Pistols: A Deep Sea Thriller

by Michael R. Cole

They are known to be one of the loudest organisms in the sea. They can generate acoustic pressures up to twelve PSI. The snap from their claws is so powerful, they can produce flashes of light. Normally, they are harmless, for they grow no larger than two inches in length.

But these are not normal circumstances.

In the waters of Lilly May, Florida, something has gone horribly wrong. The police department gets flooded with reports of heavy sound waves and flashing under the water; the remains of a thirty-eight-foot whale shark wash ashore, and a derelict boat is found adrift, its deck covered in blood.

Assisting with the police investigation, marine biologist Jason Rose works diligently to uncover the cause of the phenomenon. The readings from offshore acoustic buoys reveal the occurrence of brief but intense soundwaves—like pistol shots under the water.

The truth reveals itself by escalating the horror to mass murder. A colony of giant pistol shrimp, grotesquely mutated from toxic exposure, have invaded the Florida coast. Their snapping claws are capable of producing intense heat and thunderous shockwaves. Like a swarm of locusts, they will stop at nothing to devour anything inhabiting the water.

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Fiction, Audiobook, Adventure

294 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 27, 2022

About the author

Michael R. Cole is an author of creature horror and science fiction. He was born in Toledo, Ohio and grew up in lower Michigan. He has a profound love for monster movies and book as well as the action genre. In addition to writing, his hobbies include martial arts and fishing.

Reviews

[Benjamin Uke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lilly May, Florida something has gone horribly wrong in the ocean. The police department gets flooded with reports of heavy sound waves and flashing under the water; the remains of a thirty-eight-foot whale shark wash ashore, and a derelict boat is found adrift, its deck covered in blood.

A marine biologist Jason Rose works diligently to uncover the cause of the phenomenon. The readings from offshore acoustic buoys reveal the occurrence of brief but intense soundwaves—like pistol shots under the water. The characters had depth but were not written a way that made them engaging, liked one and hated the other by the end of the book those roles completely changed.

3/5 fun cheezy deep sea creature feature, the writing has some slow pacing along with a cop out ending.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Cole knows how to write fun creature features and if you're looking for a ridiculous ride that will keep you entertained, this is it.

[Boomer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit I really enjoyed Pistols. Its exactly the kind of cheesy deep sea creature novel that works for me. I have to give the author credit for trying something different then the usual giant shark fare and making the pistol shrimp - of all things - into giant killers, equipped with a pincer claw that snaps shut with enough decibel force to explode someone's head and set the air on fire. You have to give points for originality here.

The story is pretty much what you'd expect from the cover - giant crustaceans invading the waters of a small town devouring everything in their path. This author has never had a problem with gore, so there's decapitations and dismemberments left and right as the heroes try and discover where the killer shrimp are coming from and how to stop them, climaxing with the creatures storming the beaches of Florida in an outright invasion.

I enjoyed the read, and the only real negative I have is the ending ****Spoiler Alert**** because there isn't one. The book just ends with the evil giant shellfish overrunning the humans. There's no big Queen shrimp to destroy and save the day, no ingenious plan by the good guys to wipe out the species - it just ends with the heroes flying away in a helicopter as the mutants slaughter everyone. No epilogue, no nothing. Pretty disappointing.

[Cj Zawacki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shimp the size that are large enough to sink your boat? PISTOLS by Michael Cole reads of the story of the most crustacean of the ocean, pistol shirmp. These shrimp have such a power punch in nature ,that they been known to actually break aquariums.
The novel involves these monsters creating havoc in Floria's beaches. Excellent characters, reads great. Better than any sci-fi movie of gaint sharks!

[Victoria Soltesz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

Good book, had me goin' co Couldn't put it down. Parts were exciting Definitely kept you on the edge of your seat. Then The end came and I was like Wait , what Not cool to end it that way

[Addam Dallman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Armed and Dangerous

Pistols by Michael Cole is an amazing on the edge of your seat creature feature. The overall plot keeps the Listener/Reader engaged from beginning to end. The characters were well written as well as engaging. I found two characters in particular great because while I liked one and hated the other by the end of the book those roles completely changed. I also really enjoyed the human drama of Pistols. The relationship between father and son was really well done. As for the creatures well Michael Cole has done it again. He has turned a creature I would never have thought to be as dangerous as it could be into one. After reading this I started looking up everything I could on Pistol Shrimp. Their ability to shoot like they did was impressive. The ending was great it really sets up well for a sequel. The narrator Tom Taverna did a fantastic job telling the story and bringing the characters to life. All in all I would recommend Pistols by Michael Cole to anyone who likes a excellent deep sea thriller.

[joshua penrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read taking you on adventure on the Florida coast only you’d better watch out you don’t know what shrimpy little things are out to get you, or big things. It’s nice when you get a monster that you don’t expect to see in these creature features.

Pros:
+ great new monsters (feels like Cole watched a documentary about these little dudes and was like hell yeah let’s make ‘em big)
+ small list of characters which allows for more monster mayhem
+ fun kills
+ decent creature vision sequences
+ good and simple origin story

Cons:
- it feels like a waste to introduce an element of radioactivity and not use it more
- could’ve used a comedic relief character throughout

I had a good time with the read and very much enjoyed the ending. I’m a sucker for the people get what they deserve for being dicks to nature.

