013
One of the classic horror novels of what happens when man attempts to control nature. This was written in the seventies and a few conceits of the time show through. But this was a fast entertaining read, well researched.
September 23, 2019
Woooooooooow! This book has everything I love, killer whales, animals attacking people... okay that's pretty much it but it's done really, really well! Better than Jaws (the book).
March 28, 2023
They don't make enough stars for a masterpiece like this. This is the book everyone THINKS Jaws is.
January 20, 2025
I am a huge Animal Horror fan when it comes to movies, in books that relationship is a lot more wobbly. Or even reversed at times. It seems that for movies I prefer the serious ones ("Jaws", "Crawl", "Beast"etc.) whereas in books I have a hard time getting sucked into those stories and can't decide if I prefer the fun ones ("The Roo"), the more sombre ones ("Cujo") or something in between ("Shark Island"). All I know is that some of the big classics ("Jaws" or "Meg") were not my cup of tea at all. I also don't feel it's as popular in books and harder to find something that sounds solid. But I want to find them, those gems that I know/ hope/ wish are waiting for me.
"Killer" was clearly inspired by the granddaddy of ocean based animal horror, the lovely introduction by Grady Hendrix lets you know that Tonkin after watching "Jaws" said to a friend he likely couldn't write a better story but he could go bigger. And that is definitely the approach here. This isn't simply the story of an Orca with aggression issues towards humans but it's also a survival story, great combination if you ask me. A plane crashlands our survivors on an ice floe in arctic waters, they must face the elements as well as not just Orcas but also a polar bears and walruses, and maybe worst of all, each other. It constantly hovers on an ice thin line between being just a pulpy good time and trying for something deeper, something more existential. The writing is actually rather good but then again it's also hold back by being a novel of its time written by a man of its time. For some readers, this will make this a nope, but I was prepared for some of it and tried to make fun of things like the broken bra strap of our only female character becoming a bigger plot point... It is what it is in that regard and there is much worse out there, still, the way how some guys approach the task of including women in their stories is sometimes a true sight to behold. There are also Inuit characters that hold the role of explaining myths and native stories to us but I also give some credit for making room for someone else than white dudes in story written by a white dude in the 70's.
But the star of the show is the Orca (I never liked the term Killer Whale but you could argue that would be more fitting to what we get here...). He is the victim of military experiments that make him especially equipped and filled with the desire to hunt humans, and after he escapes he passes this on to the pod he leads. This pod is now meeting up with our plane crashers and carnage ensues. Well, sometimes, there isn't that many survivors so the kills are spread out but were for sure highlights. Tonkin needed to get even more creative than your average shark story writer since you can't constantly simply plop humans into arctic waters! A certain element gave me welcomed flashbacks to "Tremors"! In "Jaws" fashion we also get a few paragraphs here and there from the Orca's POV and surprisingly I didn't find them similarly obnoxious, I even pitied that poor Orca which might have also something to do with the fact that the humans got more annoying as the story went on. And the character writing was actually pretty decent: the woman is more than a damsel, the asshole sometimes has a point and is also helpful on occasion. There is nuance. And yet, certain tropes and conventions started to make this less engaging the more we go on. I mean, you know who is going to survive this in rather heroic fashion so after a while we're going through the motions, the finale gets a bit over the top & a bit confusing.
But I had a good amount of fun here, more so in the first half but it was never as if anyone would have to force me to come back to read this. Maybe I rolled my eyes at things but I nonetheless was here for what came next. Especially while watching snow falling outside, I was in for the cold, the threat of the ice floe getting smaller and smaller and always an Orca poking its head through a hole in the ice. I think you know what you will be getting into with this type of book, all I can say is that the writing is better than expected while on the flipside there are the expected shortcomings and pitfalls that Tonkin didn't avoid. No regrets but not the gem I was hoping for, just a middling but good time.
"Killer" was clearly inspired by the granddaddy of ocean based animal horror, the lovely introduction by Grady Hendrix lets you know that Tonkin after watching "Jaws" said to a friend he likely couldn't write a better story but he could go bigger. And that is definitely the approach here. This isn't simply the story of an Orca with aggression issues towards humans but it's also a survival story, great combination if you ask me. A plane crashlands our survivors on an ice floe in arctic waters, they must face the elements as well as not just Orcas but also a polar bears and walruses, and maybe worst of all, each other. It constantly hovers on an ice thin line between being just a pulpy good time and trying for something deeper, something more existential. The writing is actually rather good but then again it's also hold back by being a novel of its time written by a man of its time. For some readers, this will make this a nope, but I was prepared for some of it and tried to make fun of things like the broken bra strap of our only female character becoming a bigger plot point... It is what it is in that regard and there is much worse out there, still, the way how some guys approach the task of including women in their stories is sometimes a true sight to behold. There are also Inuit characters that hold the role of explaining myths and native stories to us but I also give some credit for making room for someone else than white dudes in story written by a white dude in the 70's.
