Croc Attack: A Novel of Creature Horror

by Brian Gatto

Untouched, undisturbed, unbelievable.

Deep in the Florida everglades where the only sign of human activity is the nearby beachside town of Graceville, something is lurking and growing. A team of conservationists head in to study animal life on an atoll but end up becoming the target for something bigger than they expected.

With the group of activists and a whole slew of close-by bathers to choose from, the massive reptile has a smorgasbord to satisfy its ever-growing appetite.

Can the team who went in there to preserve life stop this beast? Or will officials, hunters, and the local law enforcement have to step up to the challenge?

Will anyone survive this full-on croc attack?

Genres: Horror, Monsters

187 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 31, 2022

Reviews

[Peter Topside · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it's because I've read so many fantastic creature features from the likes of Hunter Shea, but I didn't care for this at all. My biggest gripe was the oversexualization of literally every woman in the book. They were all your standard, drop dead gorgeous model types, and the author spent more time describing their breasts than giving them true purpose in the story. To me, it shows a lack of creativity to just use a constant onslaught of repeat verbiage and only focusing on their boobs. Aside from Emma, none of the other women had a reason to be in the story, aside from acting seductive, trying to sleep with whatever man looked at them the right way, and, of course, displaying their décolletage. And even Emma was in scenes involving masturbation, nudity, and sex. Again, it's boring and there are so much better ways to handle female characters, and describe a woman's body. For example, their collarbones, legs, necks, etc...all of which can be very sexy, and do not involve breasts. Or at least stop using the same terms repeatedly. Or maybe not describe them as just superficial things, and give them purpose and personalities? And this was nonstop throughout the entire book, so that was all a big turn off for me. There was also a sizeable area where the creature was nowhere to be found, and the story focused on the characters being jealous of one another, trying to sleep with each other, etc. It felt really forced and out of place. And then the entire ending sequence jumped around to faceless victims back to our ragtag team of twentysomethings, who were given weapons and access to municipal resources, despite having no training, experience, or reason to be involved in the first place. And there was a twist, but I was already checked out by the last portion of the story. So aside from the mediocre writing quality, the story itself was very basic, and there was nothing innovative or overly creative, including the kills. The internal logic was gone here, almost completely. The story played out like a stolen plot for a 'straight-to-DVD classic' like 2000's Crocodile, but just not as fun. I don't like to leave such negative reviews, and I am giving some credit due to the effort and the cover, which I enjoyed. The story wasn't terrible, but there was a great deal that needed a lot of improvement. As a diehard horror fanatic, I see authors who tiptoe into splatterpunk, but are afraid to take the full plunge. If you want to make a story full of over-the-top sex, nudity, and gore, then make it completely ridiculous and silly, appropriate for that subgenre. Or if it's supposed to be a serious horror, then go that route. But don't try to blur the lines between a creature feature and something akin to a Harley Leroux book. It never works and comes across poorly. Well not every time, but it's rare. And someone like Kristopher Triana has perfected it in some cases, but he's on another level, and even he has had some misfires, too. For anyone looking for a great water-based killer monster book, I would recommend Grieg Beck, Hunter Shea, and, to a lesser extent, Michael R. Cole.

[Fred Rayworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Croc Attack was a decent creature feature icky bug. The said monster was an oversized croc in the Everglades, which is usually home to alligators.

The writing was solid third-person, past-tense but there was so much head-hopping I had to re-read some paragraphs to figure out what was going. The head-hopping was so rampant that sometimes the author would switch heads between characters that weren’t even in the same location.

On the other hand, the chapters and scenes were short and to the point. The action was almost non-stop though there were plenty of cliches. For instance, almost all of the women who had sex died. Plus there was the mayor out to keep things going though in this twist, she turned out better than what one would expect from this kind of icky bug.

There was an extremely high body count and of course, the inevitable “what if” at the end. I was entirely happy with that end, but it was better than some. Still recommended.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Killer Croc vs activists

What I liked about this creature thriller was knowing what the croc was thinking and the fast pace of the storyline. Glen, the survivor turned alcoholic, who was bent on revenge for his friend's death was the most realistic character while the rest were sex-obsessed or clueless locals. Not a bad read but it could have been better.

[Mike Howlett · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review is on my blog:

https://hitmewithyourbookreview.blogs...

[Sara Mcfadden · Rating 4 out of 5]

so much fun to read

I love creature features be they books or movies. This one has my most irrational fear…. Huge freaking crocs. Ah this was so fun to read

[Mickey Tompkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun creature feature about a 30ft crocodile that starts out in the everglades and eventually winds up in the ocean looking for victims to chomp chomp.

The story is about some environmentalists who are trying to protect the croc, until they see it and it decides to chomp chomp them.

