Reviews

Shock Waves by Matt Kurtz

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bee_reads_horror's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I loved this book so dang much! A prime example of the perfect creature feature and the most fun I've had reading a book in a long while.

Shock Waves is exactly what I want in a book! The theme park setting, lovable cast, death scenes, gore, sense of dread and the monsters- especially the final monster made for the toppiest of top tier entertainment. I was legitimately scared for the cast throughout the book and often times had to talk myself into flipping that next page. The author was the worst (best) at ending chapters at a cliffhanger making "just one more chapter" nearly impossible.

As mentioned, I adored the characters- all of them- which is pretty much unheard of! I enjoyed that the couples characters have bickery/playful interactions despite the situation they find themselves in. It’s a fun bit of levity and realism amongst the horrific monster mayhem and death scenes. Juan and Lidia were definitely my favorite characters.

I mistakenly thought this book was only going to be about giant murderous spiders (there are those) and didn't expect such a wide array of beasts and monsters, but I ended up really enjoying them. The imagination really kept tension up and the death scenes interesting. As well as really ramping up the fear of the unknown!

My only complaint is that I found the ending was a bit abrupt and felt sort of the easy way out, but also…I didn’t want like 100 more pages dragging out the read so I'm mostly happy, though I have quite a few questions that were left unanswered...

** SPOILER**

The trapdoor spider scene was the coolest scene I've read in a book in a very long time!!

*Love that the author included a Playlist at the end of the book, it really sets the mood.

tim__reads's review

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adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

bucher_freund's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

3.5

Texas, 1988. Recent high school grad Danny is a roller coaster foreman at The Lone Star Land Amusement Park. One night as a storm rolls in, there's a commotion at a construction site across the street, and all manner of monster-sized bats and creepy crawlies emerge from a crevice in the ground. Danny must fight to protect coworkers and park guests as he works his way over to rescue his girlfriend Stacy, who works at the river rapids ride nearby.

This was a fun B-movie type of read. Danny is a likable hero, and so are most of the others who are stuck fighting their way out of the park. There's a ton of gory carnage, and not everyone makes it, but it's a short, fast-paced, exciting ride (no pun intended).