But the star of the show is the Orca (I never liked the term Killer Whale but you could argue that would be more fitting to what we get here...). He is the victim of military experiments that make him especially equipped and filled with the desire to hunt humans, and after he escapes he passes this on to the pod he leads. This pod is now meeting up with our plane crashers and carnage ensues. Well, sometimes, there isn't that many survivors so the kills are spread out but were for sure highlights. Tonkin needed to get even more creative than your average shark story writer since you can't constantly simply plop humans into arctic waters! A certain element gave me welcomed flashbacks to "Tremors"! In "Jaws" fashion we also get a few paragraphs here and there from the Orca's POV and surprisingly I didn't find them similarly obnoxious, I even pitied that poor Orca which might have also something to do with the fact that the humans got more annoying as the story went on. And the character writing was actually pretty decent: the woman is more than a damsel, the asshole sometimes has a point and is also helpful on occasion. There is nuance. And yet, certain tropes and conventions started to make this less engaging the more we go on. I mean, you know who is going to survive this in rather heroic fashion so after a while we're going through the motions, the finale gets a bit over the top & a bit confusing.
But I had a good amount of fun here, more so in the first half but it was never as if anyone would have to force me to come back to read this. Maybe I rolled my eyes at things but I nonetheless was here for what came next. Especially while watching snow falling outside, I was in for the cold, the threat of the ice floe getting smaller and smaller and always an Orca poking its head through a hole in the ice. I think you know what you will be getting into with this type of book, all I can say is that the writing is better than expected while on the flipside there are the expected shortcomings and pitfalls that Tonkin didn't avoid. No regrets but not the gem I was hoping for, just a middling but good time.
May 25, 2020
Trigger Warning - animals are harmed in this novel so if you have a problem with animal deaths, I would skip this paperback from hell. For a man vs. nature horror story, this book delivers! There's cheesy innuendo, plane crashes, melting ice, and government trained killer whales and whale henchmen. I really enjoyed each action packed page. My favorite character was Job and I enjoyed the Innuit legends included in the novel.
August 9, 2022
Cinematic survival story that does a great job escalating the tension of its genius set-up. Plane crash survivors in the arctic are besieged by a trained killer whale and assorted sea rangers as their mobile ice flow gets smaller and smaller. Tonkin’s plotting is impeccable, but his writing is stilted, full of awkward exclamations like “Ye Gods!” that make the dialogue a real slog. Misogyny and machismo are rampant but there’s still one hell of an adventure behind it all.
May 13, 2023
Killer is an easy recommendation for enthusiasts of “animal attack” horror novels, but the vastly uneven odds and interpersonal conflict among the survivors is likely to appeal to fans of zombie novels as well. With Peter Tonkin’s Killer, the PAPERBACKS FROM HELL reprint line has resurfaced another winner.
Read my full review at Grimdark Magazine!
Read my full review at Grimdark Magazine!
September 7, 2024
The chapters in this book that are from the Orcas’ points of view are the best parts of the book. I do not care about a single one of these humans. They’re FINE, but I really couldn’t believe how much the soap opera petty drama between Simon and Colin took up. This is not the issue at hand, my guys.
February 19, 2024
I’m not sure what Grady Hendrix was going on about, but this book is not good.
July 3, 2024
This is more like it! THIS is what I want from Paperbacks from Hell. Killer is totally insane and makes no sense in how it absolutely disregards practically all science and facts known about orcas, but damn, is it a fun read. It does get a little repetitive (a group of survivors is trapped on an ice floe and gets attacked by a pod of orcas approximately 2,000 times), which is why I did not give it four stars - though it's never truly boring and I read it in one sitting.
Killer is a good example of 70s-era "men's adventure" type fiction jacked up to 11, with paper-thin, stereotypical male characters who ogle the only woman a lot (though there is a really great Inuit character called Job that I thought was portrayed very well, especially for the time period) and a lot of dialog that no one would ever say in real life, but the action is very well-written. There's a part with a walrus stampede that is genuinely harrowing and totally batshit. It is certainly the best Jaws rip-off I've ever read, and doesn't waste time with weird mafia/cheating spouse subplots, like Peter Benchley's book does.
If you have been TEAM ORCA since Blackfish and have enjoyed reading about White Gladis and her pals wrecking rich people's yachts over the past couple of summers, as I have, you'll probably really enjoy reading about a scarred killer whale and his adopted pod wreaking havoc on some idiot scientists and explorers.
