What do you think?
Rate this book
Giant Killer Eels
The Lake District. The jewel in the crown of England’s natural beauty spots. An area steeped in history and old fashioned culture……..and now giant killer eels as well...... Old Slippery is the legendary giant eel of The Lake District. For years there have been supposed sightings of him, but never quite like this and what’s more Old Slippery is not alone. Devastation, death and giant killer monsters run amok, as not only do the inhabitants of The Lakes question if they can survive this unstoppable juggernaut of creatures, but the whole human race does too.
108 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 8, 2010
2 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 18, 2010
For those of you who have read my past reviews, you'll know that as a kid I had a thing for movies that dealt with giant critters—Night of the Lepus, THEM!, The Deadly Mantis, etc. For those of you who are new to this blog, well, now you know.
Stuart Neild's Giant Killer Eels is reminiscent of these old B movies that I loved so much. The setting is The Lake Districts of England, an area surrounded by mysterious disappearances and the home home of Old Slippery, a legendary giant eel. Like other mythic creatures, Nessie, Big Foot, and The Abominable Snowman, Old Slippery is elusive; however, unlike those who have claimed to see Nessie et al. and lived to tell about it, those who have seen Old Slippery never lived long enough to boast of the sighting.
Lured by the mystery of being the first to discover and photograph the giant eel, John and Mark, a couple of kids who feel they can succeed were seasoned divers have failed, have made "arrangements" to stay at the other's house, but instead of being true to their word, they sneak off to The Lake District in search of Old Slippery, and their parents are none the wiser. While investigating one of the rumored sighting areas, they encounter Yanick, a "crazy" eel enthusiast who claims to know all about Old Slippery and who also claims to have seen the giant eel twice.
Meanwhile, elsewhere withing The District, other people are having close encounters of the Slippery kind, and it isn't long before Mark, John, and crazy Yanick have their own encounter, but they have gotten more than they bargained for. There's not just Old Slippery they need to worry about. As the rains come down, the waters become alive with literally hundreds of. . . you guessed it. . . Giant Killer Eels.
All the trappings of those old B movies are here, from the kids in trouble, the rather eccentric enthusiast, to the military coming in to save the day. There's even a couple of damsels in distress. The characters are likable enough, but the emphasis of Neild's seems to be story progression, not character development. He doesn't disappoint with story, and pretty soon you find yourself forgetting about the unanswered questions that arise about the characters.
As much as I enjoyed the story, I did have some issues with the writing. It's not badly written, but I do feel the it would have benefited from having a proofreader or editor going through it before it was put out for public viewing, and that's purely for grammar and text flow. I found commas appearing in places that they shouldn't have been, which disrupted the flow of the sentences in which they appeared, and the wording of some phrases had me stumbling. If I had to give this a rating of between 1 and 5 stars, I would give it a 4, and that's only because of the problems I had with sentence structure and grammar.
Would I recommend this? You betcha. The thrill I got reliving the days of my childhood spent in front of the television while giant ants lay waste to a town far outweigh the minor technical issues I had with the story.
Stuart Neild's Giant Killer Eels is reminiscent of these old B movies that I loved so much. The setting is The Lake Districts of England, an area surrounded by mysterious disappearances and the home home of Old Slippery, a legendary giant eel. Like other mythic creatures, Nessie, Big Foot, and The Abominable Snowman, Old Slippery is elusive; however, unlike those who have claimed to see Nessie et al. and lived to tell about it, those who have seen Old Slippery never lived long enough to boast of the sighting.
Lured by the mystery of being the first to discover and photograph the giant eel, John and Mark, a couple of kids who feel they can succeed were seasoned divers have failed, have made "arrangements" to stay at the other's house, but instead of being true to their word, they sneak off to The Lake District in search of Old Slippery, and their parents are none the wiser. While investigating one of the rumored sighting areas, they encounter Yanick, a "crazy" eel enthusiast who claims to know all about Old Slippery and who also claims to have seen the giant eel twice.
Meanwhile, elsewhere withing The District, other people are having close encounters of the Slippery kind, and it isn't long before Mark, John, and crazy Yanick have their own encounter, but they have gotten more than they bargained for. There's not just Old Slippery they need to worry about. As the rains come down, the waters become alive with literally hundreds of. . . you guessed it. . . Giant Killer Eels.
All the trappings of those old B movies are here, from the kids in trouble, the rather eccentric enthusiast, to the military coming in to save the day. There's even a couple of damsels in distress. The characters are likable enough, but the emphasis of Neild's seems to be story progression, not character development. He doesn't disappoint with story, and pretty soon you find yourself forgetting about the unanswered questions that arise about the characters.
As much as I enjoyed the story, I did have some issues with the writing. It's not badly written, but I do feel the it would have benefited from having a proofreader or editor going through it before it was put out for public viewing, and that's purely for grammar and text flow. I found commas appearing in places that they shouldn't have been, which disrupted the flow of the sentences in which they appeared, and the wording of some phrases had me stumbling. If I had to give this a rating of between 1 and 5 stars, I would give it a 4, and that's only because of the problems I had with sentence structure and grammar.