[wayne peters]

Review of this book.

This book was a page turner from the first sentence to the very last sentence. It was believable. The fines for illegal dumping should be be increased ten to a hundred fold. Who knows what strange things we have created by dumping toxic waste into our lakes and oceans! I may never go into the ocean to swim, ever again. The story was very well written. The author put a lot of thought into writing this book! There was tragedy, humor, romance, and gut wrenching terror in this book. I would not hesitate to read more of his books. The book was excellent. An outstanding book from beginning to end.

[Brittany Allyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick, enjoyable read. The writing style was on the simplistic side, and the characters were very basic. I also found it a bit frustrating that it’s not until 2/3 of the way through the book that the creatures are even fully revealed as pistol shrimp and the mechanics of their claws are explained. At that point I had already googled trying to understand what exactly the shrimp were doing to people because without that knowledge it didn’t really make sense. I also felt like the beach climax was extremely similar to the climax in 2010’s Piranha 3D. But it was a short read, and enjoyable even with the issues.

[Fred Rayworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pistols, if you haven’t already guessed, refer to pistol shrimp. In this very enjoyable B-movie icky bug, these shrimp grow gigantic and eat half of Florida. With an extremely high body count, you can guess the outcome. I enjoyed it for the solid third-person past-tense writing, though there was a fair amount of head-hopping. There were also some formatting issues, which is typical for Severed Press. No problem, I still had a great time with this relatively short icky bug. Highly recommended.

[Bellerophon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A ton of fun

Another gripping action horror creature feature from Cole. As always, great characters anchored (sorry for the pun...) the storyline. I was really cheering them on. Loved the beasties too. Really evil hungry bastards from the sea. Great book. Highly recommended. Can't wait for the obvious? sequel. Was left hanging and now anxious for more. Please.

[Kathy Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

If his name wasn't on the book, I would never have believed that Michael Cole wrote this novel. I usually like what he writes but this one was a struggle for me.

The main character did very little to endear himself to me and the group didn't have a cohesive feel. Probably just me. I went into the read fully intending to think it was awesome.

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

Amateur at best

Thought it sounded interesting but it didn't focus on the creatures' evolution at all. Just that they apparently mutated from the goo Morrison was dumping. Too much time focused on uninteresting character development and exploits. Tough to empathize with any of them. The cover naturally made me think of 'Jaws' which it definitely was not!

[Cait O’Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thrilling dive into the horrors lurking beneath the sea. ‘Pistols’ creatively explores the terrifying potential of mutated pistol shrimp, filled with I tense action and gory scenes. The pacing keeps you on edge, though at times it feels a bit formulaic. Despite that, it's an entertaining read that keeps you wanting to read more of the same (like Jaws and Meg).

[Karen M. Matteson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creature feature addict

This was a good book very well written just too short. I was very disappointed when instead of the next chapter it came to an abrupt end. I was hooked from the start with the characters as well as the monsters. It had such potential....

[Joyce Grubb · Rating 5 out of 5]

a Great Horror Story

a horror story about chemical and radiation being dumped in the ocean and killing the sea live that I turn is eaten by two inches shimp . Also about a father and son trying to come together. Lots of blood and guts but very well written story.

[Tom Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story!

Another old fashioned mutant creature horror story. Who would've thought my favorite meal would come back to kill me. Fast paced with decent characters with plenty of surprises. Hope there is another chapter, especially with that ending.

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

all this time i've been watching shark movies when i should have been READING them. or, giant pistol shrimp, as it were. what a fun ride. exactly what it says on the tin, with a surprising amount of character work layered in.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another enjoyable monster to fight. Don't become friends with any of the characters. Any of them can -and do- get picked over and eaten. If you have a chance to eat any sea food - eat as much as you can before you get eaten! Be aware that the shrimp win and there is no sequel!!! Recommended

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creature Feature

Reminds me of old school 80s horror. Fun romp, I would say a great Beach read but you definitely don't want to read this at the beach.

[Grace Hutson-Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eek!

This book is similar to Jaws, except it's not sharks killing humans. Instead it is giant mutated shrimp. Definitely creepy!

[John Tanaschovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

Good book kept you interested had a good story line and kept you glued to the story just needed more of an ending

[Scott Shjefte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Horror monster mutations resulting from illegal dumping of materials. Read Kindle book using Alexa audio asset. Purchased this item on June 3, 2023, from Amazon for $0.99.

[Margie Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Read

Giant Shrimp! Not likely to happen but it’s a well written story. Stay out of the water or suffer the consequences

[Phyllis Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Creature read! Will read more from the author. Love me me some monsters’ and these were creepy!

[KerryO · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pistols made me wish I were facing a Great White Shark instead! Definitely seat-of-your chair reading.

[John D Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read

Look, this isn't classic literature. It's intended to be a fun, quick read and it achieves that. I enjoyed reading it at night before bed.

[David Chick]

Awsome

The story line is a little weird, but extremely exciting! Couldn't put it down. Wish there was 2nd book that gets rid of them all..

[Beau Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could be a great b rated campy movie

[🕸️Easton👻 · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF, this one was bad, just over all really lame. I was so excited too, giant pistol shrimp shooting bubbles at people sounded so cool. 💔