February | 2022 | My Haunted Library

Mama bear instincts scream into overdrive for MHI sharp-shooter Julie Shackleford when her new baby is kidnapped by monsters.

Monster Hunter Guardian – Larry Correia and Sarah A. Hoyt, 2019. Rating: 4/5

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While her husband and legendary monster-hunter hero, Owen Pitt, is off fighting a chaos god with most of MHI (Monster Hunter Siege), Julie Shackleford is stuck minding the shop and watching over baby Ray, aka Little Bubba.

A routine recruitment turns into a trap, and Julie is forced to bargain with an adze, a powerful, sneaky vampire-like creature that possesses regular folks. It wants the ancient artifact she’s been chosen to guard in exchange for baby Ray. Needless to say, the adze does not play fair. In her desperate search for Ray, Julie single-handedly cuts a wide swath through the monsters of Europe. She must also deal with some personal issues when her evil, Master Vampire mother wants Ray for herself.

I am a big Monster Hunters International series fan, but this is not one of my favorites. Julie’s solo, Sarah Connor-like one-woman crusade gets a little tiring. I get that the maternal instinct is strong. I get that she is obsessed with the baby—How can we miss it? She tells us ad nauseum—but her single-minded fervor bogs the story down. (That sounds terrible to say. Nothing meant against protective mothers. Just in this case). Guardian is missing a lot of the humor, devil-may-care monster battles, and quirky characters that make the other books in the series shine.

On the plus side: Thank goodness for the Shoggoth. (!) Mr. Trash Bags is a delight. More, please. We are treated to page-turning action, serious weaponry, a great monster auction scene, and a satisfying knock-down drag-out assault on the bad guys’ hideout: all good stuff.

Myrmecophobic? Invasive is your worst nightmare. Then again, a little exposure therapy may help you overcome that crippling fear of ants…

Invasive—Chuck Wendig, 2016. Rating: 4/5

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The discovery of a body that has been gruesomely skinned by a swarm of new and deadly ants has the FBI calling in futurist consultant, Hannah Stander. Hannah, daughter of paranoid, prepper parents, believes that the future is a door towards which two opposing forces of humanity are rushing: either evolution or ruination will enter first and determine the fate of mankind. With help from an entomologist friend, Hannah tracks this assassination by ants to a genetics research company run by billionaire entrepreneur and save-the-planet crusader, Einar Geirsson. Hannah travels to the lab’s headquarters on a remote Pacific island where elite scientists work at genetically modifying insects to combat global issues of hunger and climate change. Hannah must suppress her own fears and suss out the charming Einar and resentful scientists before the murderer escalates to omnicide. Meanwhile, a powerful storm is approaching. And so are the ants.

Invasive is a dynamite technothriller: a suspenseful, chilling look at the razor’s edge on which humanity balances. One scientific step too far—or one rogue scientist, well-meaning or otherwise—can bring about the end of the world, or its salvation. Possibly both. The mystery is tight and twisty, the science terrifying, and the non-stop action—though it occasionally requires a significant suspension of disbelief—keeps pages flying. Hannah is a complex heroine. Thanks to her survivalist upbringing, Hannah is tougher than the average bear, but her childhood has left her emotionally scarred and vulnerable. Having been raised to fear the future, she suffers from panic attacks. Her relationship with her mother is fraught, and consequently Hannah avoids her parents—an action that has a crushing effect.

Those of you with any kind of insect squeamishness beware: Invasive will push all your buttons. I don’t generally mind ants. These ants are horrifying. Expect some (a lot) of grisly “can’t unsee” scenes. I am glad I read this when there is a foot of snow outside. Fantastic read.