Would I recommend this? You betcha. The thrill I got reliving the days of my childhood spent in front of the television while giant ants lay waste to a town far outweigh the minor technical issues I had with the story.
November 15, 2010
Monsters from the deep. And the Lake District. What's not to like? Great blast of pulp, well worth a look.
August 7, 2024
I think people rate it low because they were expecting 'serious' horror, but it's clearly written as cheesy B Movie style and isn't Intended to be taken seriously. I found it very entertaining.
There’s a few grammatical errors, but nothing distracting.
There’s a few grammatical errors, but nothing distracting.
July 23, 2012
WARNING - Review Contains Some Spoilers
I grew up on b-movie horror films or books particulary those of Guy N Smith (to whom this book is dedicated) and early James Herbert. I'll confess that I don't know that much about eels but I knew they could travel over land and survive in different types of water so I thought that they would make for an interesting subject of a creature feature. The book was also set in a location I know well - the Lake District. So I looked forward to this as a sort of guilty pleasure where I could suspend disblief and enjoy some old fashioned monster-themed horror.
Unfortunately, the book did not live up to expectations. The first half isn't bad, the characters are setup - two couples holidaying in the lakes for different reasons and two young lads on an adventure looking for a legendary eel "Old Slippery". So far so good.
However, things spiral downhill rapidly in the second half - the time invested in setting up the characters is wasted as in the next 10% of the book nearly all the characters beome eel-food. There's still around 40% of the book to go which is largely filled with set-pieces or characters introduced for a few pages to be eel-fodder.
Then the army arrive, clearly Mr Neild doesn't have much first hand knowledge of the UK Armed Forces and wasn't prepared to do a bit of research. I suspended disbelief earlier so I'll forget the fact that the forces manage to deploy with tanks in the space of 3 or 4 hours of the crisis starting. However, disbelief became incredulity when the soldiers started using bazookas - a weapon never used by UK forces (other than some special units) and not used by any NATO force since the Korean war. I know that defense cuts have bitten deep but surely modern UK forces have not resorted to using 1940s technology just yet. A bit of research would have identified that UK forces use Javelin or LASM or grenade launchers.
And then the book ends...there's no real explanation as to how the eels became so big, how they have escaped being seen for so may years, what triggers their sudden killing spree or why they disappear again. Given that some of these questions remain unanswered I supect a sequel may be in the offing.
I would add that other reviews have been largely positive so perhaps I've just outgrown this type of book.
I grew up on b-movie horror films or books particulary those of Guy N Smith (to whom this book is dedicated) and early James Herbert. I'll confess that I don't know that much about eels but I knew they could travel over land and survive in different types of water so I thought that they would make for an interesting subject of a creature feature. The book was also set in a location I know well - the Lake District. So I looked forward to this as a sort of guilty pleasure where I could suspend disblief and enjoy some old fashioned monster-themed horror.
Unfortunately, the book did not live up to expectations. The first half isn't bad, the characters are setup - two couples holidaying in the lakes for different reasons and two young lads on an adventure looking for a legendary eel "Old Slippery". So far so good.
However, things spiral downhill rapidly in the second half - the time invested in setting up the characters is wasted as in the next 10% of the book nearly all the characters beome eel-food. There's still around 40% of the book to go which is largely filled with set-pieces or characters introduced for a few pages to be eel-fodder.
Then the army arrive, clearly Mr Neild doesn't have much first hand knowledge of the UK Armed Forces and wasn't prepared to do a bit of research. I suspended disbelief earlier so I'll forget the fact that the forces manage to deploy with tanks in the space of 3 or 4 hours of the crisis starting. However, disbelief became incredulity when the soldiers started using bazookas - a weapon never used by UK forces (other than some special units) and not used by any NATO force since the Korean war. I know that defense cuts have bitten deep but surely modern UK forces have not resorted to using 1940s technology just yet. A bit of research would have identified that UK forces use Javelin or LASM or grenade launchers.
And then the book ends...there's no real explanation as to how the eels became so big, how they have escaped being seen for so may years, what triggers their sudden killing spree or why they disappear again. Given that some of these questions remain unanswered I supect a sequel may be in the offing.
I would add that other reviews have been largely positive so perhaps I've just outgrown this type of book.
June 22, 2012
This pulp B-movie monster story takes about a third of the book before it gets going and then it's eels versus mankind down by the lake—and man isn't having a good day. I like stories where anybody can be killed at any time and the author gives that and more. Readers who want a lot of deep characterization or elaborate plot will be dissatisfied here. This is more of a run and gun romp in the style of Guy N. Smith. I found it interesting on the author's blog that he said he was going to be a co-author of the seventh crab book. I bet he'll do a good job.