The mayor, local sheriff and local hunters all get together to hunt the croc.

This was a fun ride with plenty of blood and chomp chomps.

I did like this book, but I only gave it 3.5 stars because I felt there were too many characters and not enough character development to really get to know them, so when they get chomped chomped I really didn't care about them or feel for them.

Also, I felt the ending was rushed, but there was a nice twist that I hope the author runs with.

So, I didn't hate it and if you're looking for a fun creature feature like Lake Placid, Deep Blue Sea, The Shallows or any other plethora of creature features that feature aquatic creatures then give this a go.

[wayne peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of this book.

A good read. Definitely a different type of story. A sad ending, but still a good book. I enjoyed the book. I am looking forward to reading the sequel. I hope that it is as good as this book.

[Addam Dallman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Killer Croc

Croc Attack by Brian Gatto is a fun and exciting ride. The overall story was really good. I enjoyed all of the characters some so much so that when they were killed I felt bad for them. The body count in this is ridiculous in a really good way. The female Crocodile in this story is something out of Jurassic Park. All in all I definitely recommend this one.

[John OBrien · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome

Upset about the ending. But I can’t handle it I would’ve liked a different outcome. I don’t know if there’s a second book in the series or not. But I will look out for it. Very entertaining

[MIKE OKELLEY · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book gave me headaches with the abundance of new people introduced on almost every page.. and just hints about where the critter came from ...ending was lead in to next story instead of finishing this one ...that is why i dropped one star ... still a fun read.

[Terry Clem · Rating 5 out of 5]

VERY BAD CROC

Hard to defeat this monster….lots of very bad ideas to solve the problem, and a lot of stubborn people. Good read!

[joshua penrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you like creature feature movies? Maybe you like rednecks with guns or corrupt politicians? Perhaps you enjoy college activists or narratives from a monsters perspective? Well this book brings it all to you.

Pros:
+ fun monster vision narrative
+ just enough story of why it’s there
+ plenty of characters you’d expect from a story like this
+ won’t give it away but the last line of the book is delightful

Cons:
- perhaps too much set up for characters we essentially know before the book even begins
- too much focus on love interests. I understand that’s to be expected and it plays out like the movies would be in narrative like this there’s just too much

Fun little story of a big crocodile. It reminded me a whole hell of a lot of Killer Crocodile (and its sequel).

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book! It has a sweet cover, it’s a creature feature, a murky Everglades horror….


However I just couldn’t get invested in the story or the characters; the only narrative I enjoyed reading was the croc’s.
Some sections & plot explanations seem a bit jumbled. Perspectives would shift randomly, and sometimes switch to a person who wasn’t introduced yet, or who wasn’t present during the current scene.
For example, was Dallas the activist’s financier? Did they get funding? It seemed like the activists all knew each other from prior work (Lola’s perspective implied that Tammy liked Mitch) but then later, it seemed like they just met in person…

It was just too confusing to keep caring about what happens.

[Carol Lacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A whole little eatin' goin' on.

The book started out fairly good, the plot was interesting. I had been under the wrong impression that this was written by a female author that I like & had just finished her book. Most of the character descriptions revolved around eye color (that switched), hair color & body attributes. All of a sudden, there was a lot of big-breasted women running around & appeared that they & everyone lusting after them got eaten. That just goes to show, if you have big boobs, stay away from Florida. Unfortunately, one woman's big, enormous boobs (that she was so very proud of) got her in a jam. Not a bad book but I only finished it after I got interested in the crocs.

[Jason Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 40 of 2025.

This book was a fun read. My one minor gripe is that it is short, so that affects the character development, and me as the reader really caring/getting to know them.

Other than that, this book is about a BIG ass Croc that has no problem taking out everyone its way! Really good body count in this book.

I like any books or movies with animals that tear shit up! lol
If you liked Lake Placid, Jaws, or anything similar, check this one out! Looking forward to the sequel…

[John Tanaschovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

Good book kept you glued to the story lots of action the characters were good and the crocodile kept you

[Snakeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enoyable monster book!

[pat constantino · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun and easy read

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

MAN-WITCHES

& WOMAN-WITCHES ...well "WE" aren't at the top of the food chain anymore ? Hehe NOW "we" are on the menu ? Oops 😳😬

[Andy Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not that good.

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything you want in a creature feature croc book. Good guys, bad guys, tree huggers, lots of blood and gore and mutant crocs.

[Emily Haynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Croc

There is something stirring in the swamp. It is not your usual animal. It is looking for food. Don't get in its way. Fast paced.

[henry smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book. Enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Andie Meddaugh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utterly abysmal, reeking with misogyny and awful writing more fear-inducing than the actual crocodile. Do yourself a favor and pass this one over.