ARC REVIEW Devour by Kurt Anderson

This is a first for me, I normally just watch the animal attack horror movies but this one piqued my interest. Looking at the cover I thought Jaws, Alligator, and a whole array of different creature horror movies. But reading through the book I realized it was more like Deep Rising, without the tentacles, and Devour was a lot better. I liked this it was a good read once I got more than a couple chapters into it I inhaled the thing. It is in third person but it switches perspective between the main characters and the creature itself, that was a nice touch. I liked that it wasn't just the creature they were having to worry about but an alternate conflict that they are dealing with and the fact that the creature is there complicates matters.

The perspective of the creature is interesting because of how it thinks. You see how it's mind works as it finds out that the big things that float on the water have yummy bits fall out of them when you crash into them. The other characters are a fisherman who is trying to forget his past, a cocktail waitress just trying to earn some extra cash, a scientist who figures out what the hell is going on, and a young girl who is just a victim of circumstance.

Frank Moore has everything planned out he's got a gambling cruise ship all set up as a cover for his true intentions, he never expected that a creature that was suppose to be extinct would defrost from the arctic circle and start hunting them. Brain Hawkins was just trying to earn a living as a fisherman when he picks up a distress call from another vessel. With the Coast Guard busy all the unusual ocean activity Brain decides they are the other vessels only hope. He never expected to find the thing in pieces with barely one survivor a professor who was doing research with his students on the unusual activity going on recently. Destiny Boudreaux only took the job with Frankie because he promised a hefty paycheck and awesome tips. Taylor Millicent is only on the gambling cruise ship with her parents because it offered day care, and that fact that her parents really didn't care.

In international waters off the coast of Massachusetts Frankie's ulterior motives are in full swing when it all starts to fall apart. The creature just wants to eat it never expected to work this hard to have to get some food, but the humans those little tasty morsels started to fight back. When Brain and the scientist go aboard the cruise ship as the only means to survival he now has to fight back mobster thugs as well as find a way to survive the attack of the giant sea creature and make it back to shore.

Overall, this was a fun read. A heart pounding action and suspense with in depth characters and an alternate plot that adds to the intensity of the overall story.