Killer is a good example of 70s-era "men's adventure" type fiction jacked up to 11, with paper-thin, stereotypical male characters who ogle the only woman a lot (though there is a really great Inuit character called Job that I thought was portrayed very well, especially for the time period) and a lot of dialog that no one would ever say in real life, but the action is very well-written. There's a part with a walrus stampede that is genuinely harrowing and totally batshit. It is certainly the best Jaws rip-off I've ever read, and doesn't waste time with weird mafia/cheating spouse subplots, like Peter Benchley's book does.
If you have been TEAM ORCA since Blackfish and have enjoyed reading about White Gladis and her pals wrecking rich people's yachts over the past couple of summers, as I have, you'll probably really enjoy reading about a scarred killer whale and his adopted pod wreaking havoc on some idiot scientists and explorers.
January 4, 2024
Maybe rounded up to three. The stupid thing is finally dead. I felt like I was under attack for five-plus days, having to read through this. Starts out strong, goes on for 100-plus pages “developing” the characters. Who’s who again? Barely spends any time explaining the Killer, spends time explaining what’s going on in the Killer’s head (whale perspective?), etc. The walrus part was good. This could have been a fun short story but sinks as a book.
June 1, 2024
I was excited to get this one read. Been on my list for a while. Don't want to say I was disappointed but I was disappointed. It was very predictable and the ending was just kinda eh...
September 10, 2024
Fun, old school read. I didn't care for the overall flow at times, but it still pulled you along with a good story.
January 4, 2024
This would make an awesome movie. It really doesn’t ever let up, and there’s plenty of gory killer whale action! Highly recommend!
June 9, 2025
Well, this was a fun, fun time time! Starting off with the escape of a violent killer whale, that had been bred since captivity to be a biological weapon for the US Military, it becomes a thrill a minute from there.
From the escape we meet our characters, all stock archetypes. There's the father and daughter scientists, the rival cold weather experts, an Inuit outdoorsman, and the doomed by lack of character development other characters. They end up crashed on an ice floe, stalked by the escaped kiler whale and his new posse.
Tonkin does a great job of escalating the tension. From a harrowing plane crash, the group then faces threats like the hungy orca, a lost polar bear, the breaking apart of the ice floe, among others. The best scene in the book features a herd of 200 walruses who end up near the characters, being attacked by the whales, who then out of fear are about to capsize the floating ice platform the characters are seeking refuge on. So they start dynamiting the whales and wlaruses and it rules!
From the escape we meet our characters, all stock archetypes. There's the father and daughter scientists, the rival cold weather experts, an Inuit outdoorsman, and the doomed by lack of character development other characters. They end up crashed on an ice floe, stalked by the escaped kiler whale and his new posse.
Tonkin does a great job of escalating the tension. From a harrowing plane crash, the group then faces threats like the hungy orca, a lost polar bear, the breaking apart of the ice floe, among others. The best scene in the book features a herd of 200 walruses who end up near the characters, being attacked by the whales, who then out of fear are about to capsize the floating ice platform the characters are seeking refuge on. So they start dynamiting the whales and wlaruses and it rules!
June 8, 2019
Killer is an amazing horror adventure by Peter Tonkin. It starts off with our main character Kate meeting up with her father after a long hiatus. She sees her father for the first time in a long time at her mother's funeral. After that, she goes to school to study exactly what her father studied so she could one day study in the same field as him. When she meets her father she meets Simon Quick, Collin Ross, and his friend Job. As their plane crashes down on a floe of ice, the five of them, plus a co-pilot, try to survive the cold and what lurks under the waters! This book is about a Pack of Killer Whales who decide to attack the humans because the leader of the pack has a vendetta against them. The book is amazing, full of drama and grotesque scenes that I absolutely loved! If you liked Jaws, then you will definitely LOVE this book! I think this book will stick with me for a while. Four Stars for sure!
October 25, 2024
oh I really wanted to like it
I’m sorry but this novel fell short. There were some scenes where the tension was good but other parts were flat. Also the way the men behaved like they couldn’t physically handle being around a woman was exhausting
I’m sorry but this novel fell short. There were some scenes where the tension was good but other parts were flat. Also the way the men behaved like they couldn’t physically handle being around a woman was exhausting
December 21, 2025
Killer by Peter Tonkin is a great piece of man vs. nature horror where the environment is as foreboding as the toothy beasts trying to eat you, but one that is a product of its time.
