BOOK REVIEW: MONSTRE BY DUNCAN SWAN

In a nutshell, this book is a realistic depiction of what life may be like for people should a devastating nuclear accident rock the entire world. It is a story of survival during a time of sheer panic in the midst of environmental and societal upheaval. There are times of dire hopelessness for the characters, and times of inspiration to fight for your life and the lives of those you love most.


The book begins right at the beginning of the action, when a nuclear research facility in Switzerland (the CERN) generates a devastating explosion. It incinerates nearly everyone and everything nearby, with only a few people from the facility escaping and struggling to survive. After the explosion, CERN became the epicenter of a huge dark cloud. The cloud continually expands, and it is a dark, roiling thing which affects communication between places underneath and outside of its grasp and blocks all sunlight. And understandably, it causes widespread panic among people. Panic is never a good thing.


In addition to this unexplainable yet dangerous black cloud are these monsters which are incredibly fast, strong, and able to camouflage themselves with the environment. So in addition to worrying about this black cloud threatening to cover the world, some of the characters are faced with terrifying creatures


In this book, each chapter is told in 3rd person POV alternating between several main characters. Some characters are from the first few days in Europe, when the world is trying to process what happened in Switzerland and how the cloud can be contained. The other characters are an American sheriff, two of his officers and a small family trekking west in hopes of escaping the cloud now visible to them after the explosion. There were enough different characters to keep me interested but not too many to become overwhelmed. I became very intimate with characters because so much time is spent with them but cover only a short period of time. In the early stages of this book, I became concerned with the amount of time spent on everyone without a lot of “action” happening with the plot. But I kept wanting to read it because I truly enjoyed Duncan’s writing style. There’s a lot of dry humor throughout, and I laughed out loud several times. It also reads like a movie, and I always like that. He writes really well, and actually inspired me to step up my own writing game. It was smooth, relatable writing that immersed me in the setting and the plot - the kind of writing which made me think, Yes - this is what I want to sound like when I write!


My favorite thing about the book was that everything seemed so very realistic, as though the different elements throughout were well-researched. I’m having a hard time recalling instances where something didn’t seem plausible. The struggles people went through to survive were what I’d expect if I were in that situation. I don’t have a military background, but the different weapons and technology used by the soldier characters was explained so that it made sense but I didn’t get bored with the details. The paranoia and distrust between the main characters and strangers in these dangerous times would be what anyone would feel. Even the monsters, which aren’t real, were defined enough so that they seemed real (though there was kept an air of mystery about them to heighten suspense). So it was easy for me to immerse myself in the story and root for the characters even though, like I said, the plot itself didn’t move quickly.


The book isn’t an in-your-face kind of scary. It’s more a suspenseful survival book, whereas I prefer something with more jump scares. I was disappointed the monsters hadn’t played a bigger role in it. That’s just a preference thing. Books about the apocalypse aren’t my first choice in horror genre, but I still really enjoyed this book. I think that if you enjoy end-of-the-world fiction then you will really like this book. The people, the setting, even the end-of-the-world scenario is believable enough that there is an undercurrent of fear that each character could die at any moment. Every character is surrounded by imminent danger the whole time, so one could say this book is filled with a quiet, constant psychological horror throughout.


Duncan’s writing style is very enjoyable, and I believe fans of fiction dealing with the horrors of impending end-times will enjoy this very much.


Author info:
Author Website:  www.duncanswan.me


Twitter: @duncan_swan

Review by Kimberly Wolkens

THERE IS NO STOPPING IT.

THE CLOUD IS ARMAGEDDON, STEAMROLLING THE WORLD AT A WALKING PACE.

Day 0. From the wreckage of a research facility in Switzerland, a plume of toxic smoke and ash pours into the sky, forming an impenetrable cloud that is slowly smothering the world in darkness. As Europe disappears beneath the Cloud, a squad of United States marines are sent on a desperate mission to find out what went wrong, and how to undo it before it’s too late. Venturing into a cold, dark world, the marines must travel deep under the Cloud, with no comms, no backup, and no idea of what they will face.

Day 89. Half a world away, the Cloud has reached the East Coast of the US. With nowhere to run and no hope of survival, the American people have descended into madness, turning on themselves and each other. From the sidelines, an old Tennessee sheriff watches as his country unravels. But he can’t bring himself to take the easy way out. Quitting isn’t in his DNA. So when one of his deputies asks him to help protect her family, he leads them west, chasing a miracle—a rumor of an old nuclear bunker that just may be their only hope for survival. Because if the Cloud doesn’t kill them, what’s hiding in the dark will.

In his thrilling debut novel MONSTRE, author Duncan Swan crafts a relentless, terrifying, genre-bending tale of courage, desperation, and redemption that shows just how fragile our civilization is, and how far we will go to survive

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