CLAW: A Canadian Thriller

First off, I want to start by saying that I usually love this kind of story to begin with - stories about actual monsters and monstrous (but very real) creatures. So I started reading this with high hopes from the beginning, therefore I might be a bit biased.Now then, onto the actual review.I gotta say, even though I'm a fan of this genre - even if the stories are a bit silly at times - this one was fantastic. Truly, it's a story that I absolutely *loved* reading!The main characters are fleshed out really nicely, I think, and so is the environment and locale in which it's set. The "good guy" characters made me consistently root for them, while I found myself really, truly loathing the "bad guy" characters with a passion.Normally, while I'll root for the characters I like and hate the characters that are set up as the bad guys, it doesn't normally get me so riled up as the characters in this novel did - I felt genuine fear any time something bad was happening to a character I liked in "CLAW" - like real, palpable fear for the well-being of my favorite characters. My heart raced at some of the situations in this great book, and at other times, I felt a burning hatred rising up in me for the "bad guy" characters. Again, while I do normally feel these, and other, emotions when reading good novels, it's not often that I come across a read that gets me so thoroughly invested in what's going to happen to whom that it starts manifesting physical reactions in me. So props to the author for creating characters that elicit visceral reactions as if the people in the story were real people I knew! Fantastic job!Now the monstrous creature? *chef's kiss* Perfection! The way that we, the reader, are presented with attack upon attack, yet never being given more than a glimpse of a hint at the true nature of the thing is epic!The descriptions of the attacks - everything seems normal, then we get a bit of tension, some building dread...but then it turns out to be a false alarm. Then, one more, the author deftly builds up the suspense and unease, until it reaches a crescendo and we are treated to the attack, only for it to be over too soon, leaving is wanting more!And by the way, mother nature herself almost seems to conspire against us, keeping the beast from being seen easily, while simultaneously giving us just enough of a new bit of info to go off of in figuring out what the creature is. Also, the main "good guys" do come up with a theory as to what the mystery monster is, and of course, they turn out to be correct. Still, although we are eventually shown the entire beast, I have to say, it was far from what I expected (not sure what, if anything, that says about my powers of deduction, lol), but I loved it the whole way through!(Wait...something doesn't seem quite right...what's that amorphous shape in the darkness? We're too far away to make it out clearly, so we cautiously edge closer, Closer, CLOSER, until we find out that we've been looking at a vehicle or some such mundane thing that, in the low light, combined with the thick, shifting fog, looked out of place to us. We breathe a sigh of relief, mentally chastising ourselves for thinking that there would be anything weird and dangerous out in the fog. We turn to go back to what we were doing before. *BAM!* The attack happens, in all its gory, highly detailed glory! We are given a very clear depiction of the attack, and then, as if nothing happened at all, the creature fades back into the impenetrable fog, off to look for its next meal.)In conclusion, if you like well-written, gory horror fiction with detailed descriptions of character deaths, then check this book out - I highly, highly recommend it!Oh, and there are some great comedic bits, as well - just a lone or two here and there, to spice things up, and gosh dammit, it works!

I enjoyed reading this book. The character development was excellent. The plot was well developed but dragged in some parts. On to the next book in this series.

Love this book so much! I have read all of the books in this series twice. I love Katie Berry’s imagination. I am looking for to the next book.

Great ending.

But a LOT of boring travelog description, needless backstory, and relentlessly peppy dialogue from people who are supposed to be in deadly circumstances. Clocking in at almost 550 pages, I honestly think that half of it could have been pruned away. I did a lot of skimming. I liked the fact that the hero was a mentally and physically capable heroine, and that the author did not have her sobbing or falling in bed with anyone. I liked the action enough to buy the sequel, in the hopes that the writing would improve, but that does not seem to be the case.

I really enjoyed this thriller. They should make it into a movie it was that good. It feels like this story could really happen. All these prehistoric animals coming to life and killing people left and right.

Another creature tale, but with a minor twist, though if you've read enough of this stuff, you'll not be surprised. The story is set in Canada, but with the exception of Tim Horton's and metric references, it could be set pretty much anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. The main problems are that it's really overwritten and the author tries to include too many subplots and faux twists that don't really go anywhere. There's way too much pointless dialogue. Rather than add depth to the characters, it just underscores what we already know about their blandness. No nuance here. You've got good guys and bad guys. And a few wild animals with precious little screen time. It's a fairly fast read for something that's over 500 pages long because so little happens and you can pretty much skim long sections without missing anything relevant. Somehow, there are more of these, but I won't be reading them. Plenty of other similar things out there that are shorter and less boring.

I enjoyed most of this first book in the CLAW series, after the prequel novella I read previously CLAW: EMERGENCE - CALEB CANTRILL.I actually rated it 3 1/2 stars but rounded it up to 4 because I truly do enjoy "creature feature" type horror books.This book takes place in modern times in a small mountain town in the Kootenay region of British Columbia. The three main characters are a newly arrived female Conservation Officer and two male city road and maintenance/animal control employees.An earthquake hits the region and, all of a sudden, extinct deadly animals are on the prowl in the area. A lot of the action originates in a newly discovered cave near a glacier in the mountains near town.I liked the main characters. They interacted well together with some humor thrown in. I do think the book was overly long with some extraneous details thrown in but I still enjoyed it.The bad guys were awful people. The action was bloody and intense at times.All in all, I enjoyed this horror tale.

Claw was a fun read, filled with memorable characters which drive along the plot and give life to the town of Lawless. Although the antagonists were pretty cliched, I liked the main cast. Most other books of its kind don't spend time fleshing out their characters, which includes depicting people doing everyday jobs and activities. I am aware other readers found scenes like these to be pointless, but it gives an edge of realism to the book.The action scenes were also well writen. The language and descriptors used were very good. One criticism I have is that there are quite a few spelling and grammar mistakes as well as phrases geting repeated to often, so it could do with editing.I'm excited to read more from this author.

And it was a great gift! I love reading sci-fi stories based in Canada. I live here and it’s awesome!Now back to CLAW, what happens when you cross prehistoric monsters with severe Canadian winters? A lot!This was a roller coaster from start to finish as we follow the residents of Lawless who are trying to keep a small town thriving when all of a sudden people start going missing. Throw in some corrupt politicians and businessmen and you get a roaring ripping read! Thanks for this awesome story.

To be honest, I knew I didn’t like this book even before I got throgh chapter 1 and so, as per someboody’s comment I’m not going to read it because I don’t have to. I can’t say wholly what I don’t like abiut it apart from that there’s too much info dumping. Too many times when it seems that the author is just showing off a knowledge of terms and uses. There’s far too much of the usual modern complaint which is to suggest that noboedy actually does more than ‘say’ things with no tone or inflection or, if there is, we’re not told about that and yet there are lines and lines of text dedicated to stuff we really do not care about such as the use of gps. Not for me this book.

So difficult to give this book a star rating. I will go for two stars since it hung together, but I'm surprised that this book found a publisher. I almost wonder if it is a spoof, possibly written to show creative writing students all the pitfalls to avoid.I hate writing bad reviews, but this book crossed a line for me. If only this author has read 'On Writing' by Stephen King.

Reasonably good example of the genre from story perspective, but unfortunately it's executed quite amateurishly. The characters have no depth and motivations so cartoonishly over the top, that at times I felt like it was an episode of scooby doo; it's incredibly jarring when almost every second sentence ends in an exclamation mark.