It’s a great concept for a survival tale, and for a horror one too. Survivors of a plane crash are trapped on an iceberg and beset by a pod of orcas. The leader of said pod being the result of a military experiment to train a killer whale as an assassin. The characters are broadly drawn stereotypes be they the doddering scientist, the cavalier Arctic explorer, the Eskimo who knows all the old legends, or, most glaringly, the lady scientist chasing her father’s approval by signing on to the expedition without his knowledge. These do stand out as being dated, but not to the extent that they ruin the novel. However, they do as a result come across as unlikeable which makes the point-of-view from the aforementioned military trained orca at times more sympathetic. What he does is natural and has only reached an unnatural extent because of what humans have done to him since birth. Especially so when the whale pod comes across as a more caring group than the human survivors.
Killer, like its silver screen spirit brother Orca, would not exist were it not for Peter Benchley’s Jaws. It does differentiate itself from the outset by putting the human characters in the beast’s domain with no chance of escape, whereas the shark in Jaws encroached on human territory. From the start, Killer is a tale of survival. The Arctic setting really helps Killer distinguish itself. This is a location that, even absent a pod of vengeful and hungry orcas, or a stampede of walruses, or a polar bear attack, your chances of survival are still slim at best. There’s a pervading sense of hopelessness throughout as a result of its setting. Despite that, Tonkin’s emphasis on horror is more tilted towards the visceral than dread. Buckets of blood abound with every attack by the orcas, or walruses, or polar bear. Anyone who has their arm outstretched even in the vicinity of water will likely lose it to an orca popping up out of the water within seconds.
Tonkin does write tension well. Early on we see the orca pod attack a blue whale off the western coast of North America and pursue it all the way to the Arctic. It makes for a great way to highlight the tenacity of the pod and gives a taste for what our human characters have in store for them. On the other hand, Tonkin can at times be a bit repetitive. The theme of family hangs heavy over everything from the orca pod to the human characters and it will be repeated endlessly. The number of times our sole female character is described as simply ‘beautiful’ also stood out for this and being very dated. Overall, however, Tonkin writes in an engaging and accessible style that never has any delusions about what sort of a book is Killer. In the decades since such horror tales can be written with near delusions of grandeur by their authors, attempting to inject depth which always results in making a work shallower.
Killer is a natural horror novel that, for better and worse, is a product of the 1970s. Its concept alone and the accessibility of its prose makes it worth opening.
It’s a great concept for a survival tale, and for a horror one too. Survivors of a plane crash are trapped on an iceberg and beset by a pod of orcas. The leader of said pod being the result of a military experiment to train a killer whale as an assassin. The characters are broadly drawn stereotypes be they the doddering scientist, the cavalier Arctic explorer, the Eskimo who knows all the old legends, or, most glaringly, the lady scientist chasing her father’s approval by signing on to the expedition without his knowledge. These do stand out as being dated, but not to the extent that they ruin the novel. However, they do as a result come across as unlikeable which makes the point-of-view from the aforementioned military trained orca at times more sympathetic. What he does is natural and has only reached an unnatural extent because of what humans have done to him since birth. Especially so when the whale pod comes across as a more caring group than the human survivors.
Killer, like its silver screen spirit brother Orca, would not exist were it not for Peter Benchley’s Jaws. It does differentiate itself from the outset by putting the human characters in the beast’s domain with no chance of escape, whereas the shark in Jaws encroached on human territory. From the start, Killer is a tale of survival. The Arctic setting really helps Killer distinguish itself. This is a location that, even absent a pod of vengeful and hungry orcas, or a stampede of walruses, or a polar bear attack, your chances of survival are still slim at best. There’s a pervading sense of hopelessness throughout as a result of its setting. Despite that, Tonkin’s emphasis on horror is more tilted towards the visceral than dread. Buckets of blood abound with every attack by the orcas, or walruses, or polar bear. Anyone who has their arm outstretched even in the vicinity of water will likely lose it to an orca popping up out of the water within seconds.
Tonkin does write tension well. Early on we see the orca pod attack a blue whale off the western coast of North America and pursue it all the way to the Arctic. It makes for a great way to highlight the tenacity of the pod and gives a taste for what our human characters have in store for them. On the other hand, Tonkin can at times be a bit repetitive. The theme of family hangs heavy over everything from the orca pod to the human characters and it will be repeated endlessly. The number of times our sole female character is described as simply ‘beautiful’ also stood out for this and being very dated. Overall, however, Tonkin writes in an engaging and accessible style that never has any delusions about what sort of a book is Killer. In the decades since such horror tales can be written with near delusions of grandeur by their authors, attempting to inject depth which always results in making a work shallower.
Killer is a natural horror novel that, for better and worse, is a product of the 1970s. Its concept alone and the accessibility of its prose makes it worth opening.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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