The problem with this book (the version I read 6/22/12) is the formatting and editing were so bad it ruined my reading experience. The paragraph indenting is atrocious and there are literally dozens of editing problems that interrupt the flow. Words are misused, misspelled (lightening describing the weather condition instead of lightning) and hyphens are missing when they should be present (it's not "snake like" unless the snake likes something, it's "snake-like" meaning it appears like a snake). Rampant abuse of possessive "his best friends arm" (instead of friend's) and the list continues. This book badly needs a new editor.
The ending wraps up the story nicely. If there was better editing, I would gladly read another work by this author. In the condition I read this work, however, I would only recommend to readers who love this kind of pulp story and can overlook terrible editing and Kindle formatting.
The problem with this book (the version I read 6/22/12) is the formatting and editing were so bad it ruined my reading experience. The paragraph indenting is atrocious and there are literally dozens of editing problems that interrupt the flow. Words are misused, misspelled (lightening describing the weather condition instead of lightning) and hyphens are missing when they should be present (it's not "snake like" unless the snake likes something, it's "snake-like" meaning it appears like a snake). Rampant abuse of possessive "his best friends arm" (instead of friend's) and the list continues. This book badly needs a new editor.
The ending wraps up the story nicely. If there was better editing, I would gladly read another work by this author. In the condition I read this work, however, I would only recommend to readers who love this kind of pulp story and can overlook terrible editing and Kindle formatting.
August 27, 2012
It was a short book, I think I picked it up free for my kindle. I think there was more potential to the story. I had trouble suspending my disbelief as I felt it became a bit too far fetched at points. In the end the eels' size, numbers and how impervious they were to damage took away from their overall impact. The story had more drama when it was one monster eel hunting the few established characters early on. It seemed like by halfway through there were only two characters left to care about and an infinite number of giant eels.
I probably could have used a brief introduction about what a normal eel is capable of as a contrast to what these giant monster eels could do. I didn't think normal eels could live out of water, but I wouldn't be too shocked if they could for at least short periods of time. Still, the giant eels seem to spend an incredible amount of time on land. Rather than just being a danger when someone is near these interconnected lakes, these giant eels are literally everywhere, bursting from the ground, in trees, and punching through houses.
It's a b-movie type of short story, but I think there could be more there if some parts were scaled back, and others were reworked, fleshed out, and developed more.
I probably could have used a brief introduction about what a normal eel is capable of as a contrast to what these giant monster eels could do. I didn't think normal eels could live out of water, but I wouldn't be too shocked if they could for at least short periods of time. Still, the giant eels seem to spend an incredible amount of time on land. Rather than just being a danger when someone is near these interconnected lakes, these giant eels are literally everywhere, bursting from the ground, in trees, and punching through houses.
It's a b-movie type of short story, but I think there could be more there if some parts were scaled back, and others were reworked, fleshed out, and developed more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 12, 2012
Well I was looking for something light to read after finishing The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (which was good but difficult to read), and what better to send myself into a mind-numbing state than a good old-fashioned dose of killer animal drama?! This was perfect for what ailed me. I was able to lose myself in a story about eels going berserk and attacking every human in sight, and now I'm recuperated. :P
This was a really well-written story. I was immediately drawn in, and I think anyone who has a fascination with killer animal tales would be too. It was very much like watching a good Sci-fi channel creature feature movie...I could visualize everything in great detail.
Content Rating: R-LV ... (L) a good deal of language in between 20% and 40%. Otherwise, nothing much at all in the rest of the book. (V) gruesome, bloody, gory, kill-everything-and-feast-on-it violence.
This was a really well-written story. I was immediately drawn in, and I think anyone who has a fascination with killer animal tales would be too. It was very much like watching a good Sci-fi channel creature feature movie...I could visualize everything in great detail.
Content Rating: R-LV ... (L) a good deal of language in between 20% and 40%. Otherwise, nothing much at all in the rest of the book. (V) gruesome, bloody, gory, kill-everything-and-feast-on-it violence.
July 24, 2012
When I saw this book on Amazon, I knew it would be right up my alley. I L-O-V-E corny, cheese ball, SciFy channel type movies. My DVR is set to record evey Saturday when they rollout a whole new batch of lame crap. So I figured that this book would be the book equivalent of a B-movie.
It had the making to be a lame gore fest, but then it just wasn't. So many characters and not one of them likeable, typos to the point it made you dizzy, on some pages the author couldn't keep the names of the characters straight or decide if the annoying dog was male or female.
I like "bad" when its on purpose not when its because of poor workmanship.
It had the making to be a lame gore fest, but then it just wasn't. So many characters and not one of them likeable, typos to the point it made you dizzy, on some pages the author couldn't keep the names of the characters straight or decide if the annoying dog was male or female.
I like "bad" when its on purpose not when its because of poor workmanship.
August 14, 2012
The book sells itself as an homage to the work of Guy N Smith and doesn't disappoint. It takes a little while to get going but is readable throughout and when it gets into gear the gore comes thick and fast. It is if course completely unbelievable and ridiculous from start to finish but that's half the fun. If you miss the lurid horror paperbacks that filled the racks of your local newsagent's in the 80s then give it a go.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews