Caverns

by G.B. Pool

CAVERNS chronicles a nightmare that happens in Chicago in the dead of winter when huge caverns are discovered beneath several expensive condominiums built near Lake Shore Drive. The caves were carved out by enormous rats that have been feeding on the landfill for many decades, but the vermin are running out of food… below ground. The two men who find the caverns are being hunted in order to silence them because they know who own those condos and who authorized the shoddy city utilities project on which they were built. The powers-that-be want to bury their involvement as well as a handful of people who know about it before one of their costly investments falls into the lake. When it comes to a disaster, you have to wonder which is worse: man or beast.

381 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 21, 2015

Reviews

[Photojaq · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have claustrophobia? A nail-biting super-creepy suspense thriller!

G.B. Pool has written a suspense thriller that will raise your pulse, quicken your breathing, and have you sitting on the edge of your seat. And if you have claustrophobia, or get nervous when you go down in caves, or are afraid of large creatures in the dark...this will be a nightmare. But it's a nightmare you can't put down. I literally read the last half of the book with my eyes wide, and my hand clamped over my mouth, and screaming silently, "No, no, noooo!"
When an older newsstand man goes missing early one morning, leaving only a bloodied arm in the sleeve of his torn coat and drag marks in the snow, a veteran Chicago cop begins to investigate. A large rabid dog perhaps? What they find scares them to death. After putting several bullets into the creature, they see it is a humongous black rat, weighing in at over 100 pounds back at the morgue.
Another pair of civil servants, checking a faulty electrical system in a city sewer come upon another one! And then they find a nest!! But that's not all they find. A huge cavern once packed with landfill is empty now - food for those massive rodents - and now the men can see the sloping foundation of a building hanging through the ceiling.
Corruption under the streets of Chicago as well as in City Hall above. CAVERNS is a super scary read in more ways than one. Don't be led astray by the mild book cover, this book will scare the sox off you in more ways than one!
Bravo, G.B. Pool!

[Bonnie Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deliciously creepy tale of good and evil, this novel pits some dedicated public servants against two kinds of rats: the furry, four-legged ones and some two-legged soulless humans. Two Chicago Public Works employees on a routine maintenance call discover a huge subterranean cavern—actually one cavern opens onto another and another and so on. The caverns have been carved by enormous rats that have exhausted their underground food supply and are venturing outside for other sources of nourishment. The two employees soon learn that the rats are the least of their problems as they join forces with a police officer against greedy businessmen and corrupt politicians whose goals are anything but humanitarian. Pool’s vividly described action sequences are rendered with just the right amount of detail. She has created a cast of believable characters—even the villains have distinguishing features—and she has conjured up two terrifically feisty and resourceful women to aid the three men in their fight against the bad guys. Moreover, she displays an impressive knowledge of the Chicago sewers, her intricate descriptions rivaling those of The Phantom of the Opera. She’s either done a ton of research or has an admirable knack for world-building—or both of the above. This novel is not for the squeamish, but for those who enjoy a good suspense novel with disturbing undercurrents, this is well